Learning Astronomy, Teaching Astronomy
The Speed of DayThe “speed of day” is the speed of Earth’s rotation: 1600 kilometers per hour (kph) which is about 1000 mph.
1600 kph is fast. Most people have never experienced anything moving at this speed. Commercial jet airplanes fly at 1000 kph (600 mph). Click here to continue reading…
Most people, when they look up at the night sky can easily see stars and identify some familiar groups of stars (asterisms and constellations). Some people can even find and name some planets – Venus, Jupiter, and Mars are all bright and easy to see.
But, there are many invisible wonders in the sky – and some of them can be seen without a telescope. In fact they are so big that a telescope is not the right tool to use; we have to use something even more powerful… imagination!
Using visualization and imagination, I am going to show you how to find and “see” a very large structure in our sky: the solar system disk itself.
See the Earth’s Orbit in the MoonYou can use the moon to “see” the Earth’s orbit in the sky and the space beyond.Click here to continue reading…
Practice the fundamental skills of observation. Learn to see the giant geometries of space.Click here to continue reading…
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?