Tag Archives: blog1

The (Interactive) Size of the (Known) Universe

I have often caught myself wondering just how big are the largest of galaxies, and how small are the smallest building blocks of matter. There is an awesome tool developed in part by NASA that allows for an exploration from the smallest lengths we believe are possible to the entirety of the Universe (that we […] Continue reading

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Intergalactic Travel and Popular Culture

The universe is unimaginably vast; it is so enormous that the speed of the fastest wave-particle in existence -light – puts a cap on how much of the universe we can even observe. At 14 billion ly from our point of observation lies the edge of the observable universe. So if and when humanity becomes a space faring […] Continue reading

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The Culture of Solar Eclipses

While we discussed the science behind solar eclipses and totality in class on Wednesday, I wanted to explore the culture and lore behind solar eclipses. Total solar eclipses are very rare: at any particular location on earth, a total solar eclipse will only be visible once every 360 years! However, many “eclipse chasers” are undaunted by … Continue reading The Culture of Solar Eclipses Continue reading

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The Culture of Solar Eclipses

While we discussed the science behind solar eclipses and totality in class on Wednesday, I wanted to explore the culture and lore behind solar eclipses. Total solar eclipses are very rare: at any particular location on earth, a total solar eclipse will only be visible once every 360 years! However, many “eclipse chasers” are undaunted by … Continue reading The Culture of Solar Eclipses Continue reading

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The Observable Universe

It is extremely difficult for humans to wrap our minds around how big the universe is. Even when we think we can maybe understand it, the more we discover and learn, the more mysterious and seemingly larger it becomes. One of the things about the size of the universe that our book mentions that really […] Continue reading

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Scottish Scientists Slow Down Light :O

Although the speed of light has been taught to be a constant value in a vacuum setting like the universe, however a team of Scottish scientists have valid proof that this might not always be the case. The Scottish researchers from the University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University made this amazing discovery by firing two […] Continue reading

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Speed of Light and Time

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

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Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

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…

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

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

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The Vast Size and Scale of the Universe

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

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