The Hitchhiker's guide to Astronomy 162

All-you-can-eat Neutrons

2004-09-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

They're doing some really interesting things up in Oak Ridge, like strapping a turbo-booster onto the Spallation Neutron Source.

Tapping in to those neutrons will be the Fundamental Neutron Physics beam line, which will help physicists exploit neutrons to learn more about the Big Bang, left-right symmetry of the universe and the amount of energy produced in the sun.

Solving the mysteries of the Universe, eh? And you though digital watches were a pretty neat idea.

Bratty New Planet

2004-05-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

There is a relatively young planet (only about one million years or so) that is confounding the finest theories of planetary evolution and birth. The astronomers at the Spitzer Space Telescope have some serious 'splainin' to do.

Flying the "friendly" skies?

2004-04-29T16:11:00.000-05:00

I never would have thought about this, but it's an interesting topic. Especially to the astronauts' spouses.

Hapkeite

2004-04-27T10:37:00.000-05:00

Hey, we're famous! UTK researcher Mahesh Anand and his team have discovered a new element in a meteorite from the Moon that landed on Earth in 2000. They got a little write-up in the Houston Chronicle, and they even made the Fark front page. Whooo, go astrovols.

Huge new planet discovered

2004-04-16T16:19:00.000-05:00

Planet discovery is all the rage in the astronomy world this year. The other day, three planets were discovered. There huge, baby, and they're waaaay out there.

Everybody loves Ray

2004-04-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

Ray Bradbury, the great author and strong proponent of an active and agressive space program announced that he is completely in favor of President Bush's plan to land more astonauts on the moon by 2020, and to send a manned (or womanned) mission to Mars.

Dim and Dimmer

2004-04-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

We've talked about how the Universe is expanding (thank you, Monty Python), and we seem to have some grasp on it thanks to Edwin Hubble. But what we are just now wrapping our minds around is the fact that it's also getting a bit dimmer as it goes careening out into the big unknown. Astronomers have thought we are on the downward slope of a massive peak in star formation, the result of all the stellar gas and matter being jammed in so close together. They'd thought that peak was about 8 billion years ago, but new observations show that it was more likely on the order of 5 billion years ago.

So it doesn't really mean a whole lot for most of us (I can't remember much of what happened 5 years ago, let alone 5 billion), but it does have a lot of implications for astronomers who spend time figuring out the speed, direction, and path of the Universe's expansion. It's right interesting, actually, even if you're just a bystander.

Tea time

2004-04-12T22:16:00.000-05:00

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have been messing around again. They've discovered that one of the lovely fringe benefits of zero-gravity is the ability to take your tea with chopsticks.

Actually, they were doing legitimate experiments with fluids, trying to discover exactly how fluids of different densities interact with each other in zero-gravity. It's quite interesting. Give it a look-see.

Bright lights, small planet

2004-03-24T14:48:00.000-05:00

It appears that the Earth may be smoking ions. The SMEI satellite has noticed that we're glowing in a suspicious manner. No one really knows what it is yet, but early reports are that it looks even cooler if the astronomer is just a touch high.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that astronomy ain't fun.

Sun of a beach

2004-03-24T14:39:00.000-05:00

The exploration of Mars continues. Some of the latest work is directed at exploring and understanding the now gone Martian Sea. Scientists want to have a closer look at the beach in hopes of finding fossilized remains of extinct life.

There's a beach on Mars? Dude, Spring Break 2754 is going to kick ass.

Now who's the dummy, dummy?

2004-02-28T17:29:00.000-05:00

The ISS (International Space Station) has a new hood ornament. Actually, the mannequin will help them moniter radiation levls around the ship.

I bet it looks hilarious, though. I wonder if they're thinking about getting some rims for it.

Gaseous eye for the earthling guy

2004-02-18T15:44:00.000-05:00

Astronomers have proposed they could make a telescope over 1 million km wide by utilizing stellar gas cloud as a natural lens. This natural telescope was first proposed in 2002 by astrobiologists from The Netherlands. In theory, it would be able to see further into space than any previous device, and would peer into the heart of black holes and active galaxies, among others.

Hey, I can see my house from here. Cool.

Long frikin' ways off

2004-02-16T09:23:00.000-05:00

A group of astronomers from Cal Tech have observed and documented a galaxy that is thought to be the farthest observed object in the Universe. They think that the light observed from this galaxy was created when the Universe was about 750 million years old.

Today's word

2004-01-28T18:48:00.000-05:00

Helioseismology
The study of the propagation of waves in (and on) the Sun.

Impress your friends! Win the affection of strangers! Use big words!

Hot enough for you?

2004-01-28T18:44:00.000-05:00

The Sun can be photographed a number of different ways. One of those is with an X-Ray telescope, such as the Yohkoh Soft X-Ray Telescope. X-rays, generally speaking, are emitted by objects with temperatures in the millions of degrees, which is damn hot. Here's the last X-Ray image of the Sun from Yohkoh to give you an idea:

First real lab

2004-01-28T18:25:00.000-05:00

The first real lab is over now. We looked at emission lines from rarified gases. Yeah, it was about as exciting as it sounds.

More later.

Sol(aris) searching

2004-01-28T18:13:00.000-05:00

Our first chapter is about the Sun. You're probably thinking, "The Sun. That's the light in the sky, right?" You're totally not in Astronomy 162.

Things you should know about Ye Olde Ball of Fire:
It's almost entirely Hydrogen and Helium.
Between the two you have 99.8% of the Sun's ingredients, which is most of the ingredients. Not surprisingly, this is a pretty common mixture throughout the universe. Earth is an oddball. We've got all this Carbon and Oxygen and Nitrogen. Earth is like the Golden Corral® buffet of elements. The Sun is more like the spinning, burning ball of hydrogen and helium that keeps the roast beef on the buffet warm...from about 150,000,000 km away.

It's big.
You could fit all the planets in the Solar System inside the Sun and still have room left over to do it all again. It's huge in there, which is good, since we're counting on it lasting for a while. By the way, if you did cram all the planets into the Sun, they'd burn like a match in no time, which would make you look like an idiot...which is why it's a good thing we all take Astronomy 162. Which brings me nicely to my last point...

It's hotter than a monkey's armpit.
Holy hell, it's hot in there. If you were to measure the temperature of the Sun's surface, you'd find it is about 5800K, which is hot enough to turn anything you can think of into a little puff of nothing. Of course, you wouldn't be able to take it's temperature because you'd be burned up already, you idiot (what were you thinking?). Think...Sahara times Hell with a mouthful of Tabasco. Yeah, hot like that.

See. You've learned something already. I'm so proud of you.

Class is this-a-way

2004-01-28T17:53:00.000-05:00

The class is almost all online. Technology, man. It's nuts. The lectures are all online notes, but there are still physical labs, quizzes and, worst of all, physical exams (turn your head and cough, please).

Here we go

2004-01-28T16:48:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Astronomy 162, the sequel to last semester's hit, Astronomy 161.

Enjoy.