Tag Archives: astro201

Tour de Light

Posted on February 13, 2015 by christophermfitzgerald

If you’re like me, when you think of light you think of the visible light spectrum, the colors of the rainbow. In reality light is much more than what we can see with our eyes, the spectrum extends far in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Smiling Galaxy Cluster Found in Space!

Posted on February 13, 2015 by agiantchicken

That’s some intense gravitation lensing! A cluster of galaxies was recently discovered by the Hubble Telescope (AKA, uber relevant to class!) that appears to take on the shape of a bright smiling face. The galaxy cluster, known as SDSS J1038+4849, recently had the above picture taken by said telescope. While it may appear to us that […] Continue reading →

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USA reliant on Russian rockets

Posted on February 12, 2015 by lindenmuthadam

Recently top officials in NASA and the military have brought to the forefront the unpleasant reality that the USA is only capable of launching small-to-medium size rockets into space with our own rockets. We rely on Russian-built rockets to launch heavy satellites, as well as shuttle astronauts to the ISS. Given the recent geopolitical climate, […] Continue reading →

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Absorption Spectra

Posted on February 12, 2015 by jamej00

Photo Source: Absorption Spectrum The photo above is the full absorption spectrum of the sun.  The black lines come from the different chemical elements within its atmosphere, and this is true for all stars!  Different elements absorb and emit light at different wavelengths from one another.  Scientists have conducted (here on earth) experiments to determine… Continue reading →

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Blog Post #4: The Twilight Saga

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Elizabeth D.

If you’re like me, then the concept of “twilight” has recently become a little confusing. In class, twilight has been …

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Weight is just a number!

Posted on February 12, 2015 by karenagrebenc

picture from storejpg.com Weight IS just a number-it’s simply the product of the mass of an object and the force put on that object due to gravity!  Since the number is dependent on gravity, it’s totally logical that, since the force of gravity from the Sun is different in different locations in the Solar system […] Continue reading →

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What Comes After Hubble?

Posted on February 12, 2015 by robbyks

The Hubble Space Telescope, in use for about 25 years, will soon have to be retired in the next 5-10 years. Plans for a successor telescope eventually materialized into the James Webb Space Telescope, pictured below as a full scale model in Austin, TX. As big as a tennis court and as tall as a […] Continue reading →

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The first navigational tool

Posted on February 12, 2015 by karenagrebenc

Image from kaloujm.com People have been using the sky as their source of navigation for years, and one of the first tools made for the purpose of aiding in navigation (that wasn’t a body part!) was the kamal.  The exact date is unsure, but it’s estimated that this tool came into use around the fifth […] Continue reading →

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LIGHTS? OR ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES?

Posted on February 12, 2015 by dungeonastronomy

When we talk about light in our daily life, usually we only talk about visible lights. However, light can include any kind of electromagnetic waves. Lights in visible spectrum are the only lights which can be received and recognized by human eyes. From the very left to the right of the whole spectrum, lights of … Continue reading LIGHTS? OR ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES? → Continue reading →

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Tidal Changes from a Beach Stand

Posted on February 12, 2015 by dillonkoval

I worked for two years renting out beach umbrellas and chairs at Assateague State Park for two summers in high school. I would walk out to the beach and set up my little stand next to a fence used to protect the dunes from wandering beach-goers. Assateague has a very large sandbar and some days […] Continue reading →

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