Examining Historical Astronomy Through the Lens of Fiction

Posted on February 27, 2021 by alliefrymire

Humans have been studying the skies for millennia with our theories about how space works evolving and growing over the same amount of time. Today, our understanding of astronomy is based primarily on natural and mathematical laws that allow us to evaluate and understand the heavens objectively. However, humanity’s understanding of astronomy has not always been so scientific. I want to look closely at a few historical conceptions of astronomy, namely celestial spheres, the geocentric model of the universe, and astrology, and evaluate them through the lens of a piece of fiction in which all of these now-debunked concepts hold true: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a fantasy RPG video game set in an entirely fictional universe ruled by magic rather than science. The world in which this game takes place is filled to the brim with rich and complex lore, including lore about how astronomy works in-game. Consider this illustration that depicts the actual model of the cosmos in The Elder Scrolls universe.

This awesome illustration was created by the artist Okiir. You can find this piece, as well as the artist’s other works, at their DeviantArt site.

The Elder Scrolls universe is an example of a geocentric universe, with Nirn (The Elder Scroll‘s version of Earth) lying right in the center of the cosmos. Moreover, the “celestial spheres” model of cosmology is also utilized, with stars being holes in the celestial sphere called Aetherius, rather than actual fusion-powered balls of plasma as they are in our universe.

What’s most interesting is the power and influence of astrology in The Elder Scrolls. There are thirteen constellations, each with their own corresponding months; those born within a constellation’s month are considered to born under the sign of that constellation. Unlike our own universe’s astrology, which has been reduced to a pseudoscience, one’s astrological sign in The Elder Scrolls has a major influence on one’s characteristics and life path. For example, those born under the sign of The Lady are kind and tolerant, while those born under the sign of The Thief are risk-takers who seldom live as long as those born under other signs. (If you are curious and want to know more about the zodiac of The Elder Scrolls, you can find more information here.)

It’s interesting to note just how many hoops the creators of The Elder Scrolls had to jump through to make a geocentric universe comprised of celestial spheres in which astrology dictates the course of people’s lives and personalities. I’ve read lots (and lots and lots) of articles and in-game books trying to explain the function of The Elder Scrolls cosmos scientifically, but it’s pretty much impossible. All of the deviations from our own universe are pretty much just brushed under the rug under the guise of “magic”. Of course, the magic (and all that the existence of magic entails) is really what makes The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim so fun, but it also makes it wildly scientifically inaccurate.

Examining the connections between The Elder Scrolls and real astronomical theories of history makes me appreciate our modern understandings of the universe so much more. Instead of being condemned to an early grave by my astrological sign or being burnt to a crisp by a dragon, I can spend my time studying astronomy as a science rather than a pseudoscience. I certainly love The Elder Scrolls, but I couldn’t be happier to live in a universe that actually makes scientific sense!

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Gravity of a Mysterious Object

Posted on February 27, 2021 by lorenzchen14

Credit: Caltech/R.Hurt (IPAC)

We know that there are 8 planets in the Solar System. This is a fact. You would be crazy to think that there is a 9th planet out there orbiting beyond Pluto. After all, if there was a 9th planet, why haven’t we seen it yet? Well, meet Konstantin Batygin, a professor of planetary science at Cal Tech. He believes that there is a huge planet 5 times the size of Earth that has not been discovered yet.

The first question that must be addressed of course is why we haven’t seen the mysterious planet. To answer this, we need to discuss light and telescopes. With the planet so far away, it only reflects a very small portion of the Sun’s light, and thus can only be seen with the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. In class, Dr.G mentioned how it is difficult to get time on large and powerful telescopes. This is the same case with the Subaru Telescope, as Professor Batygin only gets 3 days out of the year to search the entire sky for an extremely small light source.

As for the evidence to why a 9th planet could exist, the answer lies in gravity. We know from Kepler’s laws that gravity affects the orbits of celestial objects. Batygin and his team discovered that Sedna, an object 3/4ths the size of Pluto, has an irregular orbit that takes 11,000 years to complete. This means that Sedna was being influenced by an additional gravitational force other than the Sun. 6 other Kuiper belt objects were found to be pulled in the same direction as Sedna, indicating a massive external gravitational force exerting itself on these objects. Batygin believes that this object could be another planet, while other scientists have proposed the source as a primordial black hole. If this object is indeed another planet, our Solar System will again regain its status as a 9-planet system.

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Blog #2: Archaeoastronomy at El Castillo

Posted on February 27, 2021 by mattj3
Image of El Castillo Temple in Chichen Itza

El Castillo, also known as The Temple of Kukulcan, is a ceremonial structure in service to the Mayan deity of Kukulcan, ” the feathered serpent god”. The mesoamerican temple is the central architectural structure of the Chichen Itza archeological site located in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, and was constructed by the Maya around 800 CE. This structure although religiously significant to the Maya, also demonstrates their astronomical knowledge. First of which, the structure acts as a physical demonstration of their Mayan Calendar. On each of the 4 sides of the building there is a set of staircases, facing the cardinal directions, with exactly 91 steps leading to top and final communal stair for a total of 365 stairs or the total number of days in their calendar. Also the structure is compose of 18 terraces equalling the number of months in their year.

