Category Archives: Light

Telescopes of All Kinds

Posted on February 11, 2018 by yadavdhruv

Telescopes allow us to view the stars, planets, galaxies, and even quasars in great detail. Before the telescope, astronomers relied on naked eye astronomy, something Tycho Brahe was very good at. It’s really fascinating to learn how these telescopes work. Essentially, there are two types of telescopes – refracting and reflecting. Refracting telescopes use two … Continue reading Telescopes of All Kinds → Continue reading →

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How do radio waves differ from visible light

Posted on February 11, 2018 by lin0214

Radio waves actually travel at the speed of light in vacuum, which is about 300,000,000 meters per second. It is fast enough for anyone on Earth to contact others on Earth in less a second. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves, so is light. The differences between light and radio waves are their frequencies and wavelengths. Wavelengths … Continue reading How do radio waves differ from visible light → Continue reading →

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How do radio waves differ from visible light

Posted on February 11, 2018 by lin0214

Radio waves actually travel at the speed of light in vacuum, which is about 300,000,000 meters per second. It is fast enough for anyone on Earth to contact others on Earth in less a second. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves, so is light. The differences between light and radio waves are their frequencies and wavelengths. Wavelengths … Continue reading How do radio waves differ from visible light → Continue reading →

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All the Light We Cannot See

Posted on February 9, 2018 by therestisstardust

Could I really claim to be interested in astronomy whatsoever if I didn’t express my overwhelming fascination with dark matter? Seriously though, I get the feeling that most people without a solid background in astronomy don’t grasp how much of a real phenomenon dark matter is. The name itself sounds like something made up from […] Continue reading →

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The Largest Telescope in the World

Posted on February 7, 2018 by maxflorsheim

Wikipedia Commons In order to allow for astronomers to observe far into space, there are numerous gigantic telescopes laid out globally. None larger than the Gran Telescopio Canarias, located on the island of La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands. As an infra-red telescope, the telescope seeks to explore questions such as the mystique surrounding […] Continue reading →

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Kessel Run in Twelve Parsecs

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Nathan Xiao

The speed of light is one of the few constants in our universe that we consistently look to when it comes to space. It is an astronomical measurement that we only dream of achieving. Seeing the Millennium Falcon shift into overdrive or the Enterprise slip into hyperdrive are only distant fantasies for us Earth-bound creatures. … Continue reading Kessel Run in Twelve Parsecs → Continue reading →

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Putting the speed of light into perspective

Posted on January 23, 2018 by terranojm

The theory of special relativity tells us that there is an absolute speed limit in the universe, that being the speed of light. At a speed of about 300,000 km/s, light takes only one second to travel to the Moon from Earth and eight minutes to travel to the Sun from Earth. This speed is … Continue reading “Putting the speed of light into perspective” Continue reading →

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2017 Solar Eclipse

Posted on January 22, 2018 by maxflorsheim

My junior year at Vanderbilt University began in the most spectacular way – witnessing a total solar eclipse through a skylight within Nashville airport, immediately upon arrival. Surrounded by a gathering of fellow traveller’s experiencing this magical moment, the moment in which the Sun was reduced to a radiant ring wrapped around the black outline […] Continue reading →

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Some facts about the speed of light

Posted on January 21, 2018 by lin0214

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second (186,282 miles per second), but this is not always the case. The speed of light, which is actually the highest speed that light can reach, has to be in a vacuum.  In other cases, light actually slows down as it passes through different media. For instance, … Continue reading Some facts about the speed of light → Continue reading →

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First Super-Earth Exoplanet with Atmosphere Discovered

Posted on April 27, 2017 by njelinek425

Earlier this month, scientists discovered the existence of an atmosphere on an exoplanet much like Earth, making this the first Earth-like exoplanet with atmosphere to have been detected aside from earth itself. The planet is named GJ 1132b, located in the constellation Vela as a planet of the low-mass star GJ 1132. The planet is […] Continue reading →

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