Author Archives: Andrew Cascio

The polarization of light

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Andrew Cascio

Light waves travel through electric and magnetic fields that vibrate perpendicular from each other. As an electromagnetic wave, like all waves, light’s vibration has a direction along with its frequency and wavelength. We often imagine waves moving up and down vertically, like a wave on the shore, but this is not always the case. Specifically, […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Andrew Cascio

Johannes Kepler: As a young apprentice of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler had years of naked-eye observations to make discoveries with. Between the discrepancies surrounding Tycho’s observations and the Copernican belief that planetary orbits are perfect circles, Kepler surmised that planetary orbits are ellipses. He took his discoveries and named three laws of planetary motion that […] 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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Hello,

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Andrew Cascio

I’m Andrew. I study computer science and mathematics here at Vanderbilt. I’ve been watching The Office a lot recently. Continue reading →

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