Tag Archives: astro201

Wait, where is that constellation? said me, about a million times while holding a telescope

Posted on January 24, 2015 by jamej00

Night Sky 2 The hyperlink above is to a webpage with the information and a review for a REALLY cool observing app!  I got Night Sky 2 before I even took an astronomy class at Vandy, and it’s easily my favorite.  You can get real-time views of all constellations, planets, stars, satellites, and even comets!  Not… Continue reading →

Posted in Observables, Stars | Tagged , | Comments Off on Wait, where is that constellation? said me, about a million times while holding a telescope

Speed of Light and Time

Posted on January 24, 2015 by alephnulluniverse

After 6 months, astronauts in the International Space Station would have aged about 0.007 seconds less that people on Earth. This is due to the International Space Station moving much faster than the Earth. Time itself will bend due to differences in gravity or velocity. Now what if an object starts to move close to […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, General | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Speed of Light and Time

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

Posted on January 24, 2015 by jclyncmp

In the 1980’s, a 13 episode television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was presented by the famous Carl Sagan covering topics such as the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. In the first episode, “The…

Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Science, Universe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

#1 – Just how big are those other stars in the universe?

Posted on January 24, 2015 by bryancm1

I think it’s incredibly fun to look at the scale of the universe in a sense we can understand. The D.C. Voyage model gives us a good sense of distance. What about the size of things? We can use compare fruit all we want, but all it’s doing is making me hungry. Instead, I’d recommend […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Stars | Tagged , | Comments Off on #1 – Just how big are those other stars in the universe?

You Could Be One Step Closer to Understanding the Size of our Solar System!

Posted on January 23, 2015 by christophermfitzgerald

Have you ever felt that understanding the truly staggering size of the universe is unfathomable? With the help of this interactive website you can see first-hand the tremendous distances in just our own solar system! Starting from the center of our solar … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Light | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on You Could Be One Step Closer to Understanding the Size of our Solar System!

Star Walk

Posted on January 23, 2015 by matthewrbirnbaum

As a student in the astronomy lab last semester I was told to download the Star Walk application because it would help during observing labs.  When I first downloaded it I assumed I would use it for a couple of labs and then delete it and use the space for a new version of Flappy […] Continue reading →

Posted in Stars | Tagged , | Comments Off on Star Walk

Strange Light Found on Dwarf Planet Ceres?

Posted on January 23, 2015 by agiantchicken

Scientists claim to have spotted a strange bright light or object recently on the surface of Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest object lying within the Asteroid Belt of our solar system. The following picture was taken of the planet as NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft flew in toward the object on January 13th. What is […] Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Class | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Strange Light Found on Dwarf Planet Ceres?

Blog #2: Eclipses

Posted on January 23, 2015 by oliviasn

Both in class and while reading the textbook, I found myself particularly fascinated by the phenomena of eclipses. Although it would be extremely cool to see eclipses every month, the fact that they do not occur very often because the moon’s orbit is tilted by 5° with respect to the ecliptic makes them so special […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Blog #2: Eclipses

The Vast Size and Scale of the Universe

Posted on January 23, 2015 by hbutter13

Recently I saw this link on Facebook and I decided to check it out. I had no idea what I was in for. We have been talking about our galaxy and our nearest neighbor, The Andromeda Galaxy, a lot in class and this picture just released by NASA gives us a better idea of what exactly […] Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxies | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Vast Size and Scale of the Universe

Andromeda Galaxy

Posted on January 23, 2015 by matthewrbirnbaum

This picture…Wow.  Cliché as it may be, this 1.5 Billion pixel picture fascinates me.  To view this picture in its entirety, one would need 600 HD TVs.  While the picture is cool and would look great above my bed, I wonder if there are any implications of this picture.  According to NASA, this picture will […] Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Comments Off on Andromeda Galaxy