Autumnal Equinox
Today, as you would have seen from yesterday’s post, marks the Autumnal Equinox. Here is Wikipedia again with lots of links and information, both scientific and mythological: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox
Tag: astronomy
Whipple Museum of the History of Science
TOTD was at a conference in Cambridge last week and visited the amazing Whipple Museum of the History of Science. The collection contains examples of scientific instruments relating to astronomy, navigation, surveying, drawing and calculating, including some magnificent globes and sundials. …
The Perseid meteor shower
Don’t miss this heavnely show which is on this week – probably best seen on the morning of the Thurday 13th. http://transientsky.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/2010-perseids-meteor-shower/ There is, of course, more information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids and more news from a UK newspaper that hasn’t started …
Mars:2020:Springtime
What will Mars be like in 2020 – here is one possibility! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjiGH9QNiU0 How many Mars mission can you spot? (Thanks for C for this suggestion)
SolarBeat
This is quite an effective way of depicting the relative orbital periods of the planets as they circle around the sun. As a bonus, each planet makes a musical note when it completes its orbit. If nothing else, it illustrates just …
Logarithmic maps of the universe
The title sounds dull but check these out to see how small they can make you feel: http://www.astro.princeton.edu/universe/
Hate mail from 3rd graders
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pluto/mail.html The Pluto Files shows that it wasn’t just the old fuddy duddies ‘unlearning’ that Pluto was a planet that proved difficult.
How to feel small and insignificant….
Have you ever wonder what it would be like to travel across the known Universe? Check out the amazing video below and prepare to feel like a very small cog in an enormous wheel. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100120.html (Thanks to CL for this …
What if the earth had rings?
In an alternate universe somewhere, perhaps this is the view: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/mental-health-break-19.html (as it says, the really cool part begins about a minute in).
How Old Are You?
How old are you? Twenty-one again? Some of us (ahem) have been twenty-one twice over, with a few years added on… Would it sound any better if I told you that I am 16,544 days old? Or 22,823,360 minutes, perhaps? …
