Astronomy
The Physics behind Kepler’s Laws
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are not really laws of physics. To understand the reason behind these laws, we need to consider Newton’s law of motion. […]
Astronomy
Astronomy
Kepler’s Second and Third Laws
Kepler’s second and third laws are about how fast the planets move and about the time required to go around the orbit, respectively. His third law helps measure the mass of everything in astrophysics. […]
Astronomy
Kepler’s First Law: Orbits are Ellipses, Not Circles
Kepler’s laws refer to the motion of the planets. His first law states that the orbits on which the planets move are elliptical in shape and not circular, as had been believed earlier. […]
Astronomy
Cepheid variables: The Powerful Beacons
Edwin Hubble was able to calculate the distance at which Andromeda nebula is situated using the Cepheids in it. He was able to do so owing to its angular size of a few degrees corresponds to a true size comparable to that of the Milky Way. […]
Astronomy
The Astronomical System of Units
Although while measuring distances between astronomical objects, one can use the unit arcseconds, however, parsec is more preferred as it happens to have the same order of magnitude as the light-year. […]
Astronomy
How Is the Solar System Mapped?
Radio transmitters help us when it comes to calculating and mapping nearby objects in our solar system. To map objects far off in our solar system the parallax equation is used. […]
Astronomy
Measuring the Stars: Calculating Astronomical Distances
Calculating the distance of an astronomical object is still tricky for astronomers. This is because of diffraction. It is caused owing to the wave nature of light, causing inevitable blurring of an image even when seen through a telescope. […]
Astronomy
How Logarithmic Charts Help Explain the Magnitude of Space
Astrophysicists use logarithmic charts to help understand things that range over many orders of magnitude. With logarithmic axes, the horizontal axis still tells the mass, but each tick mark represents a factor of 10. […]
Astronomy
Astrophysics: Putting the Whole Universe into Perspective
Astrophysics covers a vast range of scales, from nanometers to billions of light years. It is a fascinating science that needs the help of special maps and charts to be understood. […]
Astronomy
Studying Astrophysics: From Micro-world to the Cosmos
The study of astrophysics requires different units of measurement than the standard ones. Thus, we have radius of the Earth, solar radius, AU, light year, and parsec as units to measure distances in space. […]