Learning Astronomy, Teaching Astronomy
A “Life Star” is a visible star that could host life. This is a name I came up with in February 2017 (around the time of the TRAPPIST announcement) to describe visible stars with confirmed planets orbiting in the habitable zone. “Life Star” is easier to say and explain. I hope it catches on!Click here to continue reading…
What better way to celebrate Groundhog Day than to Build your own Groundhog Day Shadow Tracker
UPDATE: We now sell an astronomy gift called the Sun Tracker that teaches you the same Basic Astronomy Lesson that the Ground Hog does! You can learn all about the apparent movements of the Sun and the analemma.
It’s called the Sun Tracker and you can purchase one right from this website.
Let’s do some Physical Astronomy. The experience will help you to understand the movement of the earth and sun through the seasons. You will build a scientific instrument that is also a fun garden decoration and you will be able to track the Groundhog’s Shadow all Spring!
An amazing thing is about to happen! A Star in a Star will be born.
EDIT (Nov. 19, 2021): It turns out that the underlying observation data had a timing flaw that makes it “unlikely” that the new star will be born in 2022. See this Wikipedia page about the new Star for more information.
You can witness the birth of a new star in the night sky. The new Star already has a birthday: 2022!
According to scientists, the new star will form when two stars that are orbiting each other grow so close that they merge into one.
The new star will appear in the constellation Cygnus. You can see the approximate location marked by a red circle in the Stellarium screenshot here:
The image of the two blue stars on the home page of this Star in a Star site shows what scientists think it looks like now. This impressive video shows an artist’s rendering of the star merge.
In the pair, one star is larger than the other so in the end, there will be a new star… A Star in a Star.
Learn the Moon phases by doing an easy dance.
At sunset.
Face the sun.
Point your right hand toward the Sun.
Now point your left hand toward the Sun.
Both hands should be pointing at the sun.
Now, turn a little bit to the left, keeping both hands pointing at the sun.
Swing your left arm out until it is pointing in the opposite direction from the sunset. Bring your hands together again and repeat this swinging motion.
Bring your hands together again and point them both at the sun. This time, instead of swinging, bounce your left hand, leftward, some number of times… (14 is perfect if you can do it) …until it is pointing in the completely opposite direction from the Sun at sunset. Your left hand should now be pointing East.
Was the moon at any one of those 14 hand bounce spots? That is the age of the moon in days.
Please post your questions in the comments!
Hello! Find out more about Stellarium in this tutorial that introduces several of the cool and clever things this astronomy software can do.
Stellarium – a glorious gift to Humanity in software form – gives you super powers. And best of all … It’s FREE!
Always wanted to know the names of the stars and constellations? You can search, play, pan and zoom, examine, compare and anchor your knowledge.
It’s a cloudy night? No problem. You can see through the clouds!
Wished that the sky had labels on everything? Stellarium has 10 different label types.
Stop time? Move time by day, by week? Do you want to see what will happen in 2 months? Or look at the sky during the Pharoah’s reign? You can time travel.
You can easily drag and zoom, stop time, go in reverse, make a timelapse, follow the moon through its phases. You have a tool to help you understand the ecliptic and sidereal time and retrograde motion. You can see the great orbital swing of Venus as it circles the Sun.
Ok! I’m convinced by your Stellarium review. What should I do now? What’s my call to action?
Stellarium is a free, easy to use, and powerful tool – and best of all (did I mention this already?) it’s FREE and easy to use.
I will write some specific tutorials about my favorite parts of Stellarium in 2017, but for now… go get it and play!
You will be able to see things about sky objects and movements that are impossible to see live. But, once you have seen them with the help of Stellarium, the sky will open up for you – like a gift.
Is what looks like sunset really the sun – “setting”?
What is that thing that happens every day that makes it look like sunset?
Can you change your mind easily? Are you flexible enough to understand that the same set of observations and facts can lead two different people to two different conclusions?
For a long time, everyone on the Earth thought the Sun was moving and the Earth was staying still. This is just what it looks like and anyone who dared to suggest a different view might easily be considered odd, or worse, dangerous. Having the benefit of hundreds of years of scientific evidence and wisdom to back up my observations, I now have the luxury of believing that it is the Earth that is moving and that the Sun is the one standing still.
It is fun to imagine being carried through space on the surface of a giant ball. Definitely better than staying still while the sun careens through the sky each day. With this image in my mind, I feel the Earth is carrying me away from the view of the Sun.
Sunset should be called “away sun” and not “sun set” because it is me moving, not the sun. It is me being carried away into the shadows forming behind the bulge of the Earth, not the Sun setting. I am riding the Earth with its great round bulk between me and the Sun.
It’s NOT a sunset but me… rushing backwards… at 1000 mph as the bulge of the earth grows in between.
I propose “awaysun” as the new name for sunset and “towardsun” as the name for sunrise. These new names help solidify the idea that we are the ones moving.
What do you think?
