Think Big. No, Think Really Really Really Big
Nov 16
Big doesn’t quite cover this blog post. For the past few weeks in my role as a demonstrator in the first year undergraduates lab, I have been supervising the experiment titled Large Scale Structure of the Universe. The experiment itself is a slightly painful exercise involving a series of simulated optical telescopes on an odd piece of software installed on the lab computers. The students...
How Does Gravity Work?
Oct 31
My friend Louis asked me the other day whether gravity is different at the equator than at the poles. This was in response to learning that the Earth is wider as the equator and not precisely spherical. Its a good question. He then followed it up with ‘how does gravity work?’ which is an even better question since no one really knows. So here are some thoughts on gravity. Isaac Newton...
How Was the Moon Formed?
Sep 12
In my blog post on Meteorites I mentioned the Moon formation theory regarding what is known as the Giant Impact Hypothesis. This theory is widely becoming regarded as the best model science has for the Moon’s formation. Regardless of the evidence for and against this model, here is how it works… We set the scene around 4 and a half billion years ago, just a few tens of millions of years...
Why Are the Planets Round?
Sep 12
A good, straightforward question – I like it. They’re round because they’re huge! Basically the spherical shape of planets and stars comes from the fact that they contain so much mass that they have reasonably sized gravitational fields. The mass in any object pulls other masses in toward it. Just as you and I feel the pull of the Earth downward so does the Earth itself. So every point...
Why Was the Moon So Big?
Sep 12
The other day there was a partial Lunar eclipse (shown in this photo from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website). A friend of mine, James, noted that the Moon was really big that night too as it rose with a chunk missing in the evening. The size is exaggerated in the above image by a clever use of a zoom lens but regardless the moon was a little larger than usual. The Moon goes through a...
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