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Tag Archives: blog2
What if the Earth had 2 moons
I know what you’re thinking so let’s get that out of the way. High tide would be a lot higher. Whenever the two moons are aligned on the same side of Earth, their combined gravitational pull would increase the tide significantly. This would probably push civilization further inland, as living near a coast or river … Continue reading What if the Earth had 2 moons → Continue reading
Posted in Moons
Tagged astro2110, blog2, Solar System: Moons
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Blog #2: Archaeoastronomy, or Ancient Astronomy
Archaeoastronomy is the study of the practice of astronomy in prehistory, or Ancient Astronomy. Once the subject of much debate by scientists, it is now accepted that astronomy was indeed practiced in prehistory. Human astronomical observations began in the Palaeolithic period, with the discovery of “decorated Baboon fibula with 29 parallel notches incised notches from Kwazulu… Continue reading Blog #2: Archaeoastronomy, or Ancient Astronomy
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Blog #2
When you head outside at night to watch the stars and contemplate your own insignificance in the universe, you are partaking in a ritual that has spanned the length of all human existence. By watching the stars and planets in the sky, our ancestors were able to derive a great many advancements that we currently … Continue reading Blog #2
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Blog 2: Celestial Navigation
Even though astronomers use scales such as arcseconds and arcminutes to measure certain distances between stars, the main tool of celestial navigation, the sextant, is only able to measure arcminutes. The sextant uses reflection in order to find the angle of celestial objects. Traditionally, the sextant has two mirrors. The horizon mirror is stationary and … Continue reading Blog 2: Celestial Navigation
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Posted in Class, Instruments
Tagged astro2110, blog2, celestial navigation, me
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Blog 2 – Occam’s Razor
For my second blog, I thought I’d discuss the idea of simplicity in astronomy; specifically, the idea of Occam’s Razor. One of the hallmarks of science is the progression of creation and testing of models of nature that explain scientific observations as simply as possible. This idea, that scientists should prefer the simpler of two […]
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Posted in Class, Historical
Tagged astro2110, blog2, Solar System
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Space Physics and the Cassini Probe
Gravity is the magic super glue that keeps everything we know (and things we don’t know) together and functioning. Earth’s gravity keeps us on the ground, the moons gravity creates tides, and the sun’s gravity keeps us from flying away into oblivion. But why did Earth and the rest of the planets stay orbiting around […]
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Posted in Class, Physics
Tagged astro2110, blog2, Uncategorized
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The EM Spectrum
When most people think of the word “light” they are probably talking about visible light, but the electromagnetic spectrum is much bigger and more diverse than that. Visible light is actually a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Lets break down the spectrum in terms of wavelength. Visible light has a wavelength of 390 … Continue reading “The EM Spectrum”
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The EM Spectrum
When most people think of the word “light” they are probably talking about visible light, but the electromagnetic spectrum is much bigger and more diverse than that. Visible light is actually a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Lets break down the spectrum in terms of wavelength. Visible light has a wavelength of 390 … Continue reading “The EM Spectrum” Continue reading
Feb 27 Solar Eclipse
On February 27, 2017 there will be an annular solar eclipse visible in parts of the South America and Southern Africa. A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets between the earth and the sun. An annular solar eclipse is like a total solar eclipse but instead of blocking all the visible light from the … Continue reading “Feb 27 Solar Eclipse”
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Feb 27 Solar Eclipse
On February 27, 2017 there will be an annular solar eclipse visible in parts of the South America and Southern Africa. A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets between the earth and the sun. An annular solar eclipse is like a total solar eclipse but instead of blocking all the visible light from the … Continue reading “Feb 27 Solar Eclipse” Continue reading