As and English and music major, let’s just say taking Astronomy 101 was not how I thought I would be spending part of my spring semester. It is a ton of studying and a ton of math, which I am not as used to as I was in high school, but I have actually really been finding the class to be informative and fascinating, especially in the fast-paced lectures in the Hatter Planetarium in Masters Hall and our engaging lab experiments trekking to the Observatory. I guess there is a reason why liberal arts learning is cool – there is a lot to learn in every facet even if it is not your particular forte! Here are some of my favorite facts I have learned in Astronomy 101 thus far!
1. The Voyager Space Mission sent a vinyl record into space in case of an alien encounter
We learned about the Voyager Golden Record, much like our own vinyl records we are familiar with, that was sent into outer space. It was made of metal to withstand the conditions and had a shiny gold layer covering it, with engravings of information, such as pictures of humans and a map of Earth’s position on the galaxy. The idea was that it would provide a plethora of information about our world to any aliens it encountered, if any at all. It had sounds of greetings from all over the world, and songs from many genres, from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in C Minor to “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry. The creators made sure to intentionally choose sounds and music that not only reflected human accomplishments, but also give authentic representations of the diverse world we live in.
2. There is a thirteenth zodiac sign that no one talks about
Many are familiar with the constellations of the zodiac, which all correspond with a certain month of the year. We have created horoscopes to describe the attributes of someone born within a certain time frame, which people become very fascinated with while analyzing their own personalities and interactions with others. The constellations of the zodiac lie on the ecliptic, the path of the Sun’s orbit as we see it from Earth, and a thirteenth constellation, Ophiuchus, is crossed through by the Sun around November. However, it is not considered to be a staple of the twelve zodiac signs. Also, due to a phenomenon called precession, where the Earth’s orbital axis shifts over time, out true zodiac sign have shifted over time, making our month of birth an unreliable way of discovering our sign. To find your true zodiac sign, you would need to know the Sun’s location on your exact date of birth.
3. We have our ocean tides because of the moon
The Moon is kept in the Earth’s orbit due to gravity, which has some side effects on our Earth’s features. Our oceans have a specific pattern of tides, which is caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon, creating two bulges of water. These bulges of water move as our Earth rotates 360 degrees once per day, resulting in two high tides and two low tides each day following the quarter rotations of the Earth every six hours. Some unique tides, such as spring tides and neap tides happen under specific circumstances. Spring tides happen when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned in their orbits leading to stronger versions of high and low tides because of increased gravitational influence. Neap tides happen when the Sun, Moon, and Earth form a right angle, essentially counteracting each others’ gravitational influences and leading to mellow tides.
