Secondary mirrors are those second focusing or deflecting mirror element in refracting telescopes. The light that is gathered by the primary mirror will be directed to a focal point that is located just past the secondary. It is a small mirror in every refracting telescope where it functions to redirect that light towards various light-sensitive […]
Transparency is one thing you want to be familiar with when you observe astronomical objects with your telescope. When observing the sky with a telescope, what you will see will depend on viewing conditions, the transparency conditions and of course, the features of the equipment you are using. Viewing conditions are affected by how air
Photo by: Mbz1 Creative Commons Tides are the periodic fluctuations of large bodies of water. They are caused by the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon in what is generally called tidal forces. Although tidal changes may occur as a result of other factors like the Moon’s altitude and distance, the positions of
For a period of around 5 to ten minutes, the surface of the sun gets bathed in a burst of energy. These bursts come forth with great consistency and are highly energetic regular fixtures of our Sun. These plasma waves appear as dark tubes on photographs and are known as solar spicules.
A few billion years into the life of a star and its center will run out of fuel to burn. This results in the cooling and contraction of the star that will give rise to the collapse of the core inwards due to gravity. Coincidentally, this collapse results in the fusion of hydrogen to form
If in astronomy, there is what people call the North Celestial Pole, then there is also what stargazers call the South Celestial Pole. Unlike the North Celestial Pole whose reference star is the Polaris, it is harder to look for this pole, due to circumstances that there is no reference star to look for in
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In science, Nuclear Fusion is defined as the combination or fusion of 2 atomic nuclei to form a new compound and also creating a heavier nucleus. In astronomy however, this is not only what is considered as fusion. It is also defined as the atomic reaction that pumps out stars, giving these celestial bodies the
Astronomical seeing is that blurring and twinkling phenomena of various astronomical objects such as stars, which is naturally caused by the turbulent mixing activities in the Earth’s atmosphere that then varies the optical refractive index. Such conditions on any given night and locations signifies how the Earth’s atmosphere disturbs the images through the telescopes.
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The heliosphere is the protective layer surrounding the sun. It is like a bubble in space that is basically produced by solar winds. Solar wind is composed of particles, ionized atoms and magnetic field. This wind streams off of the Sun at the speed of about 400 km/s. This speed will start to slow down
The flow of neutral or charged gas ejected from a star’s upper atmosphere is referred to as the stellar wind. It is distinguished by the less collimated bipolar outflow characteristics of a young star. However, stellar winds are not spherically symmetric.
