Thomlex - Astronomy

Dawn through the Year

bill — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:17:00 -0400

The picture, taken near Ajo, Arizona is a multiple exposure, each shot taken ten days apart, at 8:30 AM for a year. The sun's seasonal shift forms this figure 8, known as the analemma. Because of this effect, sundials can run ahead of clock time by as much as 16 mins 33 secs or fall behind by as much as 14 mins 6 secs.

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When I saw this picture, it reminded me of an elderly gentleman named L. Gordon Plummer. He was retired, but volunteered time to come into my sixth grade class and teach us physics once per week. He'd teach us interesting things like basic concepts in relativity and quantum mechanics, or about hyper-cubes (four-dimensional objects). He invented a sundial that is always correct, by incorporating an analemma-shaped object into the design. It's still standing (I think) in Balboa Park in San Diego. I'm sure he's passed on long ago now. He was an interesting person, one that made an impact on me.

Orreries and Planetarium Machines

bill — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 13:32:00 -0400

Brien Grieg makes beautiful orreries. An orrery is a model of the solar system that shows the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons. (link from stocktrader).

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Evolution of the Universe

bill — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 20:46:00 -0500

John Kyrk built this very cool animation of the evolution of the universe. Move a slider from the Big Bang forward through present times and see various stages of development.

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Beginnings of the Big Bang

bill — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 13:09:00 -0500

Scientists have collected new evidence of the events in the first trillionth of a second of the universe. The evidence supports the "inflation" scenario, where the universe suddenly grew from submicroscopic to astronmical. Scientists collected this data over 3 years from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite.

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Superbubble of Gas Blowing out of Milky Way

bill — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:59:00 -0500

A huge "superbubble" of hydrogen gas has been discovered rising nearly 10,000 light-years above the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Astronomers believe the gas may be driven by supernova explosions intense stellar winds.

This giant bubble, nearly 23,000 light-years from the Earth, contains about a million times more mass than the Sun. (link from Olgui).

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Cool Astronomy Pictures

bill — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:14:00 -0500

Great pictures from Jerry Lodriguss of faraway space objects, such as this of a total solar eclipse.

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Hubble Photos

bill — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 08:40:00 -0500

Great pictures taken by the Hubble telescope.

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Cartwheel Galaxy

bill — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 04:41:00 -0500

Picture of the Cartwheel galaxy after a smaller galaxy plunged through it, causing the formation of stars. (link from BlueBetween)

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Fire on the Sun

bill — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 23:52:00 -0500

Picture of portion of the sun. Width of the picture is around 13,000 miles The whole earth could fit in this picture. (Link from Nutzzz4Honey)

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Celestia

bill — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 17:41:00 -0500

The one and only Celestia. Take a ride through the universe.

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Collision with Andromeda

bill — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 20:42:00 -0500

The upcoming collission between Andromeda and our own Milky Way.

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