Category Archives: Observables

things we can see from Earth using our eyeballs or telescopes

The Great American (solar) Eclipse

Posted on January 26, 2016 by segalastronomyblog

There are two different types of eclipses; lunar eclipses and solar eclipses. I want to talk today about a particular solar eclipse coming our way. The Great American Eclipse. But I regress. Solar eclipses and lunar eclipses differ in a very important way; a lunar eclipse is when Earth lies directly between the sun and […] Continue reading →

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Eclipses Throughout History

Posted on January 26, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

Eclipse science! You’re just mowing grass one day and the sun disappears. You look up and see an eclipse. Today, people would just brush it off for the most part. There would be some oohs and ahhs, but most people would just treat it like any other day and probably forget about the occurrence a […] Continue reading →

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Information About Eclipses

Posted on January 26, 2016 by drgrundstrom

Here are some of my favorite sites for learning about eclipses (including the upcoming Great American Eclipse!): Mr. Eclipse (the guy NASA uses) NASA Eclipse Web Site eclipse2017.org (make sure to check out the AMAZING interactive Google map!) timeanddate.com (and their eclipse list) Of course, one can certainly use the Wikipedia article on Eclipses (you can […] Continue reading →

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Stargazing: There’s an App for That!

Posted on January 26, 2016 by samihahplanet

Source: Google Play Ever look up at the sky and wonder what that one bright star is called? Well there’s an app for that! Google Sky Map allows the user to hold their phone up to the sky, day or night, and scan the area for constellations, planets, and more. It has features similar to those […] Continue reading →

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Your Zodiac Sign is Wrong: 3 Misconceptions You Have About the Night-Sky

Posted on January 26, 2016 by harperastronomyblog

We all get it. You’re a Capricorn or a Taurus or a Sagittarius or a(n) [any other zodiac constellation]. You’ve read all of your horoscopes, and they fit your personality soooo well. “This is so me,” you might yell to your friends, completely disregarding the fact that they don’t care which vague internet prediction you identify with. […] Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Class, Dwarf Planets, Exoplanets, Galaxies, General, Historical, Instruments, Jovians, Light, Moons, Observables, Outreach, Physics, Planet Rings, Public Policy, Science, Small SS Objects, SolarSystem, Space Travel, Stars, Sun, Terrestrials, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Your Zodiac Sign is Wrong: 3 Misconceptions You Have About the Night-Sky

Common Misconception: The Earth’s Tilt At An Equinox

Posted on January 25, 2016 by andyastronomer

Upon visiting Dr. Grundstrom with a homework, I caught myself making a pretty silly error regarding the Earth’s Equinoxes. Looking at one of the homework questions for the seasons, I was asked to rank the order of several globes in order of how much daylight they received. One of the globes stood straight up, rotating […] Continue reading →

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2016 Planetary Alignment!

Posted on January 22, 2016 by drgrundstrom

As described in class, here are my two favorite articles about this alignment: Get Up Early, See Five Planets at Once! from Sky and Telescope How to View Five Planets Aligning in a Celestial Spectacle from The New York Times I happen to adore the NYT diagram because it shows the Solar System view as […] Continue reading →

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Planet Nine!

Posted on January 22, 2016 by drgrundstrom

Caltech Researchers Find Evidence of a Real Ninth Planet This is legit folks!  For those who are at a university (like Vanderbilt), this press release has a link to the actual research article in the Astronomical Journal.  It’s a bit heavy at times but well done. There’s also a pretty good article on Wired: This […] Continue reading →

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An Unobstructed View

Posted on January 19, 2016 by HB

If you had to guess where the above picture was taken, what would you say? Iceland? Northern Canada? Alaska? Finland? Believe it or not, the above picture was taken in northern Michigan at Headlands International Dark Sky Park. This park is located west of Mackinaw City and encompasses two miles of undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline. Headlands became … Continue reading An Unobstructed View → Continue reading →

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Pluto and I

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Marissa LePore

This is the first-full color photo  taken of Pluto ever that NASA published yesterday. The space probe New Horizons took the image about 71 million miles away as it nears the “dwarf” planet. New Horizons is the fastest spacecraft ever launched and the first in history to visit Pluto. The unprecedented flyby is expected to take […] Continue reading →

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