Tag Archives: blog2

Moving in Circles: Apparent Retrograde Motion

Over a single night, the planets behave much like the stars; they appear to rise in the east and set in the west. However, over the course of many nights, one will recognize that the movement of planets among the stars is quite intricate. The speeds and brightnesses of the planets fluctuate significantly, and while … Continue reading Moving in Circles: Apparent Retrograde Motion Continue reading

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Archeoastronomy

Located in Southeast Mexico, Chichen Itza served as the home to one of the largest Mayan cities and possesses pristine examples of complex archeoastronomy. Perhaps the most interesting structure is the pyamid El Castillo which translates to “the castle.” This pyramid serves as a prime example due to its complex engineering and design that highlights … Continue reading Archeoastronomy Continue reading

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MAGNETAR

As you know, neutron stars are the result massive stars (many times more massive the the sun) collapsing inward on themselves, leaving behind an extremely dense and energetic core. As you might expect these stars are extremely energetic — what you might not know is that sometimes as a result of the in-falling star materials … Continue reading MAGNETAR Continue reading

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A down-to-earth explanation of zero-gravity

Astronauts floating against a starry backdrop. Food suspended in a spacecraft. These images are what have constructed our cultural understanding of space as a place where the… Read more “A down-to-earth explanation of zero-gravity” Continue reading

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Celestial Navigation: How Our Ancestors Used to Travel

Before the time of GPS, and all the modern forms of navigation we use today, people used to travel with the stars. Through the use of angular measurements, the sun, moon, planets, and stars could be used to find a position on earth. By looking at the angles between these celestial bodies the horizon, and … Continue reading Celestial Navigation: How Our Ancestors Used to Travel Continue reading

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Porous Martian Mountain!

Like many things in space, the planet Mars has been a point of interest for many since its discovery long ago. Some even believe that it could one day be a place for the human race to relocate. Curiosity, a rover launched back in November of 2011, has been exploring the surface of mars for … Continue reading Porous Martian Mountain! Continue reading

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Celestial Navigation

Celestial navigation is the practice of navigating from one place to another using celestial bodies as a guide. Prior to the invention of GPS, people would use the position of the stars in relation to themselves as a method of orienting oneself to their destination. The process is simple in concept – the navigator uses … Continue reading Celestial Navigation Continue reading

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Transgressing the Boundaries: A Look at the Sokal Affair

I’ve been lucky to be able to study across very different academic fields in my undergraduate curriculum. This breadth of academic focus has made apparent to me the differences between how scholars in certain fields practice their craft. These differences contribute to the not-so-friendly rivalry between the so-called ‘hard’ sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, etc.) … Continue reading Transgressing the Boundaries: A Look at the Sokal Affair Continue reading

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Retrograde Motion simplified.

The path of Mars, as viewed from the Earth.          Retrograde motion is the apparent backward motion of a planet caused by its being lapped by another planet, or vice-versa.1  These two planets are usually on two different orbits, a larger one and a smaller one, and they move around the sun … Continue reading Retrograde Motion simplified. Continue reading

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Antipodal Tides

It makes sense that the tide comes in as the Moon approaches that side of the Earth. The gravitational pull attracts the water away from the Earth. It would seem them that logically a low tide would happen at a location farthest from the Moon. But that is not the case. image link In the … Continue reading Antipodal Tides Continue reading

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