Astronomy
The Moon, the planets, and everything further out than that.
9 articles
Astronomy
Why does a total eclipse fit so exactly?
The Moon covers the Sun almost perfectly, leaving only the glowing edge behind. Nothing arranged that. The Sun is four hundred times wider and four hundred times further away, and it is a coincidence with an expiry date.
Astronomy
Why can’t we feel the Earth spinning?
Standing still at the equator, you are being carried eastward faster than an airliner flies. Nothing rattles, nothing leans, and a dropped ball falls straight down. For two thousand years that was the best argument against the Earth moving at all.
Astronomy
Why isn’t the earliest sunset on the shortest day?
The shortest day of the year ought to have the earliest sunset and the latest sunrise. Check a timetable and neither of them lands there. The sunsets start getting later a fortnight before the days start getting longer.
Astronomy
Why does the Moon look bigger near the horizon?
A Moon coming up behind the houses looks enormous, and three hours later the same Moon overhead looks ordinary. Photograph both and the two discs come out identical. Whatever is growing, it is not the Moon.
Astronomy
Why are there two high tides a day and not one?
The Moon is only ever on one side of Earth, yet the sea climbs the beach twice a day. The second high tide arrives from the direction the Moon is not.
Astronomy
Why is Venus hotter than Mercury, when Mercury is closer to the Sun?
Mercury sits nearer the Sun than any other planet, so it ought to win. It does not, and the planet that beats it is almost twice as far out. Distance turns out to be the least interesting part of the story.
Astronomy
How do we know what the stars are made of?
Nobody has ever been to a star, and nobody has brought a piece of one home. Yet astronomers will tell you what any star contains, in order, with amounts. The answer is hiding in the parts of a rainbow that are missing.
Astronomy
Why can’t light climb back out of a black hole?
Light is the fastest thing there is, and nothing has ever overtaken it. Yet there are places it sets off from and never leaves. The explanation most people are given was worked out in 1783, and it is wrong.
Astronomy
Why do we only ever see one side of the Moon?
Every human being who has ever lived has looked up at the same face of the Moon. The other half stayed hidden until a camera flew behind it in 1959. Something lined the Moon up, and it is still working today.