Also, on the Fall and Spring equinoxes the position of the Sun cast an image over the stairs of the temple. During those periods the sun is at such an angle where the terraces of the temple block the Sun’s light only allowing certain sections of light to pass through and illuminate segments along the staircase. These areas passing down the staircase form the body of a serpent and as they reach the end of the stairs they meet with a sculpted snake head at the base of the monument to form the full serpent. This occurrence, know as the descent of the serpent, is seen in the photo below.

Image of El Castillo during the “serpent’s descent”
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Eppur Si Muove

Posted on February 26, 2021 by wendyyb

… were the words (supposedly) quietly uttered by Galileo following his trial with the Catholic church. The Church disapproved of his support of the Copernican system which depicted the Sun being at the center of our solar system with Earth orbiting it. This contrasted with the Church’s view that we were at the center of our universe and that all things, including the Sun, revolved around us.

            But in contrast to the classic science vs. religion clash, the man responsible for the Copernican system, Nicolaus Copernicus, actually maintained a very positive relationship with the Church for much of his lifetime. In fact, according to The Christian Science Monitor, Copernicus even spent time serving as “a canon of the cathedral chapter of Frombork … and he served the church of Warmia as a medical advisor”. Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic church initially accepted Copernicus’ ideas surrounding heliocentricity but, following criticism and opposition from the Protestant church, the Catholic church ultimately banned Copernicus’ book in 1616. Oddly enough, as more evidence supporting heliocentricity arose, the Protestant church began to support Copernicus’ work but the Catholic church did not follow suit until 1822, when the bans were lifted on Copernican views.

Nikolaus Kopernikus.jpg
Nicolaus Copernicus via Wikipedia

            Learning this lead me to wonder why there is such heavy emphasis on the Church vs. science conflict when, in reality, the dynamics were not as black and white as often presented. Additionally, I wonder about what caused the Catholic church to hold on to Copernicus’ beliefs for so long, but later, be so hesitant to return to them. What are your thoughts? Please share below (:

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waves and particles and dualities oh my

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Peter Taylor

What is light? It’s a simple question, really. And simple questions have simple answers, right?

Sometimes they do, yes.

Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon cover art depicting light refracting through a prism

But, tragically, this time it doesn’t.

Most people know light acts light a wave. It refracts (thanks Pink Floyd), reflects, and diffracts just light waves are supposed to. Similarly, the electromagnetic spectrum illustrates the wave-like properties of light. Different forms of light (infrared, visible, ultraviolet, etc.) have different wavelengths and frequencies which can found in the glorious equation of fλ = c, where f is frequency, λ is wavelength, and c is the speed of light.

So light acts like a wave – this much we know. But is that the end of this unfortunately long story. By now I hope you can guess that no, it is not.

illustration of the photoelectric effect

The light-as-only-a-wave theory worked very well until some scientists discovered the photoelectric effect. Essentially, an experiment showed that when light was shined onto a sheet of metal, some of the electrons that were initially on the sheet were ejected off in response to the stream of light. This ejection of electrons was then called the photoelectric effect. Given the photoelectric effect, scientists hypothesized that light existed in discrete packets of energy, called photons. When these photons struck the metal sheet, their energy was absorbed by an electron, which was then ejected from the sheet. Therefore, people concluded that light, in addition to acting as a wave, acts like a particle.

So, is light a wave? Yes.

Is light a stream of discrete particles? Also yes.

It is both? Technically, also yes.

Is it neither? At this point, honestly who knows.

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Tides and the Planets

Posted on February 26, 2021 by brynicdew
What Does It Mean When The Planets Align? Not A Whole Lot, Unfortunately, But Here's What People Think
Idealized Planetary Alignment

Primarily, the tides on Earth are controlled by the Moon. The gravitational pull of the Moon causes the tides to fluctuate between high and low. Though small, even the Sun has a tiny impact on the tides. Whenever both the Moon and the Sun align, the tidal range, However, what about the other celestial bodies in our Solar System? If both the Sun and the Moon influence the Earth’s tides, shouldn’t the other planets also have a gravitational influence on the tides. The answer is yes, but it is practically negligible. Jupiter, the largest planet, has a gravitational pull on the tides about 64,000 times smaller than the Moon. Surprisingly, the planet with the strongest tidal influence is Venus, although it is still 27,000 times smaller than the Moon. When it comes to the tides, the planets can’t even match up to the Sun, much less the Moon.

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The Thirty Meter Telescope

Posted on February 26, 2021 by mwdobson3
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)

Currently, the largest single-aperture telescope in the world, the Gran Telescopio Canarias, spans 10.4 meters (about 32 feet). This telescope can see 500 million light-years deep into space, which was thought to be impossible out of a single, segmented reflecting telescope until it was built in 2006. While 10.4 meters is large, astronomers worldwide felt that they wanted to see deeper into space. They wanted a massive, extremely large telescope (ELT) with a width of THIRTY (30) meters that can see 13 billion light-years into space.

