The Sun, Moon, stars and other celestial objects are beyond the reach of any instrument that can be used by observers here on Earth. Measuring the distance of a celestial object from the Earth might seem to be complicated. But measuring the distance of these remote entities have been simplified by the concept of parallax.

Astronomical objects are very far and located in space that may be way beyond our imagination. We can only view stars from afar and often think about how far they really are from Earth. Despite the lack of possibilities of measuring these astronomical bodies up-close, astronomers and astrophysicists have devised a way to determine how far they are from our planet. The distance is often expressed in parsec, abbreviated pc, a unit of measurement that is equivalent to the parallax [...]

Stars and celestial objects are far from the Earth. Unlike travelling by land which can be easily approximated by measuring distances in kilometers or miles, celestial objects cover a great distance away from the Earth. Another unit of measurement is used to quantify this huge distance which cannot be simply represented by the use of the metric or English system, this is called light-year or light years.

The term singularity in science is defined as the point in space where some properties of the said point in space is infinite. There are many occurrences in space that has the capacity of singularity. One classic example of this concept is the black hole. A black hole is the result of a dead star that has used up all of its energy and has died already. Because it needs energy, it then sucks different elements near the hole to [...]

Conjunction, when used in positional astronomy and astrology refers to the position of two heavenly bodies in relationship to their distances with one another. When observed from a certain point, such as the Earth, two heavenly bodies seem to be near each other and sometimes their nearness to one another can form patterns. The phenomenon is also referred to as an appulse.

Just like the parsec (an abbreviation for Parallax of one arcsecond) and kiloparsec (equivalent to 1,000 parsecs, or KPC for short), the megaparsec (or MPC) is a measurement unit that is used in astronomy to measure the great, vast distance between galaxies in intergalactic space. It is said that one parsec is equal to about 3.3 light years. So if one megaparsec is equal to one million parsecs, then that’s about 3.3 million light years away.

Photo by: Dicklyon Creative Commons In science, a wave is a disturbance traveling via a substance or material called medium from one point to another, carrying with it energy. There are two examples that can create waves. One of them is the ocean while the other is a slinky toy. The medium used by the ocean to transmit the waves is the water while the slinky uses its coil. Aside from water, both sound and light produce waves. A wave [...]

Photo by: Darsie Creative Commons The semimajor axis is half of the major axis in an ellipse at its longest diameter, a line running through its center and the foci. The semimajor axis runs from the center to the ellipse’s edge through a focus. It is that measure of the orbit’s radius at its most distant points. In the case of a circle, it then becomes the radius itself. We can think of it as any ellipse’s long radius.