Category Archives: Stars

Tycho’s Supernova Shifting World Views

Posted on March 7, 2023 by noahherrero

Tycho Brahe, quite a prominent astronomer in the 16th century, is one of the most well known individuals to have sighted a new light filling the night sky. This strange appearance is now known as SN-1572 or more colloquially Tycho’s Supernova, and is revolutionary towards how we view the night sky. Historically speaking, this change […] Continue reading →

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Keeping Stars Alive

Posted on March 7, 2023 by noahherrero

How exactly do stars live? Above is an image of the sun given by SOHO, which is an extraordinarily massive object, which due to that possesses a very large gravitational pull, not just on others but also on itself. Everything that has mass possesses this trait, however these bodies are either two light, or are […] Continue reading →

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M45 – The Seven Sisters

Posted on February 28, 2023 by 7smessier45

Hey, y’all, and welcome back!  Today, we’re taking a quick jaunt outside our solar system to visit the Pleiades. This grouping of stars–commonly referred to as Messier 45 (M45)–is one of my favorite observables and can be best viewed in January–but the cluster is easily visible from late fall through the winter. The cluster is […] Continue reading →

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Nuclear Fusion

Posted on February 27, 2023 by zws42

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers our sun, as well as all the other stars in the Universe. At the most basic level, nuclear fusion is the combination of two light atomic nuclei to form a heavier one along with a release of energy. This reaction is governed by Einstein’s E=mc^2 equation, where some […] Continue reading →

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Sextants – Then and Now

Posted on February 12, 2023 by 7smessier45

Humans have navigated the open ocean for thousands of years; among the first to do so were the aboriginal Australians and Polynesian seafarers about 50,000 years ago. More recently–but still a few hundred years ago–celestial navigation by Western cultures relied on a navigator’s understanding of the stars (and other heavenly bodies, including the sun), the […] Continue reading →

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Our Lady of Guadalupe

Posted on February 11, 2023 by oilrigatoni

To me, one of the most interesting historical phenomena related to the cosmos occurred in modern day Mexico in the year 1531. This is just after the Spaniards had conquered much of the region through bloodshed and war. However, one moment of peace emerged from the area. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a well-known image […] Continue reading →

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Blog One – Night Sky Observing

Posted on January 21, 2023 by 7smessier45

In my first post, I briefly mentioned the international dark sky association. This association advocates for the protection of the night sky by leading the fight against light pollution through their efforts at the grassroots up to the international level.  Although cultures around the world have looked up at the night sky for millennia, in […] Continue reading →

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When the Sun Dies

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

All good things must come to an end, including the ancient (at least relative to humanity), life-giving star we see each day. Even though the sun is considered a young star, it still has a finite lifetime, and it will eventually “die” in about 5 billion years. The image above shows a rough timeline of […] Continue reading →

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blog post 03

Posted on March 22, 2022 by graceward02

Nuclear fusion reactions power stars. In nuclear fusion, 2 atoms’ nuclei merge and form a heavier single nucleus. The leftover mass becomes energy. In stars like the Sun, this is generally the transformation of Hydrogen to Helium (proton-proton chain). Other, more massive stars, use the CNO cycle (uses more elements) to accomplish energy transformation. The […] Continue reading →

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Kepler Supernova

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

The image above is of Kepler’s Supernova, which Johannes Kepler is credited with discovering with his description of the stellar object in his De Stella Nova. As stars progress through their main sequence lifetime and beyond and use up more of their hydrogen in nuclear fusion, they can fuse heavier and heavier elements. More massive […] Continue reading →

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