spectra

  • The Doppler Effect

    The Doppler Effect

    Have you ever heard the ice cream truck? When I was little, I remember hearing the ice cream truck all the time. Just the sound of the opening notes of “Pop Goes the Weasel” were enough to propel me to…

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  • Star Stuff & Cecilia Payne

    Star Stuff & Cecilia Payne

    If this quote really is from Cecilia Payne, then she had the right idea — at least for a female astronomer in the 1920s. Women in science back then faced an uphill battle to get recognized for any discoveries they…

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  • Types of Stars

    Types of Stars

    Meet the sun: a G2 class star towards the middle of its lifespan. Wait a second…G2? What does that even mean? It’s all part of a way astronomers break down the billions of stars in the sky and organize them…

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  • Types of Atoms

    Types of Atoms

    Does this look familiar? It might, or it might not. If it does, you might recognize it as the periodic table of the elements — more often known as simply the “periodic table.” It’s an ingenious way to organize elements…

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  • Info in a Rainbow

    Info in a Rainbow

    What do you see in this image? If you’re from a larger city and haven’t had the opportunity to venture into a place like the desert, you might not know what you’re looking at. That’s the Milky Way, our name…

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