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Author Archives: rtjobe
The Final Frontier
We live quite cozily on our happy little planet we call Earth. Our own solar system has 8 planets including Earth, and 613,152 confirmed minor planets. Our best estimates say that the Milky Way galaxy has anywhere from 100 to 400 billion other stars in it, most of which have planets around them. To put […] Continue reading
The Meaning of the Drake Equation
The Drake equation was originally created by (and is named after) astronomer Frank Drake. Given the values of a number of variables, his equation may be used to estimate the number of species in the galaxy capable of interstellar communication. Drake’s proposed equation is as follows: N = R * fp * ne * fl […] Continue reading
The K-Pg Event, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Exterminate the Dinosaurs
Also known as the K-T Event, its name is derived from the German words for Cretaceous and Paleogene. It has been a long-held belief by scientists that it was an impact by a large comet or asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs. Fossil records indicate that 66 million years ago, almost 75% of life on […] Continue reading
The Galilean Moons
The Galilean moons of Jupiter are in order of distance Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They are the four largest and most prominent of the 67 moons orbiting Jupiter, these four moons are some of the largest moons in the solar system–Callisto and Ganymede are even larger than Mercury, while Io and Europa are smaller […] Continue reading
The Carrington Event
Imagine that it’s 1am and you’re lying in your bed, when suddenly it begins to get lighter out–as if the sun is already rising. Birds are chirping, men are waking up confused, and aurorae can be seen in skies across the entire world. This phenomenon is what people around the world experienced on the morning […] Continue reading
Nuclear Fusion and the Stars
Nuclear fusion, the process by which two atoms collide to form a single larger atom, has been fueling stars since the beginning of star formation. At most distances apart, two protons will naturally repel each other due to the fact that both are positive charges, and the Electromagnetic force between them pushes them apart; however, […] Continue reading
Dark Matter and the Missing Mass Problem
We have a huge problem. Like a we-seem-to-be-missing-95%-of-the-universe kind of problem. If you look at the way that galaxies are constructed you will notice that they are very bright in the center and tend to get dimmer as you travel outward, indicating there must be more mass in the center than the outside. This would […] Continue reading
Archeoastronomy and Stonehenge
Archeoastronomy is not as the name at first implies a study of ancient astronomy, but rather the study of how astronomy affected early civilizations. In a sense, it is a combination of astronomy, anthropology, and history with respect to ancient cultures. Archeoastronomers look at a variety of types of evidence in their efforts to determine […] Continue reading
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Tagged Archeoastronomy, astro201, blog3, stonehenge
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Historical Astronomers in Context – Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a 17th century astronomer born in the city of Weil der Stadt in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is today Germany. He is best known for his discovery of the elliptical orbits of planets and his planetary laws of motion. These three laws explained that the planets orbited the sun […] Continue reading
Posted in Historical
Tagged astro201, HW6, Kepler
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Mysterious as the Dark Side of the Moon
If you’ve ever watched the Disney movie Mulan, then you’ve heard the phrase “mysterious as the dark side of the moon.” This is a pretty common–although somewhat incorrect–phrase to say that something is unknown, much like the side of the moon that we can’t see. The moon is in synchronous orbit with the Earth, meaning […] Continue reading