Archives for the 'physics' Category
Dark antimatter?
Published on 26 Jan 2007 at 12:56 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under dark matter, physics.
Every particle of matter had a corresponding particle of antimatter. When a particle of matter and a particle of antimatter come together they annihilate one another, creating two gamma rays traveling in opposite directions. So, when an electron and a positron (an anti-electron) meet, they produce two gamma rays having 511keV of energy. […]
The Future of the Moon
Published on 24 Jan 2007 at 5:06 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Earth, moon, physics.
A couple of days ago Space.com had an article that I read in newspapers all over the place. I won’t go into detail, you can read it. But, the summary is that the Moon is likely doomed. When the Sun swells up to be a red giant, the Earth-Moon system will be skimming along just […]
Orbits and eccentricities
Published on 20 Jan 2007 at 10:58 pm.
11 Comments.
Filed under comets, physics.
“When is Comet McNaught coming back?” everyone is asking me. It has been mostly cloudy for a month in many places in the Northern Hemisphere. Most people that I know missed the comet, and I only saw it the one time from the airplane’s window. The farther south, the harder it was […]
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AAS Meeting — Dark Matter
Published on 7 Jan 2007 at 11:40 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under conference blogging, dark matter, physics.
Well, we are getting some interesting information here in Seattle. One thing that has apparently hit the news elsewhere is the new 3-D map of dark matter in the universe. Dark matter is invisible, so how do we map it?
Well, quite simply, we look for its gravitational effects. Dark matter, like all […]
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Artificial Gravity
Published on 3 Dec 2006 at 10:36 pm.
12 Comments.
Filed under physics, space exploration, space station.
One day we hope to send manned missions to Mars, or perhaps establish mining colonies on asteroids. We would even like to have a permanent moonbase. However, all of these ideas have one big problem. Gravity is weaker at all these places. In fact, the only place in the Solar System […]
How much would I weigh?
Published on 30 Nov 2006 at 7:50 pm.
12 Comments.
Filed under amusement, physics.
When the Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon they wore spacesuits to protect themselves from the vacuum of space, and they had to carry all of their air and life support equipment with them. These spacesuits weighed about 180 pounds here on Earth, but when you look at the astronauts on the Moon, they are […]
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Escape Velocity
Published on 29 Nov 2006 at 6:26 pm.
8 Comments.
Filed under physics.
In From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne, space travelers are propelled to the Moon by a giant cannon in Florida. Well, that would have to be one heck of a cannon!  Written in 1865, this was one of the first science fiction novels written, and it is still a classic that everyone interested in science fiction […]
