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MOIYA MCTIER,
Astrophysicist, Folklorist, & Science Communicator
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Astronomy Fun Fact #41
If you've seen Star Wars, you may remember the term "parsec," which astronomers use as a measure of distance. The word is a portmanteau...
Moiya McTier
May 25, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #40
Leap year exists to account for the fact that a day on Earth is actually 24 hours and 4 minutes long. A "day" is defined as the amount of...
Moiya McTier
May 24, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #39
There is no real "end" to Earth's atmosphere. It just gets less and less dense until there's nothing left. (Yes, the atmosphere is...
Moiya McTier
May 23, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #38
In 1983, Katrina and the Waves released one of the greatest feel-good bops of all time: "Walking on Sunshine." This song should...
Moiya McTier
May 22, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #37
You've probably heard of planetary retrograde motion, which is when a planet appears to move backwards from our perspective here on...
Moiya McTier
May 21, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #36
The most important factor in determining the lifecycle of a star is it's mass. If you show me a newborn star and tell me its mass, I can...
Moiya McTier
May 20, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #35
Yesterday was the annual Eurovision Song Contest. In typical Eurovision fashion, the contestants performed in front of truly impressive...
Moiya McTier
May 19, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #34
There's no sound in space because space is a vacuum, which means there's almost no pressure. Sound travels via pressure waves by having...
Moiya McTier
May 18, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #33
Solar eclipses happen when the Moon lines up with the Sun from the Earth's point of view. Lunar eclipses happen when the Moon passes...
Moiya McTier
May 17, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #32
The Moon is moving about 1.5 inches away from the Earth every year because of gravitational interactions between the two bodies.
Moiya McTier
May 16, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #31
You can't have an open fire on Mars. Fire needs oxygen, which is in short supply on Mars. The Red Planet's atmosphere is about 1% as...
Moiya McTier
May 15, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #30
The Sun may look yellow in the sky -- at least that's what children's drawings of the Sun have led me to believe. But it's actually...
Moiya McTier
May 14, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #29
The most distant object most people can see with their naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy, and it's about 2.25 million light years away.
Moiya McTier
May 13, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #28
In his 2011 hit "Space Bound," Eminem says, "You take my breath away; you're a supernova." Supernova explosions last a couple of minutes...
Moiya McTier
May 12, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #27
The only two planets in our solar system that don't have moons are Mercury and Venus. Astronomers are still trying to figure out exactly...
Moiya McTier
May 11, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #26
There is gravity in space! If there weren't, the Moon wouldn't go around the Earth and the Earth wouldn't orbit the Sun. But why do...
Moiya McTier
May 10, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #25
I mentioned a "planetary nebula" in a previous fun fact, but I didn't tell you what it is. A planetary nebula is a big cloud of glowing,...
Moiya McTier
May 9, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #24
Have you ever wondered how big a planet can get before it becomes a gaseous planet like Neptune or Jupiter? Well, it turns out that most...
Moiya McTier
May 8, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #23
At the height of his career, Michael Jordan could jump ~3.5 ft into the air. But if he went to the Moon, he'd be able to jump >20 ft in...
Moiya McTier
May 7, 20191 min read
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Astronomy Fun Fact #22
Saturn isn't the only planet in the solar system with rings. In fact, ALL of the gas giants - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - have...
Moiya McTier
May 6, 20191 min read
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