Tag Archives: Observations

The Tools of Discovery

Posted on February 13, 2023 by dromalley

For my second blog post, I’ve decided to provide an overview of a few of the most advanced telescopes both on and around the world which have allowed astronomers to peer into the distant mysteries of our universe and uncover more about its nature. First, we will examine some of the most advance ground based […] Continue reading →

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exo… moons?

Posted on April 10, 2019 by justinrstevens

What are exomoons? Well, we have already studied exoplanets (short for extra-solar planets) which are planets that are not from our star system.  Accordingly, exo-moons are moons that orbit planets that orbit stars that aren’t the Sun.  Sounds pretty cool, right?  Well exomoons get even more interesting.  In fact, exomoons are currently the subject of…

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Using Stellarium for observing

Posted on January 22, 2019 by justinrstevens

“Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.” – Stellarium webpage   Stellarium is an amazing bit of software to use for help with astronomical observing.  It is free 🙂 and you can…

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Before Telescopes and Stuff

Posted on January 27, 2014 by ilman

Today, we know a lot about the stuff out there: stars, galaxies, supernovae, black holes, and such. We probably know more about outer space than our own ocean depths. We owe most of the knowledge to the technologies developed through centuries after centuries of hard work and perseverance. Various observatories on mountains, the Hubble Space […] Continue reading →

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And It All Leads Up To The Now

Posted on April 21, 2013 by wherrysg

This semester we have studied everything from the creation of the universe to black holes to microscopic bacteria living on the bottom of the ocean floor. The range of topics covered in this class has helped round my view of the beginnings of time up until now and clarified many common misconceptions ranging from tides […] Continue reading →

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Green Peas Shed Light On Universe Beginnings

Posted on April 7, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source In 2007, astronomers made a discovery of what they called the Green Pea galaxies. These galaxies are those that are undergoing high rates of star formation and help us understand reionization–which is an extremely important process in the development of our universe. Reionization by definition is “the process that reionized matter in the […] Continue reading →

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A Black Hole’s Diet

Posted on April 7, 2013 by wherrysg

Source Incredible! While studying a distant galaxy, astronomers noticed a bright flare of X-rays coming from another galaxy that happened to be in their field of view. Upon closer look, they discovered that it was actually a black hole ‘eating up’ what they believe to be either an extremely large planet or a smaller brown […] Continue reading →

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“The Incandescent Sun”

Posted on March 20, 2013 by wherrysg

Source Check out this video from NASA of the Sun over a 24-hour period of time! The video frames are measuring output in extreme ultraviolet. According to this article, viewing the Sun in this wavelength allows us to view the plasma in its atmosphere (called Corona). But what is interesting is that the same magnetic […] Continue reading →

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Who Needs Telescopes When You Have Dry-Cleaning Fluid?

Posted on February 19, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source For Raymond Davis Jr, this was a legitimate question that he proposed to the science community in the 1960s with his Homestake Experiment. This experiment was Davis’s quest to learn about neutrinos–a neutral subatomic particle with an almost-zero mass and that also rarely reacts with normal matter. According to this article, Davis’s research […] Continue reading →

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Aliens Don’t Exist! Or Do they….

Posted on February 19, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source I’m sure at some point we have all considered the possibility of life on other planets. What would they look like? How would they communicate? How advanced or primitive would they be compared to us? And most importantly, where/what would they call home? Like many kids, I was one whose view of aliens […] Continue reading →

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