Tag Archives: Solar System

Near-Earth Objects: Experiences and Implications

Posted on February 20, 2013 by werdercj

Meteor trail over Eastern Russia. On February 15, 2013, two very significant astronomical events occurred unusually close to us; the highly publicized meteor explosion over a Russian city overshadowed the close approach of a much larger asteroid orbiting Earth.  The contrast between these two events is what struck me as most interesting and informative about […] Continue reading →

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DETECTING OXYGEN!

Posted on February 19, 2013 by sharpew

According to a New Scientist article from FEBRUARY 19TH, 2013, a new telescope in Chile might be able to detect oxygen on exoplanets (planets outside our solar system). This means that it would be able to detect alien life!! According to the article, our currently developed telescopes can identify the different elements of exoplanet’s atmospheres by studying the substances that absorb […] Continue reading →

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A very ‘pINTERESTING’ blog post

Posted on February 19, 2013 by sharpew

After reading about all the various forms of social media, apps, etc that involve astronomy, I wanted to write about another really awesome incorporation of astronomy into our online resources.. Pintrest! I use Pintrest to gather, sort and categorize a wide variety of ideas, including DIY crafts, style, recipes  home decor, fitness tips, etc. For anyone […] Continue reading →

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The Mystery of Saturn’s Moonlets

Posted on February 19, 2013 by jacob933

Research done by Loughborough University physicists has recently led to new a understanding  of the formation of moonlets (small natural satellites) in Saturn’s F Ring. Previously, it was believed that strong tidal forces from Saturn and its other rings and moons would keep the moonlets from clumping. They’ve now discovered the moon Prometheus has a […] Continue reading →

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Party Planning– for a solar eclipse!

Posted on January 28, 2013 by sharpew

On May 20, 2012 an Annular eclipse was visible in the continental US. This eclipse marked the first annular eclipse visible for the US in EIGHTEEN years! That’s almost my entire life span! For additional information on this eclipse, click here. The eclipse was visible in several locations in California, Utah and New Mexico. Being an East coast girl, I […] Continue reading →

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Precession and the Poles

Posted on January 27, 2013 by mirandaskunz

Pretty much everyone in the North Hemisphere knows about the North Star and how it can be used in navigation. The North Star is such a familiar subject to me that I was surprised when I learned that the North pole does not always point toward the North Star. As we have learned in astro […] Continue reading →

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Precession: The Great Year

Posted on January 27, 2013 by burnspress

As humans on Earth there are two celestial motions that affect us most obviously. Earths diurnal motion, its rotation on its axis responsible for day and night, and Earth’s revolution around the sun, determining our yearly cycles (winter, spring, blooming, hibernation, migration). A third and less obvious celestial motion is precession. Its time scale hides […] Continue reading →

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Solar System Website

Posted on January 27, 2013 by kevinm387

This image comes from solarviews.com, a cool website that has lots of info on our Solar System. It has pages about each of the planets, their moons, asteroids and much more. It also has info about other things like exoplanets and the Oort Cloud, which is a spherical cloud that surrounds our Sun and extends […] Continue reading →

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Why does the moon look red?

Posted on January 27, 2013 by fathomingthestars

If you have ever seen an image of a lunar eclipse, or have had the privilege of viewing one in person, you probably noticed that the moon does not retain its bright, whitish color; instead, the moon turns a shade of orange or red.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, this very cool youtube video […] Continue reading →

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Scale, Relativity, and the Power of 10

Posted on January 26, 2013 by sharpew

For my first official blog post, I’d like to write about the Powers of Ten video, and the subsequent site I came across because of it. Although I have seen the Powers of Ten video in a class several years ago, watching it again filled me with the same sense of curiosity and amazement as […] Continue reading →

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