Archives
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- July 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
Currently Used Categories
Tag Cloud
- astro201
- astro2110
- astrobiology
- astronomy
- blog1
- blog2
- blog3
- blog4
- blog5
- blog6
- blog7
- blog8
- blog9
- blog10
- brahe
- Class
- Comets
- Copernicus
- earth
- Europa
- extremophiles
- galilei
- galileo
- gravity
- history
- HW2
- HW6
- jupiter
- Kepler
- life
- Mars
- me
- Moon
- NASA
- Newton
- planets
- pluto
- saturn
- Solar System
- space
- technology
- telescopes
- tides
- Time
- Uncategorized
Category Archives: Light
Just how small… or big… am I?
The Known Universe This video really puts into perspective the true size of the observable universe. Some say this makes us insignificant, but I disagree. I think that our ability to map the nature of the universe to such an extent makes us quite significant! Realize that everything we know about the universe came solely from… Continue reading
Faster than the Speed of Light
In summer of 2013, the New York Times published an article about NASA’s (then) newest project. Physicists and engineers were trying to determine whether “warp drive” might one day be possible. Warp drive, for those of you who are not Trekkies, is traveling faster than the speed of light or 3.0 x 10^5 km/s, and thus far […] Continue reading
Posted in Instruments, Light, Space Travel
Tagged astro201, blog1, speedoflight, upupandaway
Comments Off on Faster than the Speed of Light
William Herschel believes in ghosts!
picture from: www.redorbit.com One of my favorite moments in the Neil deGrasse Tyson-hosted show Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey takes place in the first moments of one of the first few episodes. It “flashes back” to the early 1800’s, showing a cartoon involving the famous astronomer William Herschel and his young son, John, walking along the […] Continue reading
Blog Post #1: What would happen if you threw a baseball at the speed of light?
This web page gives us the answer. Basically, if any object with mass were moving at that speed, especially within our …
Traveling Faster Than The Speed of Light
Can you possibly travel at a speed faster than the speed of light? Scientists think it might be possible even without violating Einstein’s theory that the speed of light is the “galactic speed limit.” Some theoretical models show that in the early stages of the universe, right after the Big Bang, space expanded at a […] Continue reading
Posted in Class, Light, Space Travel
Tagged astro201, blog1, spacetravel, warpdrive
Comments Off on Traveling Faster Than The Speed of Light
Light Travel Time and Observing Extraterrestrial Life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope#mediaviewer/File:NASA-HS201427a-HubbleUltraDeepField2014-20140603.jpg A topic that has really intrigued me is the speed of light and the time it takes for light to travel. The above image was taken by the Hubble Space telescope of galaxies billions of light years away. Some of these galaxies even extend back in time to only a few hundred million years of […] Continue reading
Posted in Aliens, Light, Observables
Tagged Andromeda, astro201, blog1, extraterrestrial
Comments Off on Light Travel Time and Observing Extraterrestrial Life
Warp Drive: Science Fiction or Future Reality?
This video segment explores the possibilities of creating a warp drive spacecraft that isn’t bound by the cosmic speed limit of lightspeed. The idea highlighted in the video is that fluctuations in spacetime itself would propel the spacecraft, as opposed to the spacecraft propelling itself through space. This complex theoretical process is described in the […] Continue reading
Posted in Light, Space Travel
Tagged astro201, blog9, technology, Warp Drive
Comments Off on Warp Drive: Science Fiction or Future Reality?
A Different Kind Vacation
During several of our classes we have taken time to watch videos and view pictures of aurora. All that kept going through my head was where I can go to see this and this would be great for a vacation. I found a Huffington Post article about aurora. In it the writer states that the […] Continue reading
Aurora
The Aurora, both Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, is an incredibly beautiful phenomenon that is the result of important characteristics of our planet and its atmosphere. It is actually a result of electrically charged particles from the sun entering our … Continue reading → Continue reading
Aurora
The Earth has a magnetosphere that protects us from charged solar particles coming from the sun. However, some charged particles manage to penetrate the magnetosphere. These then follow the magnetic lines of our magnetosphere. If these gain enough energy they can travel down into Earth’s atmosphere. Here they hit atoms and molecules, causing them to […] Continue reading