The Time Travelers Guild (Astronomy Club)

Welcome to the Time Travelers Guild: An Astronomy Club.

Here we will discuss anything and everything going on in the Universe, from the stars, planets and other celestial objects in the sky, to theories spanning the beginning and end of time, extraterrestrial life and everything in between.

What is Astronomy?

According to Wikipedia:

'Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects (such as moons, planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies); the physics, chemistry, and evolution of such objects; and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth (such as supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic background radiation).'

Astronomy is one of a few fields of science where you don't need to be a professional to make a difference. Amateur astronomers have even been asked to help observe asteriods, find out why some stars do the things they do, and to watch for space junk.

Club Rules

1. Follow All PC and Other Club Rules.

2. Please stay on topic. Anyone may post a topic question, but please make sure the current topic has died down and check that the topic hasn't been discussed before (check below for list of past topics).

3. Being active is a must!

4. No Uranus jokes. I'm serious.

Application for Membership

Username:

Reason for joining:

Favourite aspect of Astronomy:

Current Topic - What is the strangest thing you've ever heard about the universe?

Topic List
What is the first thing you look for when you stargaze?

Member List

Squidchan (Club Owner)
Scarf
BlahISuck
Yusshin

Banners and User Bars

Coming Soon!

Events

April 22nd: Lyrid Meteor Shower.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower is a shower that can be viewed by those in the Northern Hemisphere. The meteors look as though they are racing away from the bright star Vega, in the constellation Lyra (the reason why it is called the Lyrid Meteor Shower). It is a shame that this shower can't be viewed in the Southern Hemisphere, as it's my sister's birthday on the 23rd of April, and would have made an amazing night to celebrate.



May 5th: Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

The Eta Aquarids have a very broad area for viewing, meaning that stargazers in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres are able to view this event. It is a pre-dawn event, with the most (and the brightest) meteors raining down in the dark hours before dawn (around 4 am). Stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere see more from this shower than those in the Northern. This shower is the result of Earth travelling through a dust trail left behind by one of the most famous comets, Halley's Comet.





Credits

The images of starmaps for aid in viewing the meteor showers are from www.spaceweather.com

Please Note: This post was made with a certain design in mind, but I couldn't get it to work. :(

Username: Scarf

Reason for joining: Um, sounds fun?

Favourite aspect of Astronomy: Probably the history of astronomy. Like the early theories of the earth and the stars, the pioneers of astronomy, the discoveries. But all of it is pretty interesting.


I always notice the few constellations that I can find without any help: Orion, Cassiopeia , and, um, well, I think that's about it at the moment. I'm not so great at constellations, though I've heard there's an app that let's you find them pretty easily, though I can't seem to find it myself.

Username: BlahISuck

Reason for joining: SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Favourite aspect of Astronomy: I like the science of stars and planets and where it intersects with fundamental physics.

I can do the Big and Little Dipper. And Betelgeuse.

Hey, welcome to the 'guild', guys!

When I go out stargazing, with my poor eyesight I can recognise Orion, especially Betelguese, Jupiter and Canis Major in the summer months. Around the end of summer heading into fall I can point out Saturn and the Crux constellation. I need to put my contacts in or grab my binoculars to recognise much else.

Haha, the Big Dipper. Forgot about that one. I know that if I ever get lost at night and it's not cloudy I'll be able to find my way north.

I sometimes confuse the Big Dipper with part of Orion's Belt :(

Username: Yusshin

Reason for joining: I took astronomy / geology in Grade 12. I loved it. I did all the extra-curricular activities because they were so engaging. My interest in the subject earned me a shiny 98% final grade, so that's saying something.

Favourite aspect of Astronomy: Stars and their deaths. It's interesting how pending the circumstance, a star can become a white dwarf, a supernova or a giant black hole.

Current Topic - What is the first thing you look for when you stargaze?

Ursa Minor, Ursa Major and Orion's Belt. I also look for Cygnus, but sometimes she's not out to play.

Welcome Yusshin :)

I got to know the north western sky fairly well this last summer, and I'm hoping to start a sky map of the winter sky this year, if my daughter allows me to. She hasn't been going to sleep until midnight lately, and by then I'm way too tired!

I wish my school had an astronomy class, I feel pretty ripped off with the cirriculum my school offered, we only had the basics.

The next topic has been inspired by a new discovery in the Kuiper Belt. Astronomers have found a strange object, basically two objects orbiting each other very closely, perhaps even touching (imagine two eggs glued together at the tips) forming an hourglass shape. The object brightens about every 7 hours, when the two objects are side by side from our perpective.

Source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblo...t-observed-in-kuiper-belt-beyond-neptune.html

So, the new topic question is, what is the strangest thing you've ever heard about the universe?

