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Category Archives: Light
The Other Side of a Black Hole
Based on Einstein’s theory of relativity, black holes have a theoretical opposite know as “white holes”. Rather than it being impossible for matter to exit (as is the case with black holes), it would be impossible for matter to enter a white hole. Physically, it would look very similar to a black hole: the only […] Continue reading
The Atmosphere as we know it
The atmosphere is split into four different layers: the troposphere, the stratosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer and is where greenhouse gasses absorb the infrared light and where storms occur. The stratosphere absorbs solar ultraviolet light by ozone, Earth is the only planet to have this layer. The thermosphere […] Continue reading
Posted in Class, Light, Terrestrials
Tagged astro2110, Atmosphere, blog4, earth, Solar System
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The Moon Illusion
We saw a really cool picture of the Moon during class that was taken when it was near the horizon with an ancient Greek temple in front of it. The Moon looked unusually large, and I wanted to know more. The reason for the Moon appearing much larger when it is rising and setting is […] Continue reading
Posted in Class, Light, Observables
Tagged astro2110, blog4, earth, Moon, Solar System: Moons
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Evidence for Understanding
I want to talk about an aspect of light that doesn’t make the most sense to me, and that is how we receive it. Thinking about sight abstractly, we cannot really comprehend at all times what we are seeing are particles of light. To us, our visual environment is our reality. Learning about how the […] Continue reading
The Wave-Particle Duality of Light
In common perception, most things in our universe fall into two fundamental categories: energy and matter. Energy could be electricity, heat, sound waves, or kinetic motion. Matter is generally a descriptor of things made up from atoms, such as planets or stars or humans ourselves. However, looking at these on a more fundamental level, the […] Continue reading
Blog Post 2 – The Doppler Effect
Most people have already heard of the Doppler Effect, an interesting phenomena of sound that alters the pitch of moving objects depending on their direction. The Doppler Effect functions similarly by affecting the shifts of light wavelengths. When, for example, a planet is moving toward us, its light waves will be clumped together and appear […] Continue reading
Why the Speed of Light May Not Be Constant
Source: Speed of Light Properties Explained One of the biggest current paradigms in the science of astronomy is the certainty that the speed of light is constant in a vacuum. However, new research shows that this might not entirely be accurate which could have massive consequences for cosmology. Thanks to the use of lasers here on […] Continue reading
The polarization of light
Light waves travel through electric and magnetic fields that vibrate perpendicular from each other. As an electromagnetic wave, like all waves, light’s vibration has a direction along with its frequency and wavelength. We often imagine waves moving up and down vertically, like a wave on the shore, but this is not always the case. Specifically, […] Continue reading
Posted in Light, Observables, Physics
Tagged astro2110, blog2
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Gravitational Lensing!
In class, we’ve been diving into the world of gravity and light. We have covered Newton’s laws of motion and the effects of gravity in our universe. As well, we’ve explored how light behaves and travels through space. Now I want to introduce another intriguing topic that combines the two –gravitational lensing! Gravitational lensing occurs […] Continue reading
Post 1
Like other electromagnetic particles, light has a specific velocity at which it travels. Further, it is presumed to be the fastest theoretical speed of any particle. The speed of light–referred to as “c” in a vacuum–is roughly 300,000,000 m/s. Since it moves so fast, most people never observe light as a moving particle or something […] Continue reading