Seeing astronomical events
A total solar eclipse is an amazing spectacle. You might not even notice other astronomical events.
Non-spectacular spectacles
Articles Tagged with astronomy
Relative paradoxes
A note on the sociology of science
A recent article on one of the great scientists in the field of General Relativity prompted our astronomer to reflect on stereotypes in science, and how sometimes they can be very wrong.
Proving nothing
Narrowing it down
Proving that something doesn’t exist is hard, though it can be done. More often, scientists work out more and more restrictions on the characteristics something can have, until the idea has no place left to hide.
Indirect arguments
Simple is not always true
A common feature of paradoxers is a confusion between a simple argument and a correct one.
An unlikely number
Science and social science
Differences among the PhDs
Methods and results differ among the various sciences. This comes from differences in their subject matter and is not always understood, even by scientists.
The seasons are complicated
Normal science
Progress that doesn’t go viral
Some recent posts have addressed events in astronomy that have attracted attention from the general public. Our astronomer would like to explain something that you’ll probably never hear about.
Extremes
They need not actually be spectacular
Our astronomer, somewhat reluctantly, talks about the Supermoon
Hard problems and easy ones
What’s difficult is not always clear
Humans have accomplished some pretty amazing things, from putting men on the Moon (with old technology!) to sequencing their own heredity. But stubborn problems that look much easier persist.