Tag Archives: astronomy

Voyager Golden Record – Introduction

Posted on March 15, 2016 by podolakvandysolarsystem

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Radiocarbon Dating

Posted on March 15, 2016 by podolakvandysolarsystem

Radiocarbon Dating is a method of determining how old an object is by the amount of carbon in it. The majority of organic matter contains carbon, and while carbon is not usually radioactive one of its isotopes, 14C is radioactive. This means that 14C will have a defined half-life, the amount of time is takes […] Continue reading →

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Gravity has waves?

Posted on March 14, 2016 by nedastro2110

Admittedly, I am late on the whole gravitational waves discovery, however I think that this video above is probably the best explanation as to what gravitational waves are and how scientists actually managed to find evidence for the waves. The way that scientists actually discovered the waves fascinated me most in all the of news […] Continue reading →

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The Voyager Mission

Posted on March 14, 2016 by clharrell

Launched in 1977, the Voyager 1&2 continue to explore deeper into space than any instrument ever before. Using geometries and precise calculations, the space probes were able to perform flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Uranus, and Neptune. Upon completion of the primary objectives, they were assigned the new mission of exploring further and further away from […] Continue reading →

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Solar Storms

Posted on March 14, 2016 by nedastro2110

Who knew there were actually storms on the surface of the earth? Well, they aren’t the storms that we are used on earth. Actually, they are quite different. Storms on the sun occur when magnetic fields throughout the sun passing through sun spots and prominences spontaneously shift dramatically. The most known of these storms are […] Continue reading →

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Gravitational Waves

Posted on February 16, 2016 by podolakvandysolarsystem

One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity. This theory predicted that the acceleration of extremely massive objects would create ripples in the fabric of space-time, called gravitational waves. Just last week, a team of scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced that they had recorded a gravitational wave […] Continue reading →

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The Martian – Hollywood exaggeration or accurate?

Posted on February 16, 2016 by nedastro2110

Yes, I’m super behind on my movie watching but I finally watched “The Martian” over the weekend and wow did it absolutely spark my interest in space travel and the feasibility of living on Mars for months including growing your own food…what? By the way, if you haven’t seen it yet stop reading this immediately […] Continue reading →

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The Martian — Could It Really Happen?

Posted on February 16, 2016 by clharrell

Matt Damon’s critically acclaimed film “The Martian” broke records and set a new standard for space exploration movies. The film was even praised for its scientific accuracy by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. While most of what occurs in the film is theoretically possible, a few things stand out to be implausible. The first question I had when […] Continue reading →

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Geostationary Orbit – Calculations and GIF

Posted on February 15, 2016 by podolakvandysolarsystem

Geostationary Orbit (GSO) is a specific type of orbit around the earth with a period of exactly one day, intentionally matching the rate of earth’s rotation. GSO is at zero inclination, meaning it is directly above the equator. This also means that a geostationary satellite will always be in the same point in the sky […] Continue reading →

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Observing Invisible Light

Posted on February 9, 2016 by clharrell

The invention of the telescope revolutionized the way astronomers observe the universe. They’ve enabled us to view light from around the galaxies that is not visible to the naked eye. These other forms of light can teach us things that visible light cannot – if we can find a way to visualize them. Astronomers today […] Continue reading →

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