Category: Astronomical

Planetary alignments are caused by the fact that all of the planets in our solar system orbit the sun in the same direction. As they orbit, they appear to move across the sky from east to west. When they are aligned, it means that they are all in the same part of the sky at…

The period of a Cepheid variable depends on its luminosity, but generally ranges from a few days to a few weeks. Specifically, Cepheid variables with longer periods tend to be more luminous than those with shorter periods. For example, a typical Cepheid variable with a period of around 5 days might have a luminosity that…

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. He is best known for his laws of planetary motion, which describe the movement of planets in our solar system. Kepler’s laws helped establish the foundations of modern astronomy and laid the groundwork for Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravitation. Kepler was a key figure…

Lao Tzu calls it thievery when the few capture the bulk of a country’s worth. This is no basis for a decent life. Even those in power would be better off if they didn’t have to defend their position and their possessions. This kind of power does not last. It has always led to rebellion…

Weighing more than 300 automobiles, or nearly 500 tons, the ISS or International Space Station began deployment in 1998. More than three dozen manned missions since late 2000 have included scientific experiments and work to assemble the station. Several assembly missions launched from the now retired NASA Space Shuttle platform, but the bulk of the…

Planet Earth and our Sun, as well as the other (now 7) planets are often depicted as larger and larger rings in space, but the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud are made up of billions of comets, meteors and asteroids in three dimensions. But to get an idea of the true makeup of our…

Other than Earth, Wikipedia lists 17 planets that could have sunshine and liquid water in our solar system, at distances ranging from 4.2 lightyears to 2500 lightyears away. If this were a complete list, we could break down our solar system into habitable areas of 2500 lightyears in diameter. We would further consider that life…

The Dryas is a wildflower that grows in cooler climates. An evergreen that colonizes areas by spreading along the ground, it is found in Alaska, the Canadian Rockies and reaching as far south as Colorado. The Younger-Dryas is also an era named for glaciation and cooler temperatures, roughly ending 11,000 years ago. The most recent…

Scientists are searching for Wimps. Weakly interacting massive particles are a particle that we think is sub-atomic, accounts for 85% of matter in the universe, and we just can’t find the stuff. The most obvious clues of dark matter began coming in as soon as we had telescopes capable of observing remote galaxies. In the…

Let’s get super Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, 8 light years from Earth and twice the mass of the Sun. Known by many as the Dog Star, it is part of the constellation Canis Major which is south of the Zodiac belt. In North America, winter is the best season…