Archives
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- July 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
Currently Used Categories
Tag Cloud
- astro201
- astro2110
- astrobiology
- astronomy
- blog1
- blog2
- blog3
- blog4
- blog5
- blog6
- blog7
- blog8
- blog9
- blog10
- brahe
- Class
- Comets
- Copernicus
- earth
- Europa
- extremophiles
- galilei
- galileo
- gravity
- history
- HW2
- HW6
- jupiter
- Kepler
- life
- Mars
- me
- Moon
- NASA
- Newton
- planets
- pluto
- saturn
- Solar System
- space
- technology
- telescopes
- tides
- Time
- Uncategorized
Tag Archives: gravity
Gravity holds the universe together
Gravitational force, why planets have orbits, and how we know that black holes exist When you think of gravity, you might think of the force that makes apples fall on people’s heads (talking about you, Newton!). But it’s also why planets have orbits! Any two objects in space have a gravitational force between them. Kepler’s […] Continue reading
Tides During a Superstorm
As we know, the moon controls the tides, but what happens when the perfect circumstances come together and a storm is involved? This is part of what happened during Hurricane Sandy. In my Introduction post, I shared with everyone I am from New Jersey and love going to the beach, so back in 2012 when […] Continue reading
Escape Velocity and Space Exploration
In our generation, space exploration has been an extremely valuable way to learn more about our solar system and our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is astounding that humans have been able to set foot on the moon, and that astronomical research centers have sent probes to a variety of astronomical objects within our galaxy, […] Continue reading
Posted in Class, Physics, Space Travel, Universe
Tagged astro2110, blog2, Class, escapevelocity, gravity, Newton, physics, Space Travel, Universe
Comments Off on Escape Velocity and Space Exploration
blog 2: Gravity over time
Isaac Newton originally conceptualized gravity as a mutually attractive force between all objects with mass. Those who came before him, such as Galileo, had performed experiments and attempted to establish increasingly robust understandings of this force, but none quite unified the idea like Newton. The story goes that Newton saw an apple fall from a […] Continue reading
Posted in Class, Historical, Physics
Tagged astro2110, astronomy, blog2, Einstein, gravity, Newton, relativity
Comments Off on blog 2: Gravity over time
Blog Post 6: Gravitational Slingshot
Have you ever played with a slingshot to shoot small items such as pebbles as a kid? Astronomers can also tap into their inner child by using a gravitational slingshot in space. A gravitational slingshot happens when a small object uses the gravitational pull of a larger object to speed itself up. Take a spacecraft […] Continue reading
The Unimaginable Nature of Space-Time
Most depictions of the space-time continuum display it as a two-dimensional plane in three-dimensional space. In such a model, objects make indents in the plane based on their gravity, with more massive objects having larger indents. This model is helpful to display how gravity works, but it doesn’t capture the whole picture. The planar model […] Continue reading
Powered and Unpowered Gravity Assists
The farthest planets in the solar system are so distant, it is infeasible to reach them using only rockets. The delta-v, or change in velocity, required to propel a spacecraft to a gas giant like Saturn is far too impractical for today’s rockets to achieve. The main problem is that a spacecraft needs tons of […] Continue reading
Gravitational Lensing!
In class, we’ve been diving into the world of gravity and light. We have covered Newton’s laws of motion and the effects of gravity in our universe. As well, we’ve explored how light behaves and travels through space. Now I want to introduce another intriguing topic that combines the two –gravitational lensing! Gravitational lensing occurs […] Continue reading
Detecting Extrasolar Planets
Extrasolar planets can be difficult to detect because they are tiny, far away, and dim, but the Doppler Method provides an indirect way to find them. This method involves looking for alternating blueshifts and redshifts in the star’s spectrum, which reveal a star’s motion around its center of mass. This motion could reveal the presence […] Continue reading
Posted in Class
Tagged astro2110, blog6, Class, discovery, dopplershift, extrasolar, gravity, planets
Comments Off on Detecting Extrasolar Planets
The Speed of Gravity
If the Sun were to disappear, how long would it take for us to notice? This question usually brings about an answer of ‘8 minutes’, or about the time that it takes light from the Sun to reach Earth. However, Earth is orbiting the Sun, and if it were to instantaneously disappear, would Earth still […] Continue reading