Learning Astronomy, Teaching Astronomy
This hilariously-headlined New York Times article describes the results of the observational experiment performed during the 1919 eclipse. It highlights that the expedition proved Einstein’s prediction. But the writer claims that only 12 men on Earth can really understand the result: that light’s path is curved by space time.
The delightful headline reads:Click here to continue reading…
The closest approach that the moon will make on its monthly orbit around the Earth coupled with a Full Moon. The December 3rd , 2017 Super Moon is here!
Here is an image showing how the arrangement of the Moon’s “Perigee” with the Full Moon results in the Super Moon.
The Full Moon + Orbit at Perigee = Super Moon.
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.