For me, I would have to say the strangest thing I've read about in regards to the Universe is Dark Flow. Astronomers in 2008 took measurements of galaxy clusters and found that everything was moving in the same direction at 3.2 million km per hour. It was suggested that this was caused by something unseen beyond the edge of our universe (in another universe). In 2010, it was found that Dark Flow, when measured using Type 1a supernovae, was slower than what was measured previously. This suggests that it is caused by a giant supercluster of galaxies beyond our 'field of vision', or something similar. I find this very strange and interesting, it's all about the unknown. Both theories still could be correct, they might even reconcile, and the idea of another universe besides our own is exciting.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...universe-multiverse-supernovas-space-science/

Username: ♣Gawain♣.

Reason for joining: Since I was a little kid, Astronomy is my favorite branch of science. Since then, I've been self-studying astronomy even though I didn't have it in my classes.

Favourite aspect of Astronomy: Actually lots. But if you ask me, everything mysterious and maybe mind boggling for now. The information loss paradox of black holes, the time traveling ability of black holes. (or in general black holes)Dark matter/energy(?). Cosmological decades and degenerate stars.

Last Topic - What is the first thing you look for when you stargaze?
A: Scorpio in Summer. So I may mesmerize the glory of the Galactic Center :) Although only when I'm at Vladivostok, not here.

Current Topic - What is the strangest thing you've ever heard about the universe?
A: About large Jupiter-like planets revolving too close to their parent star. That's too intriguing to me for now.

Welcome Gawain!

Scorpio is my star-sign, though I'm not really hooked on astrology, but it's a form of identification that everyone uses, so yea. I'd love to be able to recognise that, I might look it up soon.

In regards to the current topic, related to that is the strangeness of planets orbiting pulsars. If I remember correctly, pulsars are formed after a star has died, so to have a planet orbiting one, that would either mean that the planet survived the death of the star, or formed after it died. Interesting, I think.

It has been said they have been formed after the supernova. Nothing can survive a supernova explosion and the the gamma ray burst. It must've been the debris and the remnants that coalese to form the pulsar planets.
And oh, imma Pisces :)

The 'field of vision' idea was kind of mind-bending when I learned about it. Light can only travel so fast and since there is a limit to how old the universe is we can only see up to a certain point in the universe and beyond that we'll never, ever see anything else. And as time goes by and the universe expands and things grow further apart we'll be able to see fewer and fewer things and at some hypothetical point we wouldn't be able to see anything beyond the stuff in the universe that's headed in the same direction as us. Even right now there is probably a lot of stuff that's moving outside our field of vision.

All the speed of light related stuff is crazy. Just thinking about how we're looking back in time when we see something from space is crazy.

Yep. Something like many trillions of years we won't be able to see anything aside from our Milky Way galaxy. The exponential rate of which our universe is expanding is so to blame. But there's nothing we can do about it.
By the way, just dowloaded a star chart for my tab. So crazy awesome, which I gave it 4 stars because of the ads :/

It's getting much warmer where I am now so I expect I'm going to be spending more time outdoors at night.

Someone I know was trying to get this rare kind of photo with the full moon that's supposed to make a rainbow where there are waterfalls. Or something. I only heard about it second-hand, but it did remind me of those moon halos I'd see pretty often when it was cold out. Those were always really fun to see.

Sorry, it's been a while, I don't have much of an excuse except that my daughter is going through a 'wonder week' and teething, but that's no reason for why I can't post here!

Anyway, you're right Gawain, I got a little confused because I heard that some pulsars have no supernova remnants around them, but I've researched and read the reasons why now. Silly me for making assumptions!

I think the fact that we will see less and less as time goes on fascinating as well, but also a little upsetting. Plus it reminds me of old age.

It's getting so cold here! And clear skies have become a rarity. New topic soon, I hope.

Username: GFisMay

Reason for joining: Well, while my interests are largely in biological sciences, I do find astronomy really interesting. I've never taken a class before (so forgive me for some ignorance) ^^; but it doesn't stop from being enthralled by our universe.

Favourite aspect of Astronomy: I'd have to say the thought of there being life on other planets. I always wondered if there is...if under similar conditions, I'd have to say there'd be creatures similar to ours. Different of course, but they'd still have to adapt to oceans (of who knows what!!), mountains...etc.

Username: Mithel_Celestia

Reason for joining: Space is a very mysteriuos place and I love all things mysterious, hehehe...Anyway the stars have been of interest to me and all things celestial makes me think...alot, about more universes.

Favorite aspects of Astronomy: Black Holes! I love those suckers(no pun intended...or is there? o_O). How black holes warp spacetime makes me wonder about how spacetime really acts. Also the majestic view of space fills me with awe as ever sparkling galaxy and forming nebulas gives me wonder of what more is out there.

Username: Mithel_Celestia

Reason for joining: Space is a very mysteriuos place and I love all things mysterious, hehehe...Anyway the stars have been of interest to me and all things celestial makes me think...alot, about more universes.

Favorite aspects of Astronomy: Black Holes! I love those suckers(no pun intended...or is there? o_O). How black holes warp spacetime makes me wonder about how spacetime really acts. Also the majestic view of space fills me with awe as ever sparkling galaxy and forming nebulas gives me wonder of what more is out there.