Dear Urban Astronomer I am pregnant, and am worried that all these Blood Moons could harm my baby. I have asked around in my community, but everybody has their own scary story about what will happen to my baby if I go outdoors during the blood moon. Please let me know what precautions I must take. Yours, Hypothetical Reader The blood moon will not hurt your baby Okay so nobody actually mailed this question to me. But at the … Continue reading →
Dear Urban Astronomer Do all planets spin the same way, or are there some planets where the sun rises in their equivalent of West? Does it depend on the particular solar system? What about the stars in a galaxy — do they all spin in the same direction? Do all galaxies spin the same way, or do they even spin at all? Regards Amanda Dominy (extracted from Facebook conversation) Dear Amanda First, the short answer: All rotations and revolutions in … Continue reading →
A few days ago, I was asked on facebook to explain what a Blood Moon was. I’d heard the term before, but never as an astronomical term so I went online and googled it. It seems that they are supposed to be incredibly rare events, but that according to the “Blood Moon Prophecy”, there will be a tetrad of them of them in 2014. This is considered to be a hugely significant thing, and is being used to sell a … Continue reading →
Dear Urban Astronomer So, my good friend and I were talking about the temperature in space. He thinks it must be hot in space, since there is no atmosphere to absorb sunlight. I disagreed. I think that the fact that there is no air in space, means there is nothing to heat up. That’s how temperature on earth works. So, surely it must be cold in space. Can you shed light (excuse the pun) on this debate? Can you answer … Continue reading →
The planet Jupiter takes 4331.6 earth days to orbit around the Sun. This means than one Jupiter year equals almost 11.9 Earth years. Because Jupiter rotates so rapidly around its axis, its year lasts 10,501 of its own days. Jupiter has such a long year because it is quite far from the Sun. Not only does this mean it has a longer path to travel on its orbit, but the Sun’s gravity is much weaker at that distance, requiring it … Continue reading →
