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Author Archives: eschellhase
Bon Courage
The stars are a source of courage to me, have been for a long time. My dad would point out the constellations to us and Mars. On Fall evenings they were there to greet me after soccer practice. I would get out of the car to open the gate into our driveway, my legs sore […]
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Voyager: Message in a Bottle
Voyager I and Voyager II were launched from Earth towards the outskirts of the Solar System in 1977. Each was sent for exploration. They have taken many beautiful pictures of planets we had never seen up close. Also, on each satellite was a golden record. This record contained a representation of all of mankind, all of […]
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Astronomy Jargon
Some words I like. Here are some words I’ve encountered in astronomy I had not known elsewhere. Barycenter–The point of the center of mass between two or more bodies. Lagrangian points–Zones around the sun where an object placed there will orbit the sun relative the the Earth’s orbital progression. “Dwarf Planet”–The International Astronomical Union always […]
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Interiors of Jovian Planets
Jovian planets also go by the name of giant planets. In our solar system we have Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Their interiors look much different than the interiors of the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus, the Moon). Earth contains a metallic, solid core. As a kid I grew up hearing that the gas […]
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Aurora
The Earth has a magnetosphere that protects us from charged solar particles coming from the sun. However, some charged particles manage to penetrate the magnetosphere. These then follow the magnetic lines of our magnetosphere. If these gain enough energy they can travel down into Earth’s atmosphere. Here they hit atoms and molecules, causing them to […]
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Why is there water on the Earth?
By the current model of solar system formation, the solar system formed according to what materials condense at which distances. Near the center of the solar system nothing could condense because it was so hot. It was also very dense there, and this was where the sun formed. Farther out from the center, rocky and […]
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Posted in Class
Tagged astro201, blog5, Solar System
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X-ray Telescopes
Light comes at many different wavelengths and energies. The light we see represents light with wavelength from about 400 to 700 nanometers. Infrared light and radiowaves have longer wavelengths (and thus carry less energy) than visible light, while UV rays and x-rays and gamma rays have shorter wavelengths (and carry higher energy). Even though we […]
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Thinking about History: Tycho Brahe
Life: Tycho Brahe was born 19 February (10 days from now!) 1473 and died 24 May 1543. Contributions to Astronomy: He greatly improved astronomical measurements. As well as making very precise observations himself, he introduced methods and instruments which universally made measurements more accurate. Also, he observed objects in the sky at various points in […]
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Posted in Class, Historical
Tagged astro201, HW6
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Observing the Sky: Star Parties
“The tires crunched on the gravelly road. ‘How do I know where it is?’ said Mrs. Kelly. ‘It’s so dark.’ ‘Look for the red lights,’ said Mi-Su. . . . Up ahead–spots of red. ‘Lights out,’ said Mi-Su. The headlights went out. Only the red spots were visible now. Some moving, some still. ‘Back at […]
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The Vast Universe
The Universe is immense. When we look up into the sky at night we can see about 2000 stars. These stars are all native to the Milky Way Galaxy. Our galaxy in and of itself contains 300 billion stars. If we use a telescope we see more stars in our own galaxy and beyond the […]
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