Blog 3: The Golden Record

Posted on February 10, 2018 by battismm

The Voyager Golden Record is a phonograph record that was launched on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. It contains a variety of sounds and images that are meant to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. The 116 images were carefully selected by a team led by astronomer Carl Sagan.  The cover of the record has engravings that are intended to serve as instructions for any extraterrestrial that discovers Voyager.

Golden Record
Credit: NASA/JPL

The instructions on the cover include how to construct the pictures from the signals recorded. The top right image shows the beginning of the recorded signals and how it traces to vertical lines. The circle in the box is a calibration image to indicate the correct horizontal and vertical height ratio. The image in the bottom left is a pulsar map indicating the location of our solar system in relation to 14 pulsars. The image on the bottom right is of a hydrogen atom in its two lowest states. The interval between these two states is used a fundamental time unit.

Voyager Spacecraft
Credit: NASA/JPL

The mission status of Voyager 1 and 2, including their elapsed mission time and their distance from Earth can be seen here. Both have been traveling for over 40 years now and are moving over 30,000 mph. An interesting fact, since Earth travels around the Sun at approximately 67,000 mph, there are times of the year when the distance between Earth and Voyager decreases.

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Blog 2: Mont Saint Michel Abbey Tides

Posted on February 9, 2018 by battismm

The Mont Saint Michel Abbey was built in the 11th century on an island in Normandy, on the north coast of France. The island formed when the landscaped was eroded and granite outcrops remained. Medieval pilgrims nicknamed it, “St. Michael in peril of the sea” because of the extreme changes between high and low tides. This extreme change can be observed in a time-lapse video of the Abbey.  From the video it can be seen that the road that connects the Abbey to the mainland will disappear during high tide. There is roughly a 14 meter difference between the high tide and low ride marks.

The tide moves in so quickly that some pilgrims would drown when they were making their pilgrimage and the tide caught them unaware. Water only reaches the Abbey during spring tides, when the moon and sun gravitational forces are in line. During neap tides, when the moon’s gravitational forces are perpendicular to the sun’s, the sea does not reach the Abbey. There are signs that warn visitors when the tides will rise and there are guides who give tours during low tides.

In the 19th century, a causeway that allowed access to the island even during high tide was constructed. However, this causeway prevented altered how water flowed in the area and caused silt build up. In 2006, the French prime minister began a two part project to restore the island and remove the accumulated silt. One part of the project was the building of a dam on the Couesnon River and the other part was replacing the causeway with a bridge that allows water to flow freely.

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All the Light We Cannot See

Posted on February 9, 2018 by therestisstardust

Could I really claim to be interested in astronomy whatsoever if I didn’t express my overwhelming fascination with dark matter? Seriously though, I get the feeling that most people without a solid background in astronomy don’t grasp how much of a real phenomenon dark matter is. The name itself sounds like something made up from the likes of Star Trek, some brain child of a sci-fi TV writer desperate for “spacey” content in his script. What blows my mind? The fact that there is real, physical, concrete evidence for this matter. Despite the fact that humans have no way of perceiving it, as dark matter does not communicate its information through light or sound waves (or smell or touch or taste of any of our human senses, inconveniently enough) so we rely on phenomena we can observe in order to document it’s existence.

The first phenomena? Light. As we know, we can see light. Ok, great. Light also experiences wave/particle duality, meaning that it can be bent and warped by areas of high gravity. Dark matter is incredibly dense and makes up 80% of the mass in our universe, and therefore it also has the ability to affect visible mass via it’s incredible gravity. This effect is called gravitational lensing, when light rays are bent by areas of high gravity. We see this with light rays from distant galaxies- images of galaxies to appear curved, when in reality that are just being warped by dark’s matter’s gravity. See in the Abel 2218 Cluster, the light rays appear to be bent even though the galaxies themselves are flat.

