Philosophy
Taken as a whole, the solar system is a remarkable display of patterns and order: the sun sits at the center, planets rotate around it in regular and predictable orbits, and moons do the same around the planets. The very look of it superficially resembles the workings of a clock. So how did it all come to be arranged so nicely?
In the following breath-taking documentary, Professor Brian Cox explains how three key concepts are all we need to understand how all this order arose out of the chaos of what was once only an amorphous cloud of dust: gravity, the conservation of angular momentum and orbital resonance. In order to illustrate the importance of these concepts, Cox explores a natural small-scale solar system that still reveals these processes: Saturn and its beautiful rings, including a remarkable appearance by Enceladus.
Oh yeah, while trying to explain the conservation of angular momentum, he also goes hunting for tornadoes... and then has to run away because he may have gotten too close :)
Don't forget to watch the first episode of this series, which focuses on the sun.
For more, check out the incredible promise of Saturn's moon Titan.
Or learn more about how truly remarkable complexity (like you and me) can literally arise out of disorder in Jim Al-Khalili's The Secret Life of Chaos.
- Space Odyssey - Voyage To The Planets
I recently posted an entry featuring author Mary Roach talking about the science and logistics of manned space exploration. As you will remember (and as it applies to the rest of her awesome books), her focus is primarily on the interesting circumstances...
- Sayonara Planet Pluto
Tova Hagler, 10, left, reads through the names of the planets with her brother, Yaakov, 5, as they walk through the Scales of the Universe exhibit at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Pluto was...
- A Fuzzy Charon Visible
Scientific American's Christopher Crockett wrote... NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, now en route to Pluto, got its first glimpse of the dwarf planet’s largest moon, Charon, in this image released July 10. Pluto is the bright spot in the center...
- More On Pluto And Classification
Ms. Kornfeld...do read and check out the link [fourth essay listed] provided in the body of this essay. Don't let the math bother you. "Picking Planets from Potatoes" Poor Pluto: Number of Dwarf Planets Increases April 24th, 2010 Astrobiology Magazine...
- Pluto="plutoid"
Pluto Does this satisfy everyone now? ""Plutoids": the new name for Pluto-like dwarf planets" by Jon Cartwright June 12th, 2008 physicsworld.com Pluto sub-classification The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has decided that Pluto — and other...
Philosophy
Wonders of the Solar System - Order Out of Chaos
Taken as a whole, the solar system is a remarkable display of patterns and order: the sun sits at the center, planets rotate around it in regular and predictable orbits, and moons do the same around the planets. The very look of it superficially resembles the workings of a clock. So how did it all come to be arranged so nicely?In the following breath-taking documentary, Professor Brian Cox explains how three key concepts are all we need to understand how all this order arose out of the chaos of what was once only an amorphous cloud of dust: gravity, the conservation of angular momentum and orbital resonance. In order to illustrate the importance of these concepts, Cox explores a natural small-scale solar system that still reveals these processes: Saturn and its beautiful rings, including a remarkable appearance by Enceladus.
Oh yeah, while trying to explain the conservation of angular momentum, he also goes hunting for tornadoes... and then has to run away because he may have gotten too close :)
Don't forget to watch the first episode of this series, which focuses on the sun.
For more, check out the incredible promise of Saturn's moon Titan.
Or learn more about how truly remarkable complexity (like you and me) can literally arise out of disorder in Jim Al-Khalili's The Secret Life of Chaos.
- Space Odyssey - Voyage To The Planets
I recently posted an entry featuring author Mary Roach talking about the science and logistics of manned space exploration. As you will remember (and as it applies to the rest of her awesome books), her focus is primarily on the interesting circumstances...
- Sayonara Planet Pluto
Tova Hagler, 10, left, reads through the names of the planets with her brother, Yaakov, 5, as they walk through the Scales of the Universe exhibit at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Pluto was...
- A Fuzzy Charon Visible
Scientific American's Christopher Crockett wrote... NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, now en route to Pluto, got its first glimpse of the dwarf planet’s largest moon, Charon, in this image released July 10. Pluto is the bright spot in the center...
- More On Pluto And Classification
Ms. Kornfeld...do read and check out the link [fourth essay listed] provided in the body of this essay. Don't let the math bother you. "Picking Planets from Potatoes" Poor Pluto: Number of Dwarf Planets Increases April 24th, 2010 Astrobiology Magazine...
- Pluto="plutoid"
Pluto Does this satisfy everyone now? ""Plutoids": the new name for Pluto-like dwarf planets" by Jon Cartwright June 12th, 2008 physicsworld.com Pluto sub-classification The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has decided that Pluto — and other...