Beyond Astronomy: Information for amateur astronomers

20 things you didn't know about time...

2009-03-11T10:12:00.005-04:00

The march 2009 issue of Discover magazine has an interesting insert on the very last page. It is entitled 20 Things You Didn't Know About Time. This is quite an interesting read even if you are already familiar with our current understanding of time.

1) "Time is an illusion. Lunch-time doubly so," joked Douglas Adams in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Scientists aren't laughing though. Some speculative new physics theories suggest that time emerges from a more fundamental--and timeless--reality.

2) Try explaining that when you get to work late. The average U.S. city commuter loses 38 hours a year to traffic delays.

3) Wonder why you had to set your clock ahead this month? Daylight Savings Time began as a joke by Benjamin Franklin, who proposed waking people earlier on bright summer mornings so they might work more during the day and thus save candles. It was introduced in the U.K. in 1917 and then spread around the world.

4) Green days. The Department of Energy estimates that electricity demand drops by 0.5 percent during Daylight Savings Time, saving the equivalent of nearly 3 million barrels of oil.

5) By observing how quickly bank tellers made change, pedestrians walked, and postal clerks spoke, psychologists determined that the three fastest paced U.S. cities are Boston, Buffalo and New York.

6) The three slowest? Shreveport,Sacramento, and L.A.

7) One second used to be defined as 1/86,400 the length of a day. However, Earth's rotation isn't perfectly reliable. Tidal friction from the sun and moon slows our planet and increases the length of a day by 3 milliseconds per century.

8) This means that in the time of the dinosaurs, the day was just 23 hours long.

9) Weather also changes the day. During El Nino events, strong winds can slow Earth's rotation by a fraction of a millisecond every 24 hours.

10) Modern technology can do better In 1972 a network of atomic clocks in more than 50 countries was made the final authority on time, so accurate that it takes 31.7 million years to lose about one second.

11) To keep this time in sync with Earth's slowing rotation, a "leap second" must be added every few years, most recently the past New Years Eve.

12) The world's most accurate clock, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Colorado, measures vibrations of a single atom of mercury. in a billion years it will not lose one second.

13) Until the 1800s, every village lived in it's own little time zone, with clocks synchronized to the local solar noon.

14) This caused havoc with the advent of trains and timetables. For awhile watches were made that could tell both local time and "railway time."

15) On November 18,1883, American railway companies forced the national adoption of standardized time zones.

16) Thinking about how railway time required clocks in different places to be synchronized may have inspired Einstein to develop his theory of relativity, which unifies space and time.

17) Einstein showed that gravity makes time run more slowly. Thus airplane passangers, flying where Earth's pull is weaker, age a few extra nanoseconds each flight.

18) According to quantum theory, the shortest moment of time that can exist is known as the Planck time, or 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 second.

19) Time has not been around forever. Most scientists believe it was created along with the rest of the universe in the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago.

20) There may be an end of time. Three Spanish scientists posit that the observed acceleration of the expanding cosmos is an illusion caused by the slowing of time. According to their math, time may eventually stop, at which point everything will come to a standstill.

History Channel airs new "Universe" T.V. series

2009-02-04T23:36:00.010-05:00

Around my house the History Channel runs non-stop all day (as form of back ground noise while I am working). Recently they have been running their Universe series quite often and I think it's great!

With the all the advances happening within the field of astronomy these days it's nice to see well made and up to date information presented so frequently. If you have'nt yet checked out the History Channel be sure to ASAP!

For starters you can visit their site here: http://www.history.com/content/universe

Contact Beyond Astronomy

2009-02-04T15:43:00.006-05:00

If for any reason you need to contact me please use the form below.

Helpful Astronomy Forums

2009-02-03T17:49:00.020-05:00

If you are new to the astronomy world and would like to find like minded people I would suggest signing up at the following forums to start with...you're sure to find others with similar interests and ideas:

Astronomy.com

Astronomy.com forums is a great place to learn about astronomy and share ideas.

Bad Astronomy

Bad Astronomy...Let Phil Plait straighten you out!

Space Spot

SpaceSpot.com is a relative newcomer but I recommend their forums as a good spot to meet other amateur astronomers.

I hope to see you visit the forums and share your ideas and passions for astronomy!

Updated Astronomy Widgets

2009-02-01T02:25:00.007-05:00

Today we released new Astronomy widgets. These new widgets show a larger daily image and you have the choice between a white or black background.

Nasa Astronomy widget : White
Nasa Astronomy widget : Black

We hope you enjoy these new widgets and as always, keep your suggestions coming!

Astronomy Photo of the Day!

2009-01-29T01:43:00.014-05:00

Nasa provides an Astronomy Photo of the Day page which shows a new
astronomy related photo every day. Below is the Nasa Photo for today.

Beyond Astronomy eStore

2009-01-08T22:35:00.004-05:00

Beyond Astronomy has joined with the Essential Reader in establishing our eStore.

Check out our selection of books at:
Beyond Astronomy book store

Also visit our equipment section here:
Beyond Astronomy equipment deals

New astronomy widgets!

2009-01-01T16:56:00.009-05:00

We have released a new version 2 of our 'Astronomy photo of the day' widget.

This newer version is available here:
WidgiLand and WidgiPedia

There is also a slim version 3 made for bloggers here:
WidgiLand and WidgiPedia

...These will be available on our site soon! Be sure to check back in with us :)

Ready for 2009!

2008-12-31T19:38:00.005-05:00

Are you ready for 2009? We are...

We will be adding a lot of content and updated/new widgets.

We hope the new year graces you with kindness and we sure hope you visit us again during the upcoming year in order to see what's new!

Astronomy Widget just added...

2008-09-13T17:28:00.010-04:00

Beyond Astronomy has just released a new "astronomy photo of the day" widget. This widget will show you the three latest astronomy photos from nasa.gov.

This widget can be found at our main site: Beyond Astronomy

The main site is now available!

2008-05-01T16:04:00.009-04:00

Welcome to the beyond astronomy blog! Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. Our main website is located at www.beyondastronomy.com

Thanks and take it easy,
Dave from TPCS