Dec 4, 2024 | Focal Plane
The history of planetariums can be traced back to ancient civilizations. In Greece, Archimedes created mechanical devices to illustrate celestial movement. In 1229, Emperor Frederick II used a tent with holes to represent stars, and rotated the tent to mimic the...
Nov 30, 2024 | Rick's Picks
Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing All month: the solar system continues to favor evening observers this month, leaving only Mars and Mercury for the sunrise crowd. Mercury is hidden in the Sun’s glare as...
Nov 12, 2024 | Focal Plane
The October 3, 2024 NASA Universe of Learning featured discussion on gravity. One of the topics covered was searching for gravitational waves from supermassive black hole mergers. Chiara Mingarelli, PhD – assistant professor of Physics at Yale...
Nov 12, 2024 | Focal Plane
For many new comers to the hobby, the biggest question asked is what kind of telescope should I buy? Whether it is parents nurturing their child’s curiosity, or an adult that wants to enjoy the night sky. Of course, the hobby can be enjoyed without telescopes, and...
Nov 12, 2024 | Focal Plane
For millennia, humanity has looked up at countless tiny points of light in our night sky – and wondered. What are the stars, and how did they get there? How far away are they, how big are they, why do they shine? In the last few centuries, astronomers have learned a...