Abell 2218
Abel 2218, with seemingly curved galaxies

The second main evidence for dark matter is inconsistencies within the velocity dispersion curves of galaxies. If you’ve never heard of velocity dispersions, it takes a little building up to get to the concept. Gravitational attractions between planetary bodies cause the formation of galaxies, and additional attraction between those galaxies causes them to form clusters with velocities that let the centripetal acceleration be equal to said gravitational force. The velocity dispersion curve is a representation of all the velocities for a given cluster. However, when actually calculating the velocities in relation to the gravitational force of the visible matter, it was found that the observed velocities were WAY too high to make sense. The only thing that would allow the galaxies to move at such high velocities would be the presence of much more mass within the galaxies. When the calculations were redone- taking the 80% mass of dark matter into account- it was then found that the observed velocities made perfect sense. If that isn’t concrete evidence for the existence of dark matter, I don’t know what is.

If this topic intrigues you as much as it intrigues me, I encourage you the explore other evidence of dark matter’s existence. (The bullet cluster collision, as pictured in the thumbnail for this entry, is a great place to start!) It’s incredible to me how we are able to perceive a literally imperceptible type of matter only through its effects. Cataloging such visual evidence is the first step to gaining a deeper understanding of the universe we occupy, and what I believe will lead to the next era of scientific discovery.

 

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Why Christopher Nolan’s tidal representation in Interstellar makes a terrifying sort of sense.

Posted on February 8, 2018 by hellouniverse1234

Note: Spoiler alert for those that haven’t seen the movie!

 

Interstellar_DNEG_ITW_07

 

Within the Interstellar universe, there exists an enormous black hole in a distant galaxy, named Gargantua by the movie’s characters. Around this black hole orbits several different planets, and the characters are hoping to explore and learn more about them. One of these planets, known as Miller’s Planet, orbits closely around this black hole to the point where the spacetime is warped heavily. A single hour on Miller’s Planet is equal roughly 7 years of Earth time.

Those are scary numbers. Really scary.

But in my opinion, there’s an equally scary implication because of this warped time frame, albeit much more subtle.

As we’ve learned in class, high tides and low tides are caused by the gravitational pull of objects rotating around each other. Earth has 2 major sources that pull on its tides: the sun and the moon. As Earth rotates, any single point on Earth effectively “passes through” the tidal bulges twice in a single rotation of the planet.

 

Earth107Mod2Fig13

 

Similarly, in the movie, Miller’s Planet has a single source of enormous gravity: the black hole, Gargantua. Not only does the close proximity to the black hole cause an extreme warping of spacetime… but it also results in a very strong gravitational pull on its tides.

 

rsbj68uodnly

 

That gravity pulls nearly all of the water on the planet into two enormous bulges, and those bulges are the “high tide” of the planet. Every time the planet spins on its axis, any one point on the planet’s surface experiences those high tides twice.

And the remember the scary thing that I mentioned earlier?

Miller, the person the planet was named after, had been broadcasting from the planet for the entirety of the characters’ journey – roughly 10 years. Everyone thought she was alive. However, when the characters arrived on the surface of the planet, it was very clear that she had died. All of her equipment was broken and in shambles.

Remember, on this planet, 1 hour = 7 years.

In the scene, you can see a tidal wave receding into the horizon, right as the second tidal wave comes into view from the opposite direction. Miller had only been broadcasting for 10 years. If we do the math, it is very likely that Miller was killed in the tidal wave that we see receding.

She had probably only died a few minutes before the characters arrived at the planet.

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Why Christopher Nolan’s tidal representation in Interstellar makes a terrifying sort of sense.

Posted on February 8, 2018 by hellouniverse1234

Note: Spoiler alert for those that haven’t seen the movie!

 

Interstellar_DNEG_ITW_07

 

Within the Interstellar universe, there exists an enormous black hole in a distant galaxy, named Gargantua by the movie’s characters. Around this black hole orbits several different planets, and the characters are hoping to explore and learn more about them. One of these planets, known as Miller’s Planet, orbits closely around this black hole to the point where the spacetime is warped heavily. A single hour on Miller’s Planet is equal roughly 7 years of Earth time.

Those are scary numbers. Really scary.

But in my opinion, there’s an equally scary implication because of this warped time frame, albeit much more subtle.

As we’ve learned in class, high tides and low tides are caused by the gravitational pull of objects rotating around each other. Earth has 2 major sources that pull on its tides: the sun and the moon. As Earth rotates, any single point on Earth effectively “passes through” the tidal bulges twice in a single rotation of the planet.

