Daily Archives: February 12, 2023

Blog Post 2: Celestial Navigation

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Myles7235

In order to navigate the vast seas when traveling in today’s time, we can easily use modern technology to pinpoint exactly where we are in the ocean. A prime example of this type of technology would be GPS systems. However, GPS systems haven’t been around forever. Celestial navigation is the art of determining both the […] Continue reading →

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Sextants – Then and Now

Posted on February 12, 2023 by 7smessier45

Humans have navigated the open ocean for thousands of years; among the first to do so were the aboriginal Australians and Polynesian seafarers about 50,000 years ago. More recently–but still a few hundred years ago–celestial navigation by Western cultures relied on a navigator’s understanding of the stars (and other heavenly bodies, including the sun), the […] Continue reading →

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Powered and Unpowered Gravity Assists

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Trevor Pillow

The farthest planets in the solar system are so distant, it is infeasible to reach them using only rockets. The delta-v, or change in velocity, required to propel a spacecraft to a gas giant like Saturn is far too impractical for today’s rockets to achieve. The main problem is that a spacecraft needs tons of […] Continue reading →

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The “Why?” behind Synchronous Rotation

Posted on February 12, 2023 by alicebyrnes

As we’ve discussed in class, the Moon revolves about the Earth in synchronous rotation, meaning it rotates such that the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth. Not only does the Moon do this, but all moons in our solar system do as well. (The information for this blog post is sourced here.) […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post 2 – The Doppler Effect

Posted on February 12, 2023 by constellationsarentreal

Most people have already heard of the Doppler Effect, an interesting phenomena of sound that alters the pitch of moving objects depending on their direction. The Doppler Effect functions similarly by affecting the shifts of light wavelengths. When, for example, a planet is moving toward us, its light waves will be clumped together and appear […] Continue reading →

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Why the Speed of Light May Not Be Constant

Posted on February 12, 2023 by georgeboardman20

Source: Speed of Light Properties Explained One of the biggest current paradigms in the science of astronomy is the certainty that the speed of light is constant in a vacuum. However, new research shows that this might not entirely be accurate which could have massive consequences for cosmology. Thanks to the use of lasers here on […] Continue reading →

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Black Body Radiation, analyzing the Universe at Long Distance

Posted on February 12, 2023 by noahherrero

Illustration of Supermassive BlackHole Formation (An Ideal Black Body) from GOODS Source: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Scuola Normale Superiore/Pacucci, F. et al, Illustration: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss Optical: NASA/STScI; Celestial Bodies throughout the universe are extraordinarily far away, yet despite this we are able to describe these objects with precision. The reason this is possible is because the radiation of these […] Continue reading →

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The Hubble Space Telescope

Posted on February 12, 2023 by sahilreddy2

Hubble Telescope First Light Image (May 1990) The Hubble Space Telescope was one of the most impactful inventions in furthering our understanding of the universe. Launched in 1990, this telescope provided us with detailed information of our solar system and universe. Some of the incredible discoveries the Hubble has made are determining the age of […] Continue reading →

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Retrograde… what the heck

Posted on February 12, 2023 by sadiekarr

(Diagram showing Ptolemy’s early explanation of retrograde motion) Understanding retrograde can get a little confusing. Before taking astronomy, I’d only ever heard the term used by the astrology girlies. I thought maybe it was another “constellations are not real” scenario- but retrograde is real! Early astronomer Ptolemy (c. AD 100), as he observed the night […] Continue reading →

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The Slingshot Maneuver

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Alex Diefenbach

For any of you who have seen the movie adaption of, “A Wrinkle In Time” may remember the scene where two of the protagonists hide in a tree stump in order to be thrown over a wall. Meg, one of these protagonists, has parents who work in quantum theory, so she has picked up knowledge […] Continue reading →

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