Tag Archives: blog2

Milankovitch Cycles and Ice Ages

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Elizabeth Merriman

We have learned about how the tilt of the Earth’s axis affects the change of seasons.  However, over a 40,000 year cycle, the intensity of seasons and ice ages are affected by the Milankovitch Cycles.  This link provides a simple … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Star Lore

Posted on January 28, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

Constellations of the northern sky Have you ever looked up into the night sky, gazed upon the stars, tried to imagine them within those famous constellations, and wondered, how the heck does that group of stars look like a man carrying a club and a shield/lion/pelt?  That would be Orion, (also, The Hunter) who I found […] Continue reading →

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How Technology Changed the Sky

Posted on January 28, 2013 by werdercj

Technology shapes modern astronomy. When thinking about the night sky, one thing that strikes me as particularly fascinating is that humans have been observing and analyzing this same sky for many thousands of years.  However, it has had such different meaning for each successive group to observe it.  Although we see the same movements and […] Continue reading →

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Lunar Eclipses

Posted on January 28, 2013 by YanruChen

The lunar eclipse happens when the Earth lies directly between the Sun and the Moon. The Earth thus cast a shadow on the Moon, and we will not see the light reflected by the Moon therefore. The shadow of the Earth consists of two parts: a central umbra, and a surrounding penumbra. Umbra blocks sunlight […] Continue reading →

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The Million Star Falsehood

Posted on January 28, 2013 by marknshirleyvu

I was only a little bit surprised when I learned recently that there were not a million stars visible in our night sky.  One million is a huge number, and as small as stars are, I never believed there was nearly enough space in our sky for one million of them to be visible.  However, […] 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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SkyView?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by zoodrey

SkyView gives you the entire sky at your palm… and for only $1.99! By pointing your Iphone camera anywhere in the sky, SkyView will show you constellations, stars, planets, and satellites that you can tap and zoom in on to learn more. It provides you with a search interface that will tell you exactly where … Continue reading » Continue reading →

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Precession Is All But Precision

Posted on January 28, 2013 by jacksonlangham

The earth has an axis of tilt of about 23.5 degrees, and precession, a gradual wobble that alters the orientation of Earth’s axis, does not change the amount of axis […] Continue reading →

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Planet

Posted on January 28, 2013 by ibrahim2016

Sounds wrong because the extra syllable blemishes the aesthetic quality of the symmetry of the rest of the poem. Planets do twinkle, in fact. Its just that we do not notice. And it is the hallmark of a truly good (and bored) scientist to correct a misconception, even if it is only superhuman vision that […] Continue reading →

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Once in a Blue Moon?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by brendanfeeley

While studying lunar phases for tomorrow’s test, I wondered what the common phrase “Blue Moon” meant.  According to Wikipedia, Blue Moon is a term used to describe the second full moon in one month.  A two-full-moon month occurs approximately once every 3 years, and the it can only occur is because most months (with the […] Continue reading →

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