This has always been one of my favorite videos. It always make me think about how transient life is and what the important things in life are. It is so fascinating to think that the atoms that make up who I am and everything around me originated from the beginning of the universe and have traveled through space and time to create the life and world that I know today. Studying astronomy more has made me look at the world different and realize that there is so much more out there. It is exciting to think about the possibilities about what else can exist in the universe, even though we may never know for sure what is out there.
Tardigrades
This video discusses what the toughest animal on Earth is. It as interesting to me that while I imagined a big animal like a lion, they determined that the toughest animal is a tardigrade, a type of extremophile. These animals are able to withstand the greatest temperatures and pressures on Earth as well as the frigid and seemingly uninhabitable conditions in space. It’s so cool to think that it’s possible for some type of life to survive such extreme conditions. This is an important scientific discovery because it makes the possibility of other life in the universe that much more plausible.
Rosetta’s Trajectory
This photo found on NASA’s Solar Exploration page diagrams the trajectory for the European Space Agency’s mission Rosetta’s exploration of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Launched in 2004, Rosetta has since flown-by Earth three times, Mars, and two asteroids, and is scheduled to arrive at the comet later this year. It’s so how cool scientist are ale to calculate precisely where the planets, asteroids, and comet will be at a given point in time in the future and how long it will take Rosetta to reach it on it’s given path.
Observing the Night Sky
The website Sky and Telescope is very cool! It shows an easy to understand layout of what planets, stars, etc. you will be viewing in the night sky and where they will be moving throughout the night and week. It also gives you categories of different celestial objects you can try to search for in the night sky. Beyond that there is an interactive tool to viewing the night sky, which makes it easy for any level of sky observers. Additionally, there are pictures, videos, and news updates relating to what is going on in space. Attached is the picture of tonight’s night.
Orion Nebula
Nebulae have always been one of my favorite parts of the universe. I like how this video goes into detail about what makes up the Orion Nebula. It’s so hard to believe that we have the technology to discover so much about something so far away. It’s hard to imagine that the four main stars in the middle are 10,000 times brighter than our sun. Also, it’s cool that scientists have discovered new stars covered in clouds of dust because if we ever develop the technology to get a closer look at those stars or continue to watch them over time, they can reveal a lot about the origins of our solar system beyond what we already know.
Formation of the Solar System
I have always been a fan of Stephen Hawking. In this video, he does a great job of explaining the formation of the solar system beginning with the origins of the universe. From the Big Bang and how the explosion of an ancient star spread out all the elements generated from its life and death throughout the universe. He goes on to explain how gravity produced the cloud of dust that would eventually turn into our solar system. Once the Earth goes hot enough, nuclear fusion began and generated new elements that spread throughout our solar system with a huge gust of radioactive energy blowing the solar dust to the outer edges of the solar system. Fast forward hundred of thousands of years, and the planets have all formed. I like how even though its a short video on a multi-billion year process, Hawking explains the formation of the universe in an easy to understand, yet informative manner.
Spectroscopy
I always wondered how we were able to determine what chemicals are present in other stars in outer space. This video excellently and concisely teaches the basics behind studying this in terms of spectroscopy. Naturally, light is important in our viewing of the stars, but I never considered that the way different elements bend light could be used in astronomy. It is so cool that they can detect these patterns in stars that are so distant from us.
Tides
This video is a cool, informative, easy understand animation of how the gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon affect tides. It clearly and concisely describes how tidal forces cause high tides twice per day even though the moon is only overhead once per day and why the gravity is weaker at a greater distance (there is less force pushing the object away). It is so interesting that there are tides in the Earth’s crust because , while it is relatively easy to detect tides in the ocean, we do not notice any tides in the crust below our feet.
Historical Astronomers in Context
Tycho Brahe
Born December 14, 1546; Died October 24, 1601
Brahe’s contributions to astronomy were based on observations he was able to make despite not having access to a telescope. He was able to map put planetary motion, which helped in the development of the current model of the solar system. He had observed a supernova, which he was able to conclude wasn’t just a local object based on the fact that it had no parallax. Brahe observed a comet and noticed that its parallax showed that it was further than the moon, so it could not have been gases in the atmosphere as Aristotle predicted. Additionally, he noticed that the stars had no parallax and hypothesized that they were so far away that the parallax was unobservable.
In His Life
One major historical event that happened during Brahe’s lifetime was the invention of the pencil in January 1565. Another historical event occurring during this time was Ferdinand took over the Holy Roman Empire. His reign lead to a period of peace, and crowned the Holy Roman Emperor without the Pope.
Another famous historical figure to live during this time was Queen Mary, also referred to as “Bloody Mary.” During her reign over England, she prosecuted hundreds of Protestants and reestablished the Church of England. She was born February 18, 1516 and died November 17, 1558.
Learning this context helped me realize how limited these astronomers were in their resources and technology that they used in observing, calculating, and hypothesizing about various astronomical phenomena. Many of the early astronomers didn’t even have access to telescopes, so all of their theories and perspectives were based on observations made purely from the naked eye. Also, these scientific discoveries were taking place during the height of religious reformation. These discoveries often suggested the imperfection of the heavens, which the church likely was unhappy about, making it more difficult for the astronomers to have support behind their claims.
Sky and Telescope
Sky and Telescope
This website is very cool! It shows an easy to understand layout of what planets, stars, etc. you will be viewing in the night sky and where they will be moving throughout the night and week. It also gives you categories of different celestial objects you can try to search for in the night sky. Beyond that there is an interactive tool to viewing the night sky, which makes it easy for any level of sky observers. Additionally, there are pictures, videos, and news updates relating to what is going on in space.
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