The blog that makes sense of it all.
I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but the moon rises approximately an hour later each night. Once every 27.3 days or 29.5 days (depending on your definition of the orbit), the moon completely goes around the earth. So since the moon rises in our East and sets in our West, but just over an... Continue Reading →
It's really Wright not Right, and wrong not Rong, but it's right because via route J it's only 11 miles from my mother in law's house and Bob gives us a good rate at his motel. His Wi-Fi sucks though. He's from India and since I speak a little Hindi he likes me even though... Continue Reading →
It just moves forward. The moon isn’t stationary. It has inertia and no atmosphere in space to slow it down. It just goes. As it moves forward, the gravity of Earth tugs on it and it falls, but because it’s moving forward it misses Earth as it falls and goes around, again and again. That’s... Continue Reading →
It all depends on how thick the atmosphere is where the satellite is orbiting. The atmosphere doesn’t just “end” at a certain height. It just gets thinner and thinner. In low Earth orbit, where the ISS is orbiting, there is still some atmosphere. It’s very, very thin, but it’s there. At the top of Mount... Continue Reading →
This is an image of Newton’s Cannon. Given a high enough elevation, shooting a canon-ball at a high enough velocity will cause it to travel further and further until it just goes into orbit, falling around the earth. That is what’s happening inside the ISS. It’s called free-fall - the same as Newton’s canon-ball. The ISS is... Continue Reading →
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58547073/38583830575_eb67b89fa2_o.0.jpg?resize=1400%2C9999&ssl=1 "Elon Musk’s Automobile to be put in Orbit around Mars")
This rather large SpaceX rocket is called the Falcon Heavy. Inside is the automobile below, which SpaceX hopes to launch in orbit around Mars with a flight schedule February 6, 2018 (assuming it doesn't blow up on the launchpad). You just can't make this stuff up. The automobile, which belongs to the founder of SpaceX... Continue Reading →
You are correct. The moon is synchronized with Earth, although not perfectly. There is a wobble which I’ll show you below. The “face on the moon” means that some people see what looks like a face on the side of the moon we can see. It’s not on the far side, but the side we... Continue Reading →
Great question! You asked specifically if one of the Lagrange points could be a good place to hide a time capsule from the past. The answer is “no” because, you see, an orbit in a Lagrange point is inherently unstable and would eventually either fall to Earth or fall to the Sun. According to space.com, “L1,... Continue Reading →
