Earth From Mars

In keeping with the "you are here and you're really small" theme, I thought I'd show one of my favorite pictures of all time.

This is an image take by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit just before sunrise on the planet Mars. Spirit is a robotic instrument that has been doing science and taking pictures on Mars since January 2004. That little white spec that's enlarged in the inset image is Earth. (I swear I'm not pulling your leg, it's really Earth!) . We look just like a star in the night sky from Mars' perspective, just like Mars looks like a little red dot from Earth.

Now how tiny do you really feel?

Next Topic: Our Sun (I promise this will be a more upbeat one, no more feeling itty bitty!)

Image credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video's photostream, flickr

How Small Are We?

One common misconception people have is how small we really are when compared to other objects in the universe. When you think of the sun, you think of a really big ball of gas. But how big do you picture it? Is it twice the size of earth? 10x the size? Can you even see earth if you drew the sun and earth to scale on a piece of paper? This video (~2min long, click the picture below) helps convey how small we really are, and has some awesome dramatic background music to set the mood! It starts by showing you the planets (in size order, not order from the sun) and continually zooms out to bigger and bigger objects. Everything after the sun is a star astronomers have discovered nearby in our galaxy.

Click image for video!

So were your ideas right? Or were you thinking the earth was much bigger than it actually is? It's amazing how small we are; just little specs of stardust on a tiny planet amongst billions of stars and galaxies waiting to be discovered.

Next topic: Earth from Mars

You Are Here -->

Do you know where you live? No, I don't mean what street you live on, or what city you live in. Where in the universe do you live? With all the great technology we have today, astronomers have a pretty good idea.

We live on planet Earth, one of 8 planets in our solar system. We orbit around an average size star, which is one of about 200 billion (that's right billion) stars in our galaxy the, Milky Way. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, which just means it has "arms" that form a spiral shape. We don't know exactly what the Milky Way looks like, but we  have figured out that the Milky Way has 4-5 "arms" that rotate around a black hole (Oh yeah, a black hole!) at the center. The Milky Way probably looks something like the image above. We live about halfway between the center and edge of the galaxy inside one of the spiral arms. (P.S. We are so small that that little red dot on the image covers up us, plus every single star we can see when we  look outside at night!)

Now go ask a friend where they live, and when they start to give you their address, stop them and ask them what their "universe address" is! See what sort of answers you get.

Image Credit:  http://www.clarkplanetarium.com/blog/cosmic-quiz-question-the-farthest-galaxy

Next Topic: How small are we?

The Reason

Welcome to the first “lesson” of Astro Did You Know? (ADYK), the fun new website/blog I've created to teach anyone of any level about astronomy!

From my teaching experience, I've found that many people find astronomy fascinating, but feel it's too difficult to learn or keep up with. Well I'm here to tell you that astronomy isn't easy, but you sure don't have to be a Rocket Scientist to understand it! (Pun intended) The more teaching I do and the more I interact with people, the more I realize how little astronomy the world knows, and I want to change that.

I decided to start this blog in an attempt to teach you, the non-astronomer, all sorts of cool things about astronomy in a fun and interesting way. Through pretty pictures and short, simple explanations, you'll be an “astro-know-it-all” in no time!I bet you always wanted to know why Pluto isn't a planet anymore, or what a black hole really is. Well here is where you will learn all of that plus so much more!

Many postings will stem from a question I was asked, or a common misconception the public has about some topic in astronomy. I'll also try and keep you up to date with any new big astronomy events in the news (Like that “alien” NASA found a few months ago. What you didn't hear about that? Guess you'll just have to wait for the Astro Did You Know? NASA discovered an alien post!)

I hope you all enjoy this, whether your a student, friend, colleague, family member, or just someone who loves astronomy and wants to lean more. I'm sure you will learn lots of great new things, and find astronomy just as interesting as I do! (Or at least close to it!) And what did you learn from today? That anyone of any educational background can become an “Astro-know-it-all”!

From someone who has a passion for teaching, to you who has a passion for learning, I give you Astro Did You know?

Please, please, please give me your feedback! Post comments, ask questions, send me topic ideas, anything! If you hear something in the news or have always wondered about something in astronomy, let me know and I'll be sure to post it. Feedback of any sort is very welcome and can be sent to astrodidyouknow@gmail.com or posted directly on this site. Be sure to “like” and follow me on facebook as well!!