 

Earth107Mod2Fig13

 

Similarly, in the movie, Miller’s Planet has a single source of enormous gravity: the black hole, Gargantua. Not only does the close proximity to the black hole cause an extreme warping of spacetime… but it also results in a very strong gravitational pull on its tides.

 

rsbj68uodnly

 

That gravity pulls nearly all of the water on the planet into two enormous bulges, and those bulges are the “high tide” of the planet. Every time the planet spins on its axis, any one point on the planet’s surface experiences those high tides twice.

And the remember the scary thing that I mentioned earlier?

Miller, the person the planet was named after, had been broadcasting from the planet for the entirety of the characters’ journey – roughly 10 years. Everyone thought she was alive. However, when the characters arrived on the surface of the planet, it was very clear that she had died. All of her equipment was broken and in shambles.

Remember, on this planet, 1 hour = 7 years.

In the scene, you can see a tidal wave receding into the horizon, right as the second tidal wave comes into view from the opposite direction. Miller had only been broadcasting for 10 years. If we do the math, it is very likely that Miller was killed in the tidal wave that we see receding.

She had probably only died a few minutes before the characters arrived at the planet.

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James Webb Telescope

Posted on February 8, 2018 by haleytopper04

The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, will be a large telescope that is intended to be the premier observatory of the next decade. The telescope will study every phase in the history of the universe, from right after the Big Bang to the formation of the universe that we know today, and even the evolution of our own solar system. The telescope will be sensitive to the long-wavelength visible light through the mid-infrared and there is a goal to be able to observe some of the most distant events and objects in the universe.

Recently, the two halves of the JWST arrived at Northrop Grumman Aerospace    facility in Redondo Beach, CA. It was transported in a shipping container called the Space Telescope Transporter for Air, Road and Sea. At the aerospace facility, it will undergo more testing and assembly, however it already completed cryogenic testing to ensure it will survive in space. Later this summer, the telescope will be combined with the spacecraft element, and is intended on being launched in Spring 2019 over French Guiana.

jwst-april2017
JWST

 

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Archeoastronomy

Posted on February 8, 2018 by therestisstardust

Last year, I decided to go out on a limb and enroll in ASTR 3000, which is better known as Principles of Astrophysics. I figured as an engineering major, the physics aspect wouldn’t be too unfamiliar- but little did I anticipate that the class would make me fall deeply in love with the subject of astronomy as a whole. My teacher was one of the most intelligent women I had ever met, and she would constantly include interesting astronomy related asides within her more physics-heavy lectures. One of her stories had to do with when a professor from the Anthropology department at Vanderbilt approached her with a query- he was studying an ancient temple that was believed was some sort of tribute to the north star (as the star was important to the culture he was studying) but the temple wasn’t aligned appropriately. She then got to explain the phenomenon of precession to the Professor, and calculating back the Earth’s precession over the fraction of its 26,000 year period, she helped him realize that the star that the temple was aligned with what would have been the north star back then! It was incredible how the two fields came together in order to come to that conclusion.

This example relating to the North star is similar to the culture of the Inca people, except their religion involves a belief that their rulers are descendants of the sun god, so their temples were deliberately aligned in order to keep careful watch of the motion of the sun and stars because such events played an incredibly key role in their daily lives. This is a common theme between many cultures, being that the construction of their important buildings reflects some aspect of the celestial beliefs of the culture. Another example is that lodges of the Pawnee tribe in Native America include specifically placed windows in their lodges so that certain constellations that were prevalent in their folklore would be framed. Below is the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, used by another Native American tribe to predict the summer solstice.

big20wheel
Big Horn Medicine Wheel

 

The incredible and overarching theme is the way the heavens and the movement of celestial bodies has transcended human culture and time as a whole. No matter the differences in meaning attached to, say, certain constellations or certain rare events (like eclipses), humans have always innately known that something special lies in the stars, something greater than our collective humanity.  To see that reflected in such a myriad of cultures in an outpouring of celestial wonder and intricate design is an amazing thing, and in my opinion that is what makes the study of archeoastronomy so incredibly unique.

