Tag: astronomy

  • The Brightest Night Lites

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today is Friday. We all made it through yet another week. So let us look up into the evening sky tonight and see the Hertzsprung–Russel diagram in action. Or, we can take xkcd’s expanded version and just enjoy ourselves. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • It’s Finally Sunny in Philadelphia (on the Weekend)

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Here in Philadelphia, the weekend is forecast to be not rainy, which is a departure from the last several weeks. So this piece from xkcd’s Randall Munroe seemed appropriate. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Lunar Observations

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    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    Monday night I was doing some work outside and when I turned around to head inside I was struck by the brilliance of an object in the night sky. I had seen the Moon rise earlier in the evening, but this was far to the east. It was identifiable as a dot, not just a…

  • The Timeline of the Voyager Mission

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    There are a bunch of things to look at this week, but what am I most excited about? Voyager. No, not Star Trek. (Did you know that the Vger entity from the first Star Trek film was a replica of the Voyager probes?) I am of course talking about the Voyager mission to the outer…

  • The Solar Eclipse as Seen from Philly

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    Brendan Barry
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    As my last two posts pointed out, yesterday was the Solar Eclipse. It certainly garnered media attention as a news helicopter hovered over my building during the height of the eclipse. Very peaceful indeed. But, knowing that my smartphone would not be able to take the best photos of the eclipse, even with a solar filter,…

  • Solar Eclipse Day

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Today is Solar Eclipse Day. Thankfully Vox has put together a great interactive piece to help you plan your day. This is for my viewing area in Philadelphia. We only max out at 75% of the sun, but that is still pretty fantastic. Credit for the piece goes to Casey Miller, Ryan Mark, and Brian…

  • The Solar Eclipse

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    If you have not heard, the entire continental United States will, weather cooperating, be able to see at least a partial solar eclipse on Monday, 21 August. It is still too far away for an accurate weather forecast, but I am hoping that we have good weather in Philadelphia that day. Or else why bother…

  • New Neighbours

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Among the many, many stories that broke during my month-long radio silence, I got fairly excited about the discovery of a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. And not just any planet, but a likely rocky planet within the star’s habitable zone. Put that all together and there is the possibility that the planet could host life…

  • The Moon

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Happy Friday, everyone. Especially all of you up our Gingrich Moon Base. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Quasi-satellite Asteroid Orbits

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Scientists discovered Earth has a new quasi-satellite. It is an asteroid, and it does not orbit the Earth. But, because of the relationship between its orbit and Earth’s around the sun, it is involved in what NASA described as a dance with Earth. This is not Earth’s only dance partner, however, as we interact with…