by Joseph A'Hearn | Mar 10, 2016 | Astronomy, Observational Astronomy, Outreach
Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel up with the Astronomical Society of the University of Illinois and visit the University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Yerkes Observatory has a few telescopes, including the world’s...
by Joseph A'Hearn | Feb 4, 2016 | Astronomy, News
A few weeks ago, Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin, distinguished researchers at Caltech, announced that there is probably another planet lurking in the outer realms of our solar system. Brown and Batygin were looking for an explanation for the alignment of the orbits...
by Joseph A'Hearn | Jan 18, 2016 | Astronomy, News, Outreach, Research
Recently I had the opportunity to attend the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Kissimmee, Florida. I was able to meet several important astronomers as well as others who like me are applying for graduate school in astronomy. The convention provided...
by Joseph A'Hearn | Nov 26, 2015 | Astronomy, Basics, Observational Astronomy
When the Earth spins on its axis, the 360-degree turn is not actually what we normally call a day. That would be considered a sidereal day, that is, a day according to the distant (“fixed”) stars (the genitive singular form of “star” in Latin...
by Joseph A'Hearn | Sep 29, 2015 | Astronomy, Basics
Here are two simple explanations: 1. For anyone: The atmosphere is like an obstacle course for light from the Sun, and light that hits any obstacle bounces off in a random direction. Blue light tries to pass through a lot more obstacles, whereas light of other colors...
