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"Learning makes us realize how little we know."
For all that we think we know about the Universe, we have just barely scratched the surface. Life is a constant journey of learning and, hopefully, imagination. In this section of the site, we are going to take a look at what are only a few of the most fascinating things in the Universe.
As you go through this section, we hope that you will not only learn things, but that you will also be a little entertained as you learn.
If you read much about astronomy, or even news articles about special planetary events, you will usually see some unusual terms like opposition and conjunction being used about the orbits of the planets. You can learn what those terms mean here!
You are probably wondering how we are going to manage to make big numbers interesting or entertaining. While numbers by themselves are not terribly exciting, the sizes and distances they represent are almost overwhelming. Plus, the terms we explain here are almost required if you are going to learn much about astronomy.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's shadow passes across the face of Earth. During a lunar eclipse, you can watch Earth's shadow sweep across the Moon. While the eclipse is happening, you may also see the Moon change colors! It's quite a site.
Meteor showers are not where meteors go to get clean. Instead, they are the sky's own free fireworks show. If you are lucky enough to see a really active meteor shower, the sky almost comes alive with streaking lights as very tiny particles burn up as they crash into our atmosphere.
It always amazing to hear astronomers talk about how some galaxies and other objects are millions of light years away. If you stop and think about it, how do they know the distance of such far away objects? One way they can tell is by the object's red shift. Read this page to find out how red shift works.
A solar eclipse is always big event, not only for astronomers but also for the general public. News orgranizations will cover them live on television if they happen to occur in a populated area. If the eclipse is total, you can see a cone of shadow race across part of Earth, plunging the affected area into total darkness for a very short period of time.
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