Category Archives: General

A Semester of Astronomy Class, A Year of Astronomy Photos

Posted on April 26, 2013 by eaangel

This video is a compilation of photos taken throughout 2012 from Chumack Observatories taken by astrophotographer John Chumack.  Watching this video and seeing all of these photos really gives me a perspective on how much I’ve learned this semester.  Before … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Space junk

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Megan C

After 60 years of sending things into space, the number of satellites, rocket stages, and pieces of debris floating around the Earth is gigantic.  As that number continues to increase, the number of collisions between these objects is expected to increase too. We don’t think much about space junk. I guess we just hear about […] Continue reading →

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The toughest animal on the planet

Posted on April 9, 2013 by fathomingthestars

Most creatures require a specific set of conditions to survive: a certain amount of oxygen, temperature, pressure, food, etc.  However, some animals can live in conditions so extreme they kill almost everything else.  These animals are called, fittingly, extremophiles.  One extremophile is the tardigrade, more commonly called water bears or moss piglets. In general, tardigrades […] Continue reading →

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A Young Black Hole?

Posted on February 19, 2013 by mirandaskunz

As viewed from Earth, most black holes are about 17,000 to 21,000 years old. Recently, however, NASA scientists discovered what may be an infant black hole (pictured below). This black hole is only about 1,000 years old as seen from Earth and is located 26,000 light years away. It is left over from the supernova […] Continue reading →

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A Young Black Hole?

Posted on February 19, 2013 by mirandaskunz

As viewed from Earth, most black holes are about 17,000 to 21,000 years old. Recently, however, NASA scientists discovered what may be an infant black hole (pictured below). This black hole is only about 1,000 years old as seen from Earth and is located 26,000 light years away. It is left over from the supernova […] Continue reading →

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Space Food

Posted on February 18, 2013 by ndtidol

Eating in a zero gravity environment can be quite tricky. Before astronauts had refrigerators and freezers in space, the preservation of food limited the size of the menu. Only nonperishables […] Continue reading →

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The 13th Sign of the Zodiac

Posted on January 28, 2013 by JT McJunkins

The zodiac system was first developed roughly 2,500 years ago in ancient Babylonia. Unfortunately, the astronomers who first developed the system did not know about the precession of the Earth’s axial tilt. Even after this precession was known, W… Continue reading →

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The Cosmic Calendar

Posted on January 24, 2013 by eaangel

This image was taken from the personal blog of Michael Arney.  It is an image of the explanation that the famous astronomer Carl Sagan gave to enable the public to grasp “the immensity of time” and the Cosmic Calendar.  In … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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King of the Galaxies

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Megan C

It’s hard to imagine things on a galactic scale. I have trouble just picturing how big the Earth really is. Now try imagining something larger than Earth, larger than the Solar System, and larger than our entire galaxy. That’s this guy, NGC 6872. It’s a spiral galaxy five times the larger than the Milky Way. It […] Continue reading →

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