the sun
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Galileo and the Telescope
When you hear the name “Galileo Galilei,” what immediately comes to mind? If you thought, “inventor of the telescope,” you’re not alone. I also wouldn’t be surprised if you thought “condemned by the Inquisition for believing the Earth orbited the…
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Johannes Kepler and Planetary Motion
Thales and Pythagoras suggested that the natural world could be understood. Aristotle dared to imagine what was beyond the Earth. Plato encouraged thought about the universe, even if he did take astronomy one step forward and two steps backward. Copernicus…
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Tycho Brahe, the Observer
It is surprisingly difficult to find a flattering image of Tycho Brahe. Honestly. Do me a favor and do a Google image search for the guy. It’ll come up with all sorts of disfigured images, mostly because his nose got…
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The Copernican Revolution
Nicolaus Copernicus lived from 1473-1543, a time when rebellion against the Church was at its height. And unfortunately for the astronomy of the time, it had gotten inextricably tied up with Christian teachings. In that time, heaven and hell weren’t…
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Archaeoastronomy
Imagine that you’re living sometime around 2000 BCE, give or take a thousand years or so. That’s about 4000 years before our time. You look up at the sky at night, and see it filled with numerous points of light.…
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The Eclipse Seasons
There can be no doubt that solar and lunar eclipses are some of the most fascinating sights for the “naked” eye. (And I say “naked” under the assumption that you know never to look directly at the sun without approved protection!)…
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Sunrise in Flagstaff
It’s 5:00 am and I’m up ungodly early to photograph the sunrise for a school assignment. So I figured I’d blog about it. Because, why not? 4:50: Okay, I’m up. Why do I have to be up so freaking early…
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The Reason for the Seasons
As a born Californian, I never saw seasons this dramatically until I went to college in Flagstaff, Arizona. I remember, in my first year here, when I was taking a walk around campus with a few friends. We passed over…
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Pseudoscience: Astronomy vs. Astrology
I’m going to venture a guess that you’ve heard of astrology. As an astronomy enthusiast, I run into people who confuse astronomy with astrology all the time. They’re particularly prevalent at work (I don’t work among fellow astronomy geeks at…
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The Ecliptic
The ecliptic, as astronomers call it, is the apparent path of the sun against the background of the stars in the sky. It’s useful because it tells us how to find the planets in the sky. They can be hard to…
