Chaotic Astronomy

please exclude refracting, reflecting, and radio Telescopes. thanks.

Oh well, there went my answer!

I am a novice to Astronomy, and I would like some advice on how to be a more experienced astronomer so I can enjoy it. First of all, I have the desire and intense curiosity to figure out the universe, so I suppose that helps a bit. But any other advice that you would like to give, or advice that you wish you’d have known when you were beginning? Thanks!

Im the same way as you! (or at least i was not too long ago). What i did is i went to astronomy.com and registered in the forums. Theres so many knowledgeable people there who are always asking interesting questions and getting even more interesting answers. As well as watching the universe on the history channel, and anything astronomy related on tv. What intrigues me the most is the potential for finding other earths, as well as other life in our solar system (.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_mission) Read up on anything that interests you on wikipedia, as well as the astronomy forums.

A refracting telescope is the most common kind of telescope. Discover the difference between refracting and reflecting Telescopes in this free video on home astronomy from a telescope salesperson.

Expert: Jesse Sturgeon
Bio: Jesse Sturgeon has served as a sales and customer service representative for Anacortes Telescope in Anacortes, Wash. for several years. He enjoys introducing people to the science & art of Astronomy.
Filmmaker: Curtis Enlow

Duration : 0:3:24

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Technorati Tags: Astronomy, binoculars, night sky, science, Telescopes

NASA Astronomy Pictures Of The Day [Week 6/2010]

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► A Sun Halo Over Cambodia
Have you ever seen a halo around the Sun? This fairly common sight occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover much of the sky. Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens. Because most of the crystals have a similar elongated hexagonal shape, light entering one crystal face and exiting through the opposing face refracts 22 degrees, which corresponds to … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100208.html

► Night Launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour
Sometimes, the space shuttle launches at night. Pictured above, the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off in yesterday’s early morning hours from Launch Pad 39A in Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, bound for the International Space Station (ISS). A night launch, useful for reaching the space station easily during some times of the year, frequently creates … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100209.html

► M51 Hubble Remix
The 51st entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog is perhaps the original spiral nebula – a large galaxy with a well defined spiral structure also cataloged as NGC 5194. Over 60,000 light-years across, M51’s spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (top), NGC 5195. Image data from the Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys has been reprocessed to … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091226.html

► Teide Sky Trails
The snow capped Teide volcano is reflected in a pool of water in this nearly symmetric night sky view from the Canary Island Tenerife. Bright north star Polaris stands above the peak in an exposure that also captures the brilliant trail of a polar orbiting Iridium satellite. Of course, with the camera fixed to a tripod, the stars themselves produce concentric trails in long exposures, a reflection of the Earth’s rotation around its axis … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100212.html

► Star Cluster M34
This pretty, open cluster of stars, M34, is about the size of the Full Moon on the sky. Easy to appreciate in small Telescopes, it lies some 1,800 light-years away in the constellation Perseus. At that distance, M34 physically spans about 15 light-years. Formed at the same time from the same cloud of dust and gas, all the stars of M34 are about 200 million years young. But like any open star cluster … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100211.html

► A Force from Empty Space: The Casimir Effect
This tiny ball provides evidence that the universe will expand forever. Measuring slightly over one tenth of a millimeter, the ball moves toward a smooth plate in response to energy fluctuations in the vacuum of empty space. The attraction is known as the Casimir Effect, named for its discoverer, who, 50 years ago, was trying to understand why fluids like mayonnaise move so slowly … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061217.html

► Field of Rosette
What surrounds the florid Rosette nebula? To better picture this area of the sky, the famous flowery emission nebula on the far right has been captured recently in a deep and dramatic wide field image that features several other sky highlights. Designated NGC 2237, the center of the Rosette nebula is populated by the bright blue stars of open cluster NGC 2244, whose winds and energetic light are … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100214.html

► A Graceful Arc
The graceful arc of the Milky Way begins and ends at two mountain peaks in this solemn night sky panorama. The view was created from a 24 frame mosaic, with exposures tracking Earth and sky separately. In the final composition, northern California’s Mount Lassen was positioned at the left and Mount Shasta at the far right … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091225.html

► Sakurajima Volcano with Lightning
Why does a volcanic eruption sometimes create lightning? The Sakurajima volcano in southern Japan was caught erupting early last month. Magma bubbles so hot they glow shoot away as liquid rock bursts through the Earth’s surface from below. The above image is particularly notable, however, for the lightning bolts caught near the volcano’s summit. Why lightning occurs even in … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100210.html

► Waterway to Orbit
The 32nd shuttle mission to the International Space Station, STS-130, left planet Earth on February 8. Its early morning launch to orbit from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A followed the long, graceful, eastward arc seen in this two minute time exposure … http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100213.html

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Duration : 0:2:57

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I’m talking about the big Telescopes at observatories that profession astronomers use. What magnification are those?

Hi. The upper limit of magnification, or resolution, is a function of objective size for ALL telescopes. And the higher the magnification the smaller the field of view. If you need a number then say 250x – 1,000x.

Title, anything from basic astronomy to quantum mechanics. I know a lot of the basic stuff, but being taught just from things I’ve read online, I’m sure that there is some basic information that I don’t know that is essential to expanding my education on the subject.

It really depends on your math background. To study quantum mechanics, first you need to take calc I and II, linear algebra, differential equations, and a few semester of math for physicists, along with two semesters of intro physics, modern physics, and classical mechanics. If you’re starting at the beginning in Astronomy, Frank Shu’s book ‘The Physical Universe’ is a classic but a bit outdated; Carrol & Ostlie’s ‘Modern Astrophysics’ is the standard advanced undergraduate text with some calculus.

jakieś mgiełki na informatyke

planet funk – piano piano

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http://www.pbs.org/nova/telescope William Herschel often gets the credit, but his sister Caroline was also a pioneer astronomer. For more, watch NOVA’s Hunting the Edge of Space airing April 6 and 13 on PBS. http://www.pbs.org/nova/telescope Hunting the Edge of Space produced for NOVA by Brook Lapping

Duration : 0:4:24

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And What are some reasons for using mirrors rather than lenses in Telescopes?

Well, …, The larger the aperture the more you can see. They the following quick and easy experiment:

Close your left eye, form a very small "OK" with your right hand and look through the center hole will your right eye. Take a mental note of everything you can see. Now open the "OK" and look again. You’ll immediately be able to see more. The ability to gather light, NOT MAGNIFICATION, enables you to see more. Thus a 6" refractor can see much much more at lower power than an 80mm (3.1 in) refractor.

We use mirrors more commonly because:
1) Large mirrors are much easier to make
2) There’s a limit to the about of glass that can go into a lens before light can no longer pass through the lens of the lens becomes so large that it breaks from its own weight.
3) It’s much easier to remove chromatic distortion from a mirror than a lense.
4) Mirrors are cheaper to make.

I am in the 9th grade but I already know I want to be an astronomer when I grow up. Does anyone know any good colleges where you can study Astronomy? (Preferably on the west coast)

California Institute of Technology
UCLA
University of Arizona, Tuscon
UC Berkeley
San Diego State University
University of Washington