Archive for the ‘Astronomy’ Category
New Year 2012
January 1st, 2012 | Author: Herb
Wishing a Safe and Happy New Year to the Inhabitants of Earth!
2010 Globe at Night
March 4th, 2010 | Author: Herb
GLOBE at Night is an annual 2-week campaign in March. People all over the world record the brightness of their night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars. They submit their measurements on-line and a few weeks later, organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. Over the last four GLOBE at Night campaigns, volunteers from over 100 nations have contributed 35,000 measurements…Learn How to Participate
MP3/Podcast with Constance Walker
How big is that?
October 29th, 2009 | Author: Herb
Through the years I have let a lot of people look through my telescopes. And one of the questions most frequently asked when the target is a planet, like Jupiter, the Sun or the Moon, is “How big is that?”. Now seriously, if I say the diameter is about 800,000 miles, you will pretty much loose most people, I mean what do we have in our daily lives to compare that number too? Well I have found a neat web application that will let you compare the sizes of various objects in our solar system side by side. This is a great example of how the web can be used effectively in education; and a great example, and proof supporting the old saying ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. Check this out:
(Try selecting the Earth on the left and the Sun on the right, then click Compare in the middle. Now that’s an eye opener huh!)
Android Sky Maps
September 14th, 2009 | Author: Herb
Google has a cool, free application for the “Android” phone called Sky Maps and I thought a few of you may be interested. It shows you what should be visible even when Light Pollution keeps you from seeing the real thing. Enjoy and remember to keep looking up, the real stars may return one night! Herb