When I was younger, my father used to take me, my brother, and my sister to the planetarium on a regular basis. I loved it. Lean back in the chair, look up at the presentation, and learn something about the universe we live in. My interest in astronomy was kindled by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. TheContinue reading “On Planetariums and John McCain’s Short-Sightedness”
Tag Archives: Astronomy
On Ridiculous Measures
I received recently an e-mail, purporting to contain a list of spurious weights and measures. Bizarre scales. Never, ever, possibly used scales. Nothing like furlongs per fortnight or anything like that. But the “sheppey,” defined as “the closest distance at which sheep remain picturesque,” or roughly 7/8 of a mile. (Note to self: Use theContinue reading “On Ridiculous Measures”
On the Tunguska Incident
Today, June 30th, 2008, is the hundredth anniversary of the Tunguska Incident. In Siberia, on June 30th, 1908, an asteroid exploded and flattened 800 square miles of forest. A strange anniversary to commemorate, true. 🙂
On “Across the Universe Day”
On Tuesday the DVD of Across the Universe hits stores. I needed to see that film the way I need oxygen, and for the most part I enjoyed the film. The soundtrack, at the very least, is one of the rare Beatles covers albums worth owning. It turns out that Tuesday, February 5th, is almostContinue reading “On “Across the Universe Day””
On Angering the Red Planet
Astronomers have rated an asteroid as having a 1 in 75 chance of striking Mars on January 30, 2008. The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to the Tunguska object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb thatContinue reading “On Angering the Red Planet”
On Cometary Niftiness
Comet. Say the word, and it sounds magical. I can almost hear Carl Sagan in my head, talking comets and the cosmic mysteries of the universe. Then I read this — a NASA solar probe photographed a comet losing its tail to a solar storm. Maybe we should rename the comet. Call it “Comet Eeyore,”Continue reading “On Cometary Niftiness”
On the Wonders of the Universe
Regular readers of this website picking it up off the various feed options may be unaware of a little feature of the blog — there’s a sidebar widget that shows the Astronomy Picture of the Day. It’s a nifty website where, in their words, “a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured,Continue reading “On the Wonders of the Universe”
On Wally Schirra
Wally Schirra, one of the Mercury 7 astronauts, passed away earlier today. He was 84. I hate to say, I actually don’t know much about Schirra except that he was the only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. And that Lance Henricksen portrayed him in The Right Stuff. The Mercury 7 now numberContinue reading “On Wally Schirra”
On Boyish Wonder
I needed to put up my car windows. I’d run out to the post office this afternoon–only to fill out a customs declaration I didn’t need–and since it was a gorgeous day I drove with the windows down. (Which is why it’s not uncommon for me to have a horribly sunburned left arm; it’s justContinue reading “On Boyish Wonder”
On Research Avenues
Sometimes research will lead one down strange alleys. I spent the afternoon doing some research into the Aristotlean and Ptolemaic conceptions of the geocentric universe. In so doing I discovered an unusual belief held by ancient Mesopotamian and Greek cultures (and written about by Plato in the Epinomis), that Saturn was a star like theContinue reading “On Research Avenues”