TMT Diagram

The so-called Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) would cost $1.4 billion, and the initial design started almost 15 years ago. Several issues involving location selection and permit approval for TMT have slowed down construction considerably. The main issue is that the massive mirror’s preferred location is on a sacred mountain in Hawaii, Mauna Kea. Although there are several telescopes in the Mauna Kea Observatory grounds, the construction of TMT was too much for Native Hawaiian leaders who have led protests against its construction in defense of their sacred land (see more HERE). Following years of debate in courts and blockades on the island, if construction was approved, it would not begin again until late 2021. With this timeline, the telescope will be completed in mid-2027. For now, if Hawaiian leaders support TMT, we can only imagine the images it will produce in the future!

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The Disappearing Road

Posted on February 26, 2021 by captivatingcomet

Tides are produced by the difference in the gravitational force of the Moon on the near and far side of Earth; this force causes tidal bulges on the side of Earth facing the Moon and the side of Earth opposite the Moon. During Earth’s rotation, high tides happen when a place goes through the tidal bulges while low tides happen as the place is midway between the tidal bulges. The Sun also has tidal forces on Earth, but they are only about half as strong as the Moon’s tidal forces on Earth.

The Passage du Gois is approximately a 2.5 mile road that connects the island of Noirmoutier to Vendée, France. The road is only available for about one or two hours twice a day. At all other times, it is submerged under about 4.3 to 13.1 feet of water. Crowds of tourists and locals walk, cycle, or drive across the road as well as hunt for shellfish during low tides. If someone is stuck on the Passage du Gois while the water level is quickly rising, there are numerous rescue towers they can climb up and wait on until they can safely travel on the road again. There is a yearly race, called Les Foulées du Gois, where participants run across the road between the low and high tides. The Passage du Gois was also apart of the Tour de France bicycle race in 1999 and 2011. To see the tides in action, watch this time lapse video.

As an avid traveler, this destination is definitely going on my list of places I want to visit with relaxing and watching the tides as one of top things I plan to do there. I am probably not going to walk across the road for fear of being stranded on it between the tides. Has anyone visited this road or been to another location that is similarly affected by the tides? Would you ever participate in the Les Foulée du Gois?

Cars traveling across the Passage du Gois (taken from Interesting Engineering)

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Spectroscopy

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Mykayla

Spectroscopy is the act of “fingerprinting” stars by observing their spectra. A spectrum is produced by filtering light through a prism, resulting in a rainbow of color. There are three different types of spectra: continuous, emission, and absorption. A continuous spectrum is produced when the light of a hot, dense object is directly filtered through a prism. This creates a full and uninterrupted, or continuous, rainbow of light. An emission line spectrum is produced when atoms in a warm cloud of gas emit light at certain specific wavelengths, creating a dark spectrum with lines of color. The lines of an emission spectrum is determined by the composition of the gas cloud. Lastly, the absorption line spectrum is essentially the opposite of an emission spectrum. It is produced when the light from a hot, dense object is filtered first through a cooler gas cloud and then sent through a prism. The cool cloud absorbs certain wavelengths of light according to its composition, leaving dark lines in the final spectrum. The lines in emission and absorption spectra show which elements make up the cloud through which the light came. That is why I referred to the process of spectroscopy as “fingerprinting”–it is a way to determine the composition of heavenly objects.

Picture Source

How incredible is that?! We do not have to bring stars or other light-emitting space objects into our earthly labs to be able to observe them. We can simply use the light that they radiate to determine the composition of the universe. As time goes on and as we make more technological advances, we are able to receive more light from the universe that opens our eyes to the make-up of the cosmos.

In the beginning, when God said “Let there be light,” He knew that what He was speaking into existence was not simply stuff by which we can see and move around. Light acts as more than a physical guide–it is also an intellectual guide. Light carries information that we do not have access to from the surface of the Earth. Light is a source of energy. Light makes plants grow. Light makes beautiful rainbows. Light allows us to have FM radio! 🙂 

Beyond these things, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to be the Light of the world. Jesus is the light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” He is our eternal Source, sustaining us with purpose and joy and hope and peace and love. Thank God for the Light!

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Tides

Posted on February 26, 2021 by lauryn28
Image via TimeandDate

In 1687 Sir Issac Newton discovered that the tides of the ocean on Earth are primarily caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon. This idea was supported by his universal law of gravity that asserts that any piece of matter in the universe will attract any other with a force varying directly as the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them.

Thus under this law, it can be seen that the moon and sun both pull on the Earth, causing a bugle in the oceans that creates the tides. However, what has a larger pull, the Sun or the moon? While the Sun’s gravitational pull on the Earth is around 177 times greater than that of the moon, it is in fact the moon that is a larger controller of the tides. This discrepancy comes from the moon’s proximity to the Earth. In comparison with the Sun, the moon is extremely close to the Earth and thus has a tide-generating around twice as big.

Inertia, the tendency of an object to stay in motion, also affects the tides. The spinning of the Earth creates a centrifugal motion which causes the oceans to also bugle on the side facing away form the moon, as seen in the photo above.

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