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Tell Us How the Heavens Flow: the Life and Execution of Giordano Bruno (Blog #3)

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Chris K.
ferraribrunotesta
Statue of Bruno at the site of his execution

On February 17th, we will pass the 418th anniversary of Giordano Bruno’s execution. Bruno, while not as well-known as some of other cosmologists and theologians of the 16th century, proposed many theories which today are considered scientific fact. He took the Copernican model of the universe and took it to absolute extremes. While the Earth and the other celestial bodies orbited around the Sun, the Sun itself was not the center of the universe. Bruno argued the universe was infinite and as such there could be no true center. Furthermore, he claimed stars were simply distant suns and had their own planets orbiting them, possibly even with their own intelligent life. The Sun, the Earth, and Solar System were nothing special, and the universe’ grand scale was impossible to comprehend. While his ideas were simply theories with essentially no way to test them, it is astonishing how many of them turned out to be correct. Today we search for exoplanets, alien life, and believe there to be no center of the universe. Bruno was right on many accounts, but his claims were not reward with praise but with a fiery grave.

Bruno’s cosmology would ultimately lead to his own demise. Along with then extreme astrological theories, he directly attacked many Catholic theological positions such as the Holy Trinity, trans-substantiation, and even suggested that heaven itself did not exist and that humans would be reincarnated after death. All of this together was too much for the Church. Over the course of seven years, the Roman Inquisition tried and found Bruno guilty of multiple accounts heresy and had Bruno burnt alive at the stake. While his body turned to ash, his memory would not be forgotten.

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 8, 2018 by stefanssolarsystem

copernicus

My chosen astronomer is Nicolaus Copernicus who was born on February 19, 1473 and died on May 24, 1543.

In 1512, Michelangelo finished the Sistine Chapel, which is regarded as one of the most notable interior space paintings of all time and took Michelangelo four years to complete. In 1520 the Stockholm Bloodbath saw King Christian II of Denmark, and his forces, massacre nearly 90 Swedish supporters of the Sture party. The massacre was what initiated the Swedish War of Liberation, where Sweden would eventually gain freedom from Danish rule.

Michelangelo was another important historical figure that lived during the time of Copernicus. He was born on March 6, 1475 and died on February 18, 1564. Michelangelo was a world-renowned poet, painter, sculptor and architect. Michelangelo’s detailed and highly innovative works lead the Renaissance movement and heavily influenced the arts for centuries to come. For example, his sculpture, Madonna of the Stair, surpassed previous depictions of the Madonna, using progressive techniques and styles that challenged the more common “idealistic” sculpting and painting styles that were prominent during the early Renaissance.

The information I learned from this assignment was really interesting to me because it gave me a great perspective and understanding of what the status-quo beliefs were at the time. I didn’t realize that in the 15th century, it was commonly believed that the Earth was at the center of the universe, until Nicolaus Copernicus challenged that view and presented his idea of the sun being at the center instead. I initially thought it was much earlier when astronomers developed this theory. Makes me wonder what we will know 500 years from now!

 

 

 

 

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 8, 2018 by stefanssolarsystem

copernicus

My chosen astronomer is Nicolaus Copernicus who was born on February 19, 1473 and died on May 24, 1543.

In 1512, Michelangelo finished the Sistine Chapel, which is regarded as one of the most notable interior space paintings of all time and took Michelangelo four years to complete. In 1520 the Stockholm Bloodbath saw King Christian II of Denmark, and his forces, massacre nearly 90 Swedish supporters of the Sture party. The massacre was what initiated the Swedish War of Liberation, where Sweden would eventually gain freedom from Danish rule.

Michelangelo was another important historical figure that lived during the time of Copernicus. He was born on March 6, 1475 and died on February 18, 1564. Michelangelo was a world-renowned poet, painter, sculptor and architect. Michelangelo’s detailed and highly innovative works lead the Renaissance movement and heavily influenced the arts for centuries to come. For example, his sculpture, Madonna of the Stair, surpassed previous depictions of the Madonna, using progressive techniques and styles that challenged the more common “idealistic” sculpting and painting styles that were prominent during the early Renaissance.

The information I learned from this assignment was really interesting to me because it gave me a great perspective and understanding of what the status-quo beliefs were at the time. I didn’t realize that in the 15th century, it was commonly believed that the Earth was at the center of the universe, until Nicolaus Copernicus challenged that view and presented his idea of the sun being at the center instead. I initially thought it was much earlier when astronomers developed this theory. Makes me wonder what we will know 500 years from now!

 

 

 

 

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