This is a little late but still fun to do…
Archive for the ‘Educational’ Category
Summer Solstice 2011 – How can you measure the tilt of the Earth?
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011An Interview with John Dobson Jan 2010
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011Source Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Lowry Dobson (born September 14, 1915) is a popularizer of amateur astronomy. He is most notable for being the promoter of a design for large, portable, low-cost Newtonian reflecting telescopes that bears his name, the Dobsonian telescope. The design is considered revolutionary since it allowed amateur astronomers to build extremely large telescopes. He is less known for his efforts to promote awareness of astronomy (and his unorthodox views of cosmology) through public lectures including his performances of “sidewalk astronomy.” John Dobson is also the co-founder of the amateur astronomical group, the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers
Voyager Space Craft’s Still Doing Science after all These Years.
Thursday, June 9th, 2011The Voyager space probes are now some 9 billion miles from the Sun, and have discovered some interesting facts about the Sun’s Magnetic Field way out there.
NASA/JPL What’s Up for June 2011?
Sunday, June 5th, 2011Source – NASA:
What’s up for June? Solar system collisions!
3D Solar System Simulator
Monday, May 30th, 2011I have added a 3D Solar System Simulator to our web site.
SSS is Flash based 3D model of Planets of Solar System and the Night Sky.
The Model consists of 3 main Views (Heliocentric, Geocentric and Panaromatic), including:
• Precise Positions of all Celestial Objects according to NASA Calculations
• Schematic Distances and Sizes for better understanding of Planet Surfaces and Motions
• a unique feature to Drag Planets through their Orbits
• a lot of interesting Settings which allow you to Observe particular Motions and Events
• Distance Calculator to measure distances between Planets even while in motion
• Earth Observatory set-up with which you can watch Celestial Happenings on your Night Sky
SSS mean Astronomy for Everybody
Ensign Software – ESPL: Dances of the Planets
Saturday, May 21st, 2011This remindes of the old days with my color pens and the spirograph where did I put that thing??
Source – Ensign Software – ESPL: Dances of the Planets
The planets in the heavens move in exquisite orbital patterns, dancing to the Music of the Cosmos. There is more mathematical and geometric harmony than we realize. The idea for this article is from a book Larry Pesavento shared with me. The book, ‘A Little Book of Coincidence‘ by John Martineau, illustrates the orbital patterns and several of their geometrical relationships. .
Take the orbits of any two planets and draw a line between the two planet positions every few days. Because the inner planet orbits faster than the outer planet, interesting patterns evolve. Each planetary pairing has its own unique dance rhythm. For example, the Earth-Venus dance returns to the original starting position after eight Earth years. Eight Earth years equals thirteen Venus years. Note that 8 and 13 are members of the Fibonacci number series.
Click on the above link to read the rest of the article and see the neat graphs.
Face In Space
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011Source – NASA Announces Face In Space.
Fly Your Face in Space
Space Shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 set to launch April 29, 2011. We will be accepting image uploads until 12:00 a.m. EDT on April 30.
We are now accepting participants for STS-135. This final shuttle flight is currently targeted for launch on June 28, 2011.
How The Universe Works – Big Stars
Thursday, March 31st, 2011The sun has been lighting our planet for 4.6 billion years and sustains all life on Earth, but it’s a speck in comparison to other stars in the universe.
Astronomers Find Coldest Star in the Universe
Thursday, March 24th, 2011The MESSENGER probe enters orbit around the innermost planet on March 17th
Thursday, March 17th, 2011Source – NASA: NASA Science News for March 15, 2011
It’s not easy to visit Mercury, but NASA is about to settle in for a long stay. The MESSENGER probe enters orbit around the innermost planet on March 17th.
