Category Archives: Class

The Moon and The Tides

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Alekzander Waller

Did you know that tides are caused by the Moon’s gravitational pull? (Photo from The Business Insider) Usually about every 12 hours coastal places around the world experience high and low tides in a constant cycle. This is due to the subtle pull of the Moon’s gravitational forces on the Earth’s water supply. Along the […] Continue reading →

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Satellites and Telescopes

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Michael

For this post I wanted to discuss the effect that satellites have on astronomical observations. There are many problems that limit our ability to make observations, such as light pollution, the diffraction limit, and technological limitations. Despite this, astronomers have steadily been improving their equipment and building new complex telescopes to overcome these limitations. However, […] Continue reading →

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Spectroscopy

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

Blog #2 While the role of light in our everyday lives is to make color and form visible, by studying light with spectroscopy, we can learn a surprising amount about the object that produces a certain spectrum of wavelengths. In order to understand spectroscopy, first, we must understand what light physically is. Light is composed […] Continue reading →

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Understanding Retrograde Motion

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Elias Ibrahim

the planets as seen from Earth Retrograde motion is when a planet appears to move backward in its orbit relative to the rest of the night sky. Planets such as Mars and Jupiter can be seen in retrograde motion. Retrograde motion occurs due to the movements and relative positions of other planets around the sun. […] Continue reading →

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Gravity & General Relativity

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Henry Wang

You throw something up in the air and it falls down. Why? Gravity, obviously, everyone knows that. But what really is gravity? By most common knowledge, gravity is one of the four fundamental forces, and has a lot more to it than just making things fall. Gravity actually works as an attraction between two masses, […] Continue reading →

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Blog 02 – History of Astronomy

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Mercedes

Ancient Mesopotamia is the earliest known source of modern astronomical research. Babylonian MUL.APIN texts provide data on stars’ locations and celestial descriptions dated to 1200 BCE. The group used their fingers and 360 units (comparable to modern 360 degrees) to chart the sky, distances, and celestial movement and occurrences. They used their star passages to […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Justinc

A portrait of Galileo Galilei

Importance to Astronomy – Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) contributed many findings related to astronomy, a few include: He took a spyglass and improved upon it so that… Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Michael

Tycho Brahe: 12/14/1546 – 10/14/1601 Brahe has been described as the greatest astronomer before the invention of the telescope. He was devoted towards building new measurement instruments with unprecedented levels of accuracy, which were necessary for his discoveries. A few of his most notable observations include the annual variation in the orbital speed of the […] Continue reading →

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Historical Figures in Context

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Elias Ibrahim

The dates of birth and death for major astronomical figures. Nicolaus Copernicus/Born: February 19, 1473. Died: May 24, 1543 Galileo Galilei/Born: February 15, 1564 Died: January 8, 1642 Johannes Kepler/Born: December 27, 1571. Died: November 15, 1630 Isaac Newton/Born: January 4, 1643. Died: March 31, 1727 Tycho Brahe/Born: December 14, 1546 Died: October 24, 1601 […] Continue reading →

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Sextants in Celestial Navigation

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Leo Silva

Blog #2 – Leo Celestial navigation– also known as “astronavigation”– is a practice of nearly 4,000 years (HistoryHit, How Celestial Navigation Changed Maritime History) where an individual can determine their location in space or the Earth’s surface using the positions of other celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon, other planets, and stars. Throughout history, […] Continue reading →

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