Most people are familiar with a supernova – the most violent event in the known universe. Supernova happen when a super-massive star reaches old age and has fused most of its lighter elements into heavier elements and basically runs out of fuel. The gravity of the star pushing inwards overcomes the pressure of the heat […]
Just finished watching the Goonies and decided I really wanted that treasure map… so I made one!
Yet another APoD I have to comment on: Not only is it crazy to think that our entire solar system (including Pluto) – traveling at hundreds of kilometers per second – could fit into the blue pinpoint heads of these spires, the image itself was captured using an adaptive optics system using five laser generated guide stars to […]
07-01-2013 30DegF 7:30pm – 10:30pm Dark skies. COLD (dressed in warm layers), but it was definitely worth it. I feel like a legitimate amateur astronomer after tonight’s images. Pretty happy with them. Imaged with DSI II & Canon T3 Orion Nebula, Jupiter, and (hopefully) Ceres Scope well aligned and focused (for me anyway) -pics of […]
I just came across one of my most favorite APoD‘s to date and really feel like I need to re-post it here. There’s little I could add to the existing description to enhance the awe factor so instead, here it is verbatim: “Explanation: Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star Zeta Ophiuchi produces the arcing interstellar […]
In early 2012, I posted this thought I had regarding space and my love for astronomy: “So, here’s a cool thing: There are currently sixteen robots (spacecraft) roaming our solar system and sending back data. Imagine in your mind, zooming back from the solar system with a bird’s eye view looking down and seeing the […]
My daughter, Ella, is three and a half years old. During a recent discussion, I mentioned that she hadn’t been born yet when a certain incident happened. She said, “Where was I? Was I dead?” I told her, “Well… kind-of.” I mean technically, she was dead! We were all dead before we were born if […]
You were asking why someone would spend billions of dollars on telescopes on earth when you could spend the same amount to put one in space. This video will tell you why. Plus, it’s a REALLY good/interesting documentary. You really should watch it… Here’s a quick visual description of spectroscopy. (Just glance at the pictures and you’ll get […]
“It’s breathtaking to consider: You have two eyes, each composed of 130 million photo-receptor cells. In each one of those cells, there are 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) atoms – that’s more than all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. However, each atom in each cell in each eye formed in the core of a star, billions of years ago and yet, here they are today, […]
One of the great benefits of being an amateur scientist/astronomer is that when people find this out about you, their curiosity will be piqued and sometimes you’ll get to have a little dialog with them. There’s no better feeling for me than getting a chance to discuss something I’m so passionate about with someone who is genuinely interested. Sure, […]