Culmination Blog

This will be my final blog for this course. I just want to say that I learned so much, and I am grateful for what I learned. My eyes have been opened up, and I learned so much information that I never knew. My favorite part of this course was the actual observing of celestial bodies. It was my first time seeing Jupiter that day, and I was just in awe that we are in the same solar system as that gaseous beauty. This course really taught just how small and insignificant we appear to be compared to the universe. I am just a tiny human on a tiny world moving through the vacuum of space. But we are all tiny humans on a tiny world moving through the vacuum of space, so I guess that makes us somewhat special.

by me

Here is the picture of Jupiter I took on my phone. Hopefully I can purchase a telescope to get a better looking picture, and maybe even look at the other planets.

Immortal Water Bears?

by Science News

So what is a water bear and how is it immortal?

Water bears, also known as Tardigrades, are eight-legged micro animals that can survive extreme conditions. Their size is typically 0.05mm-1.2mm. Water bears can survive in space, radioactive environments, near volcanoes, and even at the bottom of the ocean. Animals that can survive in such harsh conditions are known as extremophiles. But how is it possible for an animal so small to take on so much from nature? Some researchers speculate it is because of a special protein they produce called Dsup, short for damage suppressor. How it works is it binds to DNA and shields it from forms of oxygen that are reactive. When this happens, it prevents DNA damage from x-rays and ultraviolet radiation. There are other animals that can also survive such extreme conditions, but water bears have been known to be the toughest of them all.

The Eclipse Almost Stole My Sight

by Marca

On Monday, April 8, 2024, North America witnessed a solar eclipse, and it almost blinded me. But before I talk about that, what is a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, which blocks the Sun totally or partially and casts a shadow on part of the Earth. The cover image shows an example of the Moon completely covering the Sun. Below is a photo of the Sun being partially covered by the Moon (I took that one myself).

by me

To see a total solar eclipse, you have to be in the path of totality. The path of totality is the path the moon’s shadow takes as the Earth rotates. During that path, the Moon completely blocks all light from the Sun.

To safely observe an eclipse, it is advised to wear solar eclipse glasses that follow ISO 12312-2 Requirements. Here they are below:

Unfortunately, all the solar eclipse glasses near me were all sold out. And I mistakenly decided it wouldn’t be too bad if I looked at the Sun for 1 or 2 minutes. After I took my pictures and videos, I started to see black dots appear in my vision and my eyes started to hurt. As soon as that happened, I immediately closed my eyes and turned away from the Sun for a good 3-4 minutes. I thought I permanently damaged my eyes so I can look at the Sun for 2 minutes, but when I opened my eyes again the black dots went away and my eyes were no longer in pain.

If you love your eyes, then please don’t do what I did.

So what is a Black Hole?

by me

A black hole is an astronomical object in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape from it, including light. The “surface” of a black hole is known as the event horizon.

Black holes are undetectable by telescopes because no light can escape from them; However, they can be detected through their interactions with nearby matter. For example, when a star gets too close to a black hole it can be broken apart, and as the gas from the star falls into the black hole, it heats up and emits X-rays and radio waves that can be detected by astronomers. Here’s a visual of how that may look like:

by NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak of STScI

Additionally, the gravitational influence of black holes can affect the orbits of objects around them, which provides further evidence for their presence.

Black holes vary in size, from small (just a few times the mass of the Sun) to supermassive (millions or even billions of times the mass of the Sun). Some of these massive black holes can reside at the centers of galaxies, like our Milky Way.

More on black holes can be read by clicking here.

What color is the Sun? (not yellow)

by me

The Sun is the brightest and biggest celestial body in our solar system. Its diameter is 865,000 miles, which is about 110 Earths long. Without the Sun’s light, there would be no life on Earth. The Sun is so important to us humans, yet some people don’t take the time to appreciate its beauty. The Sun gives off many colors and rays; it truly is something to awe at. Speaking of colors, many people have common misconceptions about the the color of our Sun. Many people believe that the Sun is orange, red or yellow; But, the Sun is actually white!

