March 13th, 2010
Waning Crescent Moon
moon

Cosmic Quiz

Seth Jarvis

Cosmic Quiz: Weightless Astronauts?

This week’s Cosmic Quiz question comes from Daniel Wallace:
Why are astronauts aboard the International Space Station weightless while they are still so close to the Earth?
Great question!

Seth Jarvis

Cosmic Quiz: Why can’t light escape a Black Hole?

This week’s Cosmic Quiz question comes from James Sylvester, who asks,
“If the speed of light is the highest attainable speed, why can’t it escape a black hole?”
First, a few words about the speed of light, which is indeed the fastest speed attainable through space.  How fast is it?

Seth Jarvis

Cosmic Quiz: Supermassive Black Holes

This week’s Cosmic Quiz winner is Carina Wytiaz, who asked,
I’ve heard that all galaxies have a black hole at the center. Does our galaxy have a black hole?
You heard correctly, Carina.  Astronomers have found evidence that all galaxies in the universe, including our own Milky Way galaxy, have Supermassive Black Holes at their centers.
A [...]

Seth Jarvis

Cosmic Quiz: How fast are we going?

This week’s Cosmic Quiz winner is Greg McMurray, who asked:
How fast is the Earth moving relative to everything else?
Let’s break it down.
The first motion of Earth that we’re all familiar with is rotation – the movement of the Earth that gives us day and night.  Here in Salt Lake City at about 40 degrees north [...]

Seth Jarvis

Doughnuts vs. THE END OF THE WORLD

I’m betting doughnuts against the world ending in 2012.
Any takers?
The “2012″ disaster-pic opens Friday, and some folks are actually asking, “Is the world really going to end in 2012? Will the Earth’s magnetic field really reverse?  Is there really a planet Nibiru headed toward us? Is it all tied to the Mayan calendar?”

Seth Jarvis

Cosmic Quiz: How Many Craters?

This week’s Cosmic Quiz winner is Matt Raphael, who asked, “How many craters are on the moon?”
The quick and uninteresting answer is, “Too many to count.”
Here’s the longer and hopefully more interesting answer:

Seth Jarvis

Finding Andromeda

Dave Goulding’s Most Excellent Cosmic Quiz Question:

I’ve learned that the Andromeda galaxy is the only galaxy you can see without a telescope. Where do we look in the sky to see it?

Seth Jarvis

COSMIC QUIZ: Where’s the Closest Star?

This week’s KUTV Cosmic Quiz winner is Cameron Porcaro. Cameron’s question was, “How far away is the nearest star to our solar system?”
Fun question!

Seth Jarvis

Evaporating Comets

This week’s Cosmic Quiz winner is Mary Newland, who asked, “Every year I like to watch the Perseids meteor shower. If the meteors are continually being shed, why does the comet not cease to exist?”

That is a great question!
As a matter of fact, comets do cease to exist over time.
Let’s start with some background information [...]

Seth Jarvis

Cosmic Quiz Winner

This week’s cosmic quiz question was submitted by Daniel Wallace, who asked, “How do astronomers figure out the size of planets orbiting other stars (and even what their atmosphere is made of)?”

Clark Planetarium is proudly powered by WordPress
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).