Astronomy

How could Ilan Ramon’s Diary Survive the Fall from Space?

Oct 21st, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Astronomy, Blurbs, Physics

A little while ago, the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem opened an exhibit featuring some of the torn, slightly burned pages of Col. Ilan Ramon’s personal diary from the shuttle Columbia. Ramon was the payload specialist onboard STS-107 (the spaceshuttle “Columbia”) that disintegrated during re-entry from space, killing all 7 crewmembers onboard. The diary survived the [...]



Top 10 Ways to Know the Earth is Not Flat

Aug 19th, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Astronomy, Blurbs, Party Trick, Top 10 List

A few months ago I released an experiment video explaining how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth using the shadow of sticks. The method was performed almost two millenia ago, and produced quite accurate results (considering the ‘equipment’ used). But it was far from being the only (or first) method to understand our planet’s [...]



The earth’s curvature is tasty

Mar 23rd, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Astronomy, Experiments, Physics

If I sail a ship to the far far seas, continue on, and on, and on and– well, you got the point. Where will I find myself? Well, if I travel in a more-or-less straight line (ignoring weather or geography, or time constraints, or my pending homework) I will end up right where I started. [...]



An otherwise straight beam of light…

Mar 9th, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Astronomy, Experiments, Physics

All super-thieves know that lasers go straight. It’s the tenet of their masterplan to jump over, crawl under and squeeze between those annoying laser beams around whatever-it-is they are interested in stealing. It can take them weeks to study the angles and train to spray dust over it so they can see them. Talented thieves.
I [...]



Duckies and the Doppler Effect

Mar 2nd, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Astronomy, Experiments, Featured Articles, Physics

You probably hear this every day, that weird phenomenon sounds makes when it whooshes you by quickly. In fact, the entire ‘whoosh’ effect - that ‘zzzzzzzzzzzhoooooooom!’ that seems all children are familiar with and use as a description for a passing car is a great hint that something is going on.