Yes, the Sun is white. The reason for this is because the Sun emits all colors, which appear to the naked eye as white. Here is a picture below:

by Stanford Solar Center

As you can see from space, the Sun is white. The reason why many people believe that the Sun is orange or yellow is because they are observing the Sun from Earth. When someone is observing the Sun from Earth, the atmosphere provides a ton of interference. This inference absorbs most of the energy and scatter’s most of the visible light from the Sun; Except yellowish light. Which is the reason why the Sun may appear yellow, orange, or even red.

The more we learn about the Sun, the better we are able to appreciate it and the services that it provides us. Even though it may seem like a dot that we’re not allowed to look at unless you want to be blind, it does a lot for us. Instead of taking things for granted, take the time to properly appreciate.

Gravitational Mysteries

by me

The idea of gravity, the fundamental force that controls how objects move in the universe, is both intriguing and mysterious. Gravity is a force that pulls objects toward each other; it controls everything from an apple falling from a tree to a planet’s orbit around a star. It’s a force that operates over vast amounts of space in a mysterious way, and it’s so strong that it keeps us grounded on Earth at an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second squared. Understanding gravity’s qualities has long been a goal of science, from how it shapes the universe to how it affects quantum physics’ tiniest particles. Even though we’ve made great strides toward solving its mysteries, like with Einstein’s theory of general relativity, there’s still much that we don’t know.

One cool thing I’ve always wondered is if we can make an anti-gravity device that we see in movies. When the device is activated, it eliminates gravity in a certain area. This would be amazing and groundbreaking if such a device were to be created, but it might be a while before we see anything like it. However, if we keep working towards understanding gravity’s qualities, maybe something like the anti-gravity device can be made. We just have to wait and see.

As we continue to push the boundaries of our understanding, unlocking the mysteries of gravity could help us to discover revolutionary advances in space exploration, time travel, or our understanding of the universe itself.

And probably cool toys like anti-gravity.

Historical Astronomers in Context

by me

Galileo Galilei: Born on February 15, 1564, Died on January 8, 1642

Two major historical events during Galileo’s lifetime:

1. On Jan 1, 1597, Shakespeare published his play “Romeo and Juliet”. This is one of his most famous plays that is still read/watched to this day.
2. On Jan 1, 1577, Sir Francis Drake embarked on his famous voyage around the world. He was the first Englishman to go around the world and increase our knowledge of the world’s geography.

A famous historical figure during Galileo’s lifetime:

 Queen Elizabeth I: Born on September 7, 1533, Died on March 24, 1603. Queen Elizabeth I established a secure Church of England and laid out a compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism after narrowly escaping an execution after a failed rebellion against Queen Mary.

Brief Reflection:

I sometimes forget that all these different famous people actually all overlap. I always think that oh Shakespeare is this old and Galileo was during this time, but all these people actually lived pretty close to each other. While Galileo was looking at Stars, Shakepeare was making plays, English pilgrims landed at Plymouth rock, and Ottomans were on conquests. All these people are so different from each other, but they all existed very close to each other. Makes me think about the beauty of history. Maybe something similar is happening to us right now, we just have to wait and see.

Humans and Light Speed

by me

The speed of light is around 300,000,000 meters per second. It’s so fast that it can circle the Earth 7.5 times in one second. I always wondered if humans can ever achieve speeds the same as light, but we’ve only managed to go 176,462 meters per second with the Nasa Parker Solar Probe. More on that can be read here. But then again, can a human even handle moving at light speed? If pilots can get unconscious moving in fighter jets going at 222 to 388 meters per second, then it seems unlikely we’ll be able to handle 300,000,000 meters per second.

We always see in sci-fi movies and tv shows ships moving at the speed of light or even past it with no issues. This would be amazing to accomplish in real life. Being able to travel to different stars and planets in only in a matter of minutes or hours instead of billions of years. However, if we look at the current growth rate of our technologies, we still have years to centuries worth of growth to cover.

We can dream and we can hope to one day achieve these speeds, however it is not likely we will see this in our lifetimes.

Welcome

by me

Hello and Welcome to my Blog. The picture above is one I took while In Kurdistan, which is a region in the Middle East. Some people have the misconception that the Middle East is all desert, but this shows otherwise! To learn more about Kurdistan, click here.

astro2110 astronomy black-hole black-holes blog1 blog2 blog3 blog4 blog6 blog7 blog8 eclipse Galilei galileo galileo-galilei gravity history HW3 jupiter Kurdistan light me nasa nature physics science solar-eclipse space sun universe