Deep Astronomy

How I Overcame My Math Blocks

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 03:14:22 -0700

As a kid I did very poorly in school. I graduated high school with a 2.4 grade point average, due largely to my lack of ability to do any math problem whatsoever. From multiplication tables in elementary school, to algebra in high school, I couldn’t do it. Any of it.

Digg's Front Page: What It's Like to Have 60,000 People Read My Stuff

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 03:14:22 -0700

Last September, I had a very strange experience. An article I wrote about vacuum energy made it on the front page of Digg. It was a silly article inspired by something I read on livescience.com.

I awoke the next day and around lunchtime checked the traffic to my site, I sat dumbfounded as my site had almost 30,000 views. By the end of the day 60,000 people had visited my site and read my little article.

Your First Telescope

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 15:32:54 -0700

A telescope should make your first night out full of “WOW” moments, not “WTF?”

The period just after you buy your telescope should be a time of excitement and discovery, not frustration and regret.

Imagine that you've bought a telescope that just by looking at it you know how it works. It's a point-and-look affair that doesn't have any electronics to learn or expensive accessories to figure out. You put the eyepiece in the holder and start pointing it up at things.

The Redneck Astronomer

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 01:20:01 -0700

I have very humble, simple roots and I seem to be interested in everything. Most of the time, I segregate all of the worlds I inhabit - put everything in my life into little compartments. Sometimes, however those worlds collide.

And it really freaks me out when that happens.

Astronomers Discover Dark Matter: Warn Us Not to Step In It

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:12:21 -0700

Whatever it is that makes up most of our universe is dark, heavy, and it’s all over the place. Be very careful where you step, it may never come off your shoe.

Why Do You Want a Telescope?

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 03:02:14 -0600

My first piece of advice is to take your time. Don’t be in a hurry to buy the wrong telescope. If you’re all that anxious, go outside and try to find some naked-eye objects like a planet or the Orion nebula. The universe isn’t going anywhere (if it is, then you have bigger problems to think about that what telescope to buy) and a little time taken to think about these issues will pay off, I promise. I’ve seen way too many people spend thousands of dollars on a great telescope that just sits in the garage.

What You Need to Know Before Buying a Telescope

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 02:15:11 -0600

If you're not outside looking at the stars with a big smile on your face or a feeling of awe in your heart, you're not doing it right.

Cosmology for Cosmetologists

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 13:13:37 -0600

I've discovered that cosmetologists are a very curious lot, they love to learn new things. Unfortunately, their main source of information is the itinerant customer who may have no idea what they're talking about. After all, the customer could just be trying to show off (and maybe score) with the hapless person cutting their hair.

How to Avoid Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Sickness

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 01:03:37 -0600

The universe is one very big microwave oven. Right now, this very minute, you are sitting inside, and being baked by, microwave radiation. Oh sure, the Universal Microwave is pretty cold, only 2.7 degrees above absolute zero, but the timer has been on for 13 billion years and it looks like we're only half done.

Apophis: The Asteroid That Could Smash Into The Earth on Friday, April 13th, 2036

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:21:42 -0600

Apophis is an asteroid with an orbit slightly larger than that of the Earth. Discovered in June 2004, astronomers have determined that it will make a very close flyby on April 13th, 2029, where it will pass to within 5 Earth diameters of us. The exact path the asteroid follows on its flyby in 2029 will determine whether it smashes into the Earth seven years later.

Who is this guy anyway?

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:36:11 -0600

I suppose every site has to have an 'About Me' page. I just finished mine. It's probably a little terse for most of you (Jeez man, how much do you guys want?). Anyhoo, this little blurb should get a start on answering some of the emails (yes, there's a picture too for whatever that's worth).

Life in the Universe: Just on Earth, or Everywhere?

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:10:21 -0600

I made another video. This time about the search for life in the universe. The question of life in the universe really is an either/or issue: Either life is just on Earth and nowhere else, or it's everywhere.

How to Destroy the Earth With a Coffee Can

Wed, 19 Sep 2006 17:20:34 -0600

This is my entry into the ProBlogger Group Writing Project. It is a 'discussion' of how to harness the vacuum energy inside a coffee can to destroy the planet.

The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:52:22 -0600

In 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope stared at a small patch of sky completely devoid of stars. They opened the telescope shutter and stared at that patch for 10 days. The resulting image was nothing short of humbling on a universal scale.

5 Ways Dark Matter Affects Your Daily Commute

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:35:22 -0600

Believe it or not, no one has any idea what makes up 99% of the universe. That's right, 99% of the universe is made up of stuff we can't see, hear, smell, taste, touch, observe, wish, conjure, inspect, detect, invoke, materialize, remember, summon, or enchant.

We can infer that it's there though. In fact, it's recently been proven that whatever the universe is made of must exist (that's a relief, huh?), even though we can can't detect it using any means currently in existence.

How can we infer it? By looking at the effect it has on the part of the universe we can see, smell, touch, taste, etc. In the spirit of scientific collaboration (and with the hope that I'll get an NSF grant to study it more), I have offered the following further evidence that whatever makes up the universe must exist by observing and cataloging its effects on my daily commute to work:

Why this site is not a blog

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:28:10 -0600

Deciding to start a website can be a somewhat heart-wrenching experience. I knew that I wanted to start one, and that I wanted to start one based on astronomy. The problem was, by the time I got around to doing it, there were countless thousands of websites about astronomy all over the internet. Some were from places you'd expect: a variety of government facilities like NASA and NSF, university astronomy departments, amateur astronomy clubs, and individual astronomer sites.

Since the advent of blogging however, an explosion has taken place of people starting their own websites dedicated to such noble pursuits as looking up at sky, commenting on space policy, providing an online observer log, posting images taken from their telescopes, or educating visitors about astronomy.

Welcome to DeepAstronomy.com!

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:29:41 -0600

It's here and we're ready! Stop by our new site to keep up to date on what's cool in astronomy.

You know you want to, all the cool kids are doing it.