Tag Archives: astro201

Copernicus-Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 2, 2013 by a2megal

Basic Facts: Name: Nicholas Copernicus Birth: February 19, 1473 Death: May 24, 1543 Nicholas Copernicus played a crucial role in the development of modern astronomical theory with his monumental proposal of the Copernican system (also known as the heliocentric system). While the heliocentric model was not his idea originally (this is an idea that originally belonged […] Continue reading →

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To Stretch or Not To Stretch

Posted on February 1, 2013 by ibrahim2016

Physics has the distinction of hosting the one of the weirdest concept hierarchies  Don’t get me wrong: physics is beautiful in its intricate connections. But sometimes, especially in the case of modern physics, one feels something like: So, most of us know about special relativity. A quick summary for the unfortunate: Special relativity establishes the speed […] Continue reading →

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Hypatia – Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on January 31, 2013 by drgrundstrom

<note to students: I went farther than you need to because no one can use Hypatia as their historical figure> Hypatia was the first woman KNOWN to contribute to mathematics and science.  Her father, Theon of Alexandria, was a well-known academic and taught his daughter to follow in his footsteps.  Remarkably, she was the head […] Continue reading →

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Expansion of the Universe

Posted on January 28, 2013 by JT McJunkins

As Jackson mentioned here, the Universe is expanding fast enough that our observable universe is around 93 billion light years in diameter. This was initially pretty confusing to me, as I thought it impossible to see something 45 billion lightyears &#8… Continue reading →

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Milankovitch Cycles and Ice Ages

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Elizabeth Merriman

We have learned about how the tilt of the Earth’s axis affects the change of seasons.  However, over a 40,000 year cycle, the intensity of seasons and ice ages are affected by the Milankovitch Cycles.  This link provides a simple … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Star Lore

Posted on January 28, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

Constellations of the northern sky Have you ever looked up into the night sky, gazed upon the stars, tried to imagine them within those famous constellations, and wondered, how the heck does that group of stars look like a man carrying a club and a shield/lion/pelt?  That would be Orion, (also, The Hunter) who I found […] Continue reading →

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How Technology Changed the Sky

Posted on January 28, 2013 by werdercj

Technology shapes modern astronomy. When thinking about the night sky, one thing that strikes me as particularly fascinating is that humans have been observing and analyzing this same sky for many thousands of years.  However, it has had such different meaning for each successive group to observe it.  Although we see the same movements and […] Continue reading →

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Light-Years: The Key to the Past

Posted on January 28, 2013 by werdercj

Speed of light: 300,000 km/second One topic I’ve found particularly interesting to read and think about is the speed of light and its implications.  We’ve learned that light travels at about 300,000 km/second; first off, this number alone is unfathomably large to me.  When I thought about how fast light travels, and then learned that […] Continue reading →

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Lunar Eclipses

Posted on January 28, 2013 by YanruChen

The lunar eclipse happens when the Earth lies directly between the Sun and the Moon. The Earth thus cast a shadow on the Moon, and we will not see the light reflected by the Moon therefore. The shadow of the Earth consists of two parts: a central umbra, and a surrounding penumbra. Umbra blocks sunlight […] Continue reading →

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The Million Star Falsehood

Posted on January 28, 2013 by marknshirleyvu

I was only a little bit surprised when I learned recently that there were not a million stars visible in our night sky.  One million is a huge number, and as small as stars are, I never believed there was nearly enough space in our sky for one million of them to be visible.  However, […] Continue reading →

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