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Category Archives: Historical
Finding the Way with the Stars
It is amazing for me to think about the human race finding their way before the invention of the modern GPS. While Google Maps and Waze are modern conveniences accessible to all with a smartphone, the sky has a long standing tradition of helping people find their way. In ancient times, sailors would… Continue reading Finding the Way with the Stars
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Posted in Historical
Tagged astro2110, blog2, celestialnavigation, technology
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Blog 2-Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy is defined as the branch of archaeology that deals with the “apparent use by prehistoric civilizations of astronomical techniques to establish the seasons or the cycle of the year, especially as evidenced in the construction of megaliths and other ritual structures” (Source). As such, studying how ancient cultures studied and interacted with space and celestial objects can help us understand more…
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Posted in Class, Historical
Tagged archaeoastronomy, astro2110, blog2, Uncategorized
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Archaeoastronomy
The study of the astronomical knowledge and achievements of these prehistoric cultures is called archaeoastronomy.
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Posted in Class, Historical, Observables
Tagged archaeoastronomy, astro2110, blog2, stonehenge, Time
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The Zodiacal Constellations
What are the origins of the zodiac and why are the signs different now?
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Posted in Class, Historical, Universe
Tagged astro2110, blog1, Constellations, Ophiuchus, Zodiac
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The Fermi Paradox
As Arthur C. Clarke once famously said, “Two possibilities exist. Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” This quote is relates in a very basic way to the Fermi Paradox. The paradox is that through the Drake Equation and the sheer size of the universe, there should […]
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What’s Next?
Wow. In these last few months, we have gone over the entire cosmic calendar. The last topic of the class, life elsewhere in the universe, covered stuff that hasn’t even happened on this calendar yet. In this class, I really believe I’ve learned a lot of material, rather than memorizing a lot. Studying for this upcoming… More What’s Next?
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Posted in Historical
Tagged astro2110, blog9, cosmic calendar, Uncategorized
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A ~Record~ of Life on Earth
Before sending the Voyager spacecraft off into space in 1977, Carl Sagan and his team insisted on including a “bottle” to send off into the “cosmic ocean.” This message to potential intelligent life in the universe is contained in the Voyager record, a 12 inch golden record meant to encapsulate life on Earth. The record […]
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Tagged astro2110, blog9, Carl Sagan, spacecraft, technology, Uncategorized, voyager
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Speaking of Big Craters…
The Chicxulub crater is a crater buried underneath the Yucatan Peninsula which is suspected to be the location of the impact of the meteor which wiped out the dinosaurs. The crater is more than 180km in diameter and 20km in depth. Estimates place the size of the impacting meteor to be at least 10km in […]
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Speaking of Big Craters…
The Chicxulub crater is a crater buried underneath the Yucatan Peninsula which is suspected to be the location of the impact of the meteor which wiped out the dinosaurs. The crater is more than 180km in diameter and 20km in depth. Estimates place the size of the impacting meteor to be at least 10km in […] Continue reading
The Crab Nebula
When a star dies, it goes supernova and shoots everything that it was once made of across space. The explosion that formed the Crab Nebula was first documented by the Chinese in 1054 AD. Though, you didn’t need to be an astronomer to recognize the explosion or its resulting nebula. The Crab Nebula was visible for […]
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