Archives for the 'astronomers' Category
Carl Sagan
Published on 21 Dec 2006 at 12:00 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under astronomers.
I am currently out of town, and snowed in. So, bear with me. I won’t be posting regularly for a while, and this posting will be a bit shorter than it otherwise would have been.
Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of Carl Sagan’s death. I first became aware of him watching the TV […]
Edwin Hubble
Published on 20 Nov 2006 at 5:32 pm.
12 Comments.
Filed under astronomers.
One of the most recognized names in Twentieth Century astronomy is Edwin Hubble. Astronomers and astronomy students recognize the name, of course. Even many people from the public recognized the name. Now, anyone who is even a little aware of world events knows the name through the Hubble Space Telescope, which was named after Edwin […]
The hazards of being an astronomer
Published on 26 Sep 2006 at 1:05 pm.
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Filed under astronomers.
I teach night classes. We have labs after the class. Last week after my astronomy class I stepped outdoors to look at the sky. The astronomy labs come in two types: indoor labs and outdoor labs. The outdoor labs, naturally, require a fairly clear sky, or sometimes a completely clear sky (depending on what we […]
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James Van Allen: September 7, 1914 - August 9, 2006
Published on 10 Aug 2006 at 12:32 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under astronomers, rockets, space exploration.
James Van Allen died yesterday. He was the one whom the Van Allen Radiation Belts were named after. As a further interesting note, I have a letter signed by him from back in 1984. Hmm. I need to see if I can find that letter.
He spent most of his life in […]
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Maria Mitchell
Published on 1 Aug 2006 at 7:38 pm.
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Filed under astronomers.
Astronomy is a heavy male dominated field. Interestingly, over 50% of my students are female, but only 10% of my colleagues. The percentage is slightly higher than that in graduate school, but still few women go into the field. Almost all of my students are majoring in something else and are taking […]
Beer and elliptical orbits
Published on 3 Jul 2006 at 4:36 pm.
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Filed under astronomers, planets.
The last couple of posts have related to planetary orbits. I will continue that for this one. In both previous posts, I mentioned the elliptical nature of orbits. As it turns out, perfectly circular orbits are very rare. Most orbits are at least a little, and sometimes a lot, elliptical. The degree to which an […]
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Huygens and Saturn’s Rings
Published on 18 May 2006 at 6:34 pm.
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Filed under astronomers, planets.
Seventeenth Century Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens holds a special role in astronomy. He is the first astronomer to realize that Saturn was surrounded by a ring system. Huygens was not really the first to see Saturn’s rings. That honor probably should go to Galileo. However, Galileo’s telescope was nowhere near as good as Huygens’ telescope. […]
