Solar System
Category archives for Solar System
A Super-Sized Sister Solar System!
Posted by Ethan on July 11, 2012 
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” -Neil Armstrong Here on our little wet rock in our Solar System, we…
I Know What You Did Last Winter
Posted by Ethan on July 9, 2012 
“You better lose yourself in the music, the moment You own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo” -Eminem Here on Earth, a cold, frozen winter lasts three months, with the Sun’s rays pointed a maximum…
Discovering the Earth from Space: Top 10 Pictures from the ISS
Posted by Ethan on June 26, 2012 
“We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” -Bill Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut From hundreds of miles up, the International Space Station speeds around the Earth, completing 18 orbits a day, looking down on us and returning some absolutely fabulous images. But what…
It’s hard to leave this world
Posted by Ethan on June 22, 2012 
“Some prophecies are self-fulfilling But I’ve had to work for all of mine Better times will come to me, God willing Cause I can’t leave this world behind” -Josh Ritter You sure can’t leave this world behind. At least, not very easily. The reason for it, of course, is gravity. Here on the surface of…
Measure the Tilt of the Earth on the Solstice! (This Wednesday!)
Posted by Ethan on June 19, 2012 
“Soon the earth will tilt on its axis and begin to dance to the reggae beat to the accompaniment of earthquake. And who can resist the dance of the earthquake, mon?” -Peter Tosh Every year, there are two special days where every place on Earth receives the same amount of sunlight — 12 hours —…
The Sirens of Titan
Posted by Ethan on June 14, 2012 
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” -Mark Twain Back before the telescope was invented, Saturn was known as the Old Man of the Skies. The slowest-moving of the naked-eye planets, it’s the only one that would reliably be in nearly the same location, year after year.…
Incredible Star Trails, from Earth and Beyond
Posted by Ethan on June 8, 2012 
“Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen.” -Larry Niven Here on the solid ground of the Earth, the Sun and Moon rise and set on a daily basis. During the hours where the Sun is invisible, blocked by the solid Earth, the stars twirl overhead in…
Alllllllmost there…
Posted by Ethan on June 5, 2012 
Good luck, clear skies and great viewing for everyone out there trying to see the Venus Transit! Update 1: Watch the event live here, or watch the embedded NASA video stream, below: Live video from your Android device on Ustream Update 2: here are the results of my Transit “expedition”, where I didn’t get any…
The Cosmic Story of Carbon-14
Posted by Ethan on June 4, 2012 
“Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties.” -James Jeans Here on Earth, every living thing is based around four fundamental, elemental building blocks of life: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and, perhaps most importantly, carbon. From diamonds to nanotubes to DNA, carbon is indispensable for constructing practically all of the most intricate…
How long does a Solar Eclipse last?
Posted by Ethan on June 1, 2012 
“The moon shuts off the beams of the sun as it passes across it, and darkens so much of the earth as the breadth of the blue-eyed moon amounts to.” -Empedocles, ~450 B.C. Less than two weeks ago, I saw my first annular eclipse, with some spectacular results at the moment of maximum eclipse. This…
