Monthly Archives: January 2023

The Ultimate Race

Posted on January 22, 2023 by jackdoyle25

We take it for granted that the speed of light is the universal speed limit; nothing can go faster than light. The knowledge of light-years is crucial to understanding the images that we see in the night sky. These images are not of the celestial bodies as they currently exist, but as they once were, […] Continue reading →

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The myth of travelling at Light Speed

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Liam Prescott

3*10^8 m/s. Wow. It’s practically impossible to conceptualize something moving 300 thousand Kilometers every single second, but believe it or not photons are doing this as we speak. To put this blistering pace into perspective, the distance from the North Pole to the South Pole is about 20,000 kilometers. Not even close to the length […] Continue reading →

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The Incredible Size of Our Universe

Posted on January 22, 2023 by sahilreddy2

The image above is an artist’s illustration of everything in the observable universe. I find this image very interesting as it shows the scale increasing starting with our solar system and going out to galaxies, superclusters, our local group and further. This makes me realize how small we truly are in comparison to the universe […] Continue reading →

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We Already Have a Time Machine

Posted on January 22, 2023 by araceal

People say time traveling doesnt exist. They are skeptical we are able to break every law of physics we grew up learning. But, if we really think about it, we have a time machine right in front of us: a telescope. What is a light year? Don’t be confused with the word ‘year’ being in […] Continue reading →

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Up Above The World So High

Posted on January 22, 2023 by reachforthestarsbysam

A blog about observing the night sky over and over. Wanna read more on this long-exposure picture? Click here! Through reading the textbook this past week, I was enlightened about what it would be like to observe the night sky hour after hour, night after night, and year after year. Before taking this course (and one […] Continue reading →

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Eclipses & Wildlife

Posted on January 22, 2023 by brandodan

During our discussion of solar eclipses in last Thursday’s lecture, we focused mostly on the astronomical concepts behind how and why they occur. As well, there was a brief discussion on what one would experience inside the path of totality for those short 7 or so minutes during a total solar eclipse. Following this lecture, […] Continue reading →

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Blog 1 – The “Great American Eclipse” Experience

Posted on January 22, 2023 by constellationsarentreal

Back in 2017, my school allotted class time for observing the total solar eclipse that (conveniently) passed through Nashville. Many of my classmates (including me) didn’t fully realize how significant this was until our observation. The brief two and a half minutes of totality was awe inspiring. What struck me most was the terrestrial reaction […] Continue reading →

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The Scale of the Universe and Us

Posted on January 22, 2023 by cuia2

     Reading the graphic in the textbook called “Our Cosmic Address”, I got a sense for the first time of how small of a planet we live on. Earth is a typical planet rotating by a typical star we call the Sun which is only one of billions of stars in the Milky Way which is […] Continue reading →

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Minutes and seconds of arc

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Andrew Cascio

Similar to a light-year, an arcminute can be mistaken for a unit of time. An arcminute is 1/60th of a degree and an arcsecond is 1/60th of an arcminute. For example, “12 degrees, 50 arcminutes, and 29 arcseconds” is written as 12° 50′ 29”. As units of angular measurement, arcminutes and arcseconds allow for more […] Continue reading →

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Blog1: Chinese summer solstice

Posted on January 22, 2023 by lucasliu6

The summer solstice occurs when one of Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt toward the sun. Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been viewed as a significant time of year in lots of cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. About the Chinese summer solstice: In ancient China, this was the time for […] Continue reading →

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