Tag Archives: Earth

In the Sky This Week – December 31, 2019

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This entry is part 129 of 148 in the series In the Sky This Week

By mid-February 2020, I will be a grandparent! Thoughts of what the world might be like when my granddaughter is an adult naturally come to mind. What new things will astronomers have discovered in the cosmos? What new inventions will change society forever, again? I also have to give a thought to my granddaughter’s quality of life, and in this I have to admit to no small amount of trepidation… Before I started writing this post, I was collecting notes about what I wanted to discuss – the list of topics grew WAY past my expectations, and needs to be an article all by itself. Many, but not all of the topics relate to pollution in its various forms: microplastics, air pollution, light/electromagnetic pollution, compromised city water systems, PFAS, space junk – the list goes on and on… Let me condense all those notes into one single question: Do you believe humanity is acting as adequate stewards of this Earth, … Continue reading →

Eratosthenes Experiment – September 24, 2018

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Teachers! Take note! Have your students take part in the Eratosthenes Experiment – Sept. 24, 2018! Eratosthenes was a mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist who lived in ancient Greece. In 240 B.C. Eratosthenes made the first good measurement of the size of Earth’s circumference. You can join with classrooms around the world and repeat his experiment with your students! The Experiment: Ask your students to calculate the circumference of the Earth and submit your data to the experiment’s website. Find the time of your local noon at your location. Please use the web-based NOAA Solar Calculator or Solar Calculator or the Stellarium software (A short guide for using Stellarium to calculate your local noon at your location can be found here in English and in Italian). Take a one-meter stick (H= 1 meter, see figure below) and place it vertically to the ground. Ask your students to measure the length of the stick to make sure it is one meter long. At the time scheduled to conduct the experiment, … Continue reading →

California Wildfires: Reports of “Weird Skies” and a Red Gibbous Moon

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Last Friday evening, the western Michigan sky had a very unsettling hue to it. It had been cloud-covered and raining all day, but instead of typical shades of gray and red-orange of sunset, the sky was a sickly yellow. “That’s not right” I said, staring at it in confusion. Trails of smoke and carbon monoxide from massive wildfires in California have drifted eastward across the U.S., one branch moving toward Texas and the other forking toward upper Michigan and Canada. Carbon monoxide is a pollutant that can persist in the atmosphere for several weeks, and be transported long distances; it plays a role in both air pollution and climate change. There are several photos online showing an orange-red first-quarter Moon – which is just WRONG! A couple friends said they saw this… all I’ve seen for days is clouds and haze. The Blood Red Moon fighting her way through the Forest Fire Smoke and Haze in our Calgary sky last night. … Continue reading →

Does Studying the Universe Change Your Perspective of the Environment Around You?

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An 8th grader doing a research project on astronomy recently emailed the Warren Astronomical Society asking “Does studying the universe change your perspective of the environment around you?” In this post, I expand upon the response I wrote back to that student.   Absolutely it does! Astronomy and cosmology are enormously wide fields of study, encompassing everything from quantum mechanics down at the sub-atomic level, to the interactions of (as of yet) unseen dark matter on the large-scale structure of the universe. Climate studies Studying how gases in Earth’s atmosphere and liquid in the oceans reflect and adsorb light, and radiate heat is but a small part of understanding how Earth’s climate functions and can change over time. The same principles used to study the Earth’s atmosphere can be applied to the atmospheres of other worlds; Venus is an example of a “runaway greenhouse effect,” and should be viewed as a cautionary tale for Earth’s ever increasing CO2 level (410.31 parts per … Continue reading →

Earth’s Drifting Magnetic North Pole

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It’s been known for quite some time that the Earth’s magnetic poles are not aligned with the Earth’s geographic poles, and that the Earth’s magnetic poles drift over time. In 2018, the north magnetic and geographic poles are closer then they have ever been… well… since we’ve been observing them – only 390km! This tweet from BBC Science Corespondent Jonathan Amos caught my eye: Most people know that the magnetic north pole is not at the geographic north pole. It’s drifting away from Canada towards Russia at a rate of 55km/yr. BUT, this year, the magnetic pole is closest to the geo pole. A separation of just 390km. @ESA_EO #Swarm #EGU18 pic.twitter.com/lxM1PXW1Jf — Jonathan Amos (@BBCAmos) April 10, 2018 I didn’t recognize the hash-tags at the end of Jonathan’s tweet, so I looked them up – which sent me down an hour-long rabbit hole: @ESA_EO refers to the ESA EarthObservation twitter account. They seem to be doing a lot of education and outreach… I … Continue reading →