My sister asked me recently about planetary mnemonics. The old memory tools used in elementary schools just won't work any more: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas Make Very Easy Mash Just Squash Up New Potatoes My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets It is a challenge knowing what to …
Category: Astronomy
That’s nice, honey
A good article on Michael Brown, the discoverer of "Xena," (or 2003 UB313) and why he favors a solar system with only eight planets: Astronomer upset at new planet proposal. His wife's response when he phoned home to let her know he may have discovered a planet: "That's nice, honey. Can you pick up some …
Twelve Planets
Since the discovery of Pluto by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, scientists and textbooks have told us that there are nine planets in the solar system. A debate has been going on for the past decade over the planetary status of Pluto, fueled by the discovery of other Pluto-sized objects in the outer solar …
Bird Droppings Update
As I reported earlier, bird droppings survived the July 4th launch of the space shuttle Discovery. It turns out that they survived the fiery re-entry as well! My oldest son suggests that perhaps NASA should start making their heat-resistant tiles out of bird droppings instead. Grace and Peace
Space Shuttle Discovery Videos
NASA has videos of the July 4th launch of the space shuttle Discovery. Links can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html An interesting note: bird droppings survived the launch (but are unlikely to survive the fiery reentry). An interesting astrobiological investigation would be to take a sample of those in space, and to see if any bacteria …
Fashionable Space Suit From Mars
With NASA grant money, students at several North Dakota colleges designed this highly fashionable space suit. The colors are designed to make the astronaut more visible against the rusty red surface of Mars. The news article does not say what kind of protection the suit offers against radiation. However, it does state that the astronaut …
Black Hole Power
The Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 27th is about the tremendous energy that is released when matter falls into a black hole. This situation is incredibly efficient at producing energy; even more so than nuclear reactions. How about a black hole power plant in the future? If I remember right, the science fiction …
Asteroids galore
It's time to update my lecture notes. Based on information from probably about ten years ago, my PowerPoint presentation for the Physical Science unit on asteroids says that there are a total of about 6000 asteroids. I'm off by a whole bunch. According to the Wikipedia article on asteroids, they are now being discovered at …
The Purpose of the Universe
Galaxies, Hubble Space Telescope ultra deep field, NASA/JPL There are an estimated 1021 stars in the universe. Doesn't this make Earth, and the humans who inhabit it, seem rather insignificant? Yes, and no. Consider this quote from John Piper: "Sometimes people stumble over this vastness in relation to the apparent insignificance of man. It does …
Galactic Double Helix
Science story of the week: Cosmic 'DNA': Double Helix Spotted in Space, reported at Space.com. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a massive gaseous nebula near the center of the galaxy that is slowly spinning and shaped like the famous double helix of DNA. The Space.com article uses the phrase: "What we see …
GeoChristian 