Related papers: Santa and the moon
The Moon often appears larger near the perceptual horizon and smaller high in the sky though the visual angle subtended is invariant. We show how this illusion results from the optimization of a projective geometrical frame for conscious…
It has been posited that lunar eclipse observations may help predict the in-transit signature of Earth-like extrasolar planets. However, a comparative analysis of the two phenomena addressing in detail the transport of stellar light through…
These notes on modern cosmology were made with high school teachers and students in mind. Taking into account the lack of availability of time and classes that many teachers have nowadays in Brazil, often caused by having to comply with…
The Solar System motivates students to interest themselves in sciences, as a large number of concepts may be easily introduced through the observation and understanding of planet's motion. Using a large representation of the Solar System at…
As first noted 200 years ago by Laplace, the Moon's rotational and tidal bulges are significantly larger than expected, given the Moon's present orbital and rotational state. This excess deformation has been ascribed to a fossil figure,…
The aim of this paper is to encourage science educators and outreach groups to look appropriately at the Sun and consider it as an extraordinary pedagogical tool to teach science at all education stages, what we call here as the solar…
The intense activity of cratering on the Moon and in the inner regions of the solar system was accomplished during the first 10^9 years [1]. Occasionally, some impact events occur even nowadays. In Section 1, we treat, from a historical…
As the History of Science Society, which is based in America, holds its annual meeting in Utrecht, one of the key academic centers on the European continent, one may surmise that the field has returned home. Yet, this hardly reflects how…
The dome of Saint Peter's Basilica plays the role of the Moon during a stellar occultation and Arcturus is the target star. This occultation-like phenomenon is useful for introducing to occultation astronomy a class of student up to…
The lunar geological record contains a rich archive of the history of the inner Solar System, including information relevant to understanding the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, the geological evolution of rocky planets, and…
The observation that the shadows of objects change during the course of the day and also for a fixed time during a year led curious minds to realize that the Sun could be used as a timekeeper. However, the daily motion of the Sun has some…
Numerous missions planned for the next decade are likely to target a handful of smal sites of interest on the Moon's surface, creating risks of crowding and interference at these locations. The Moon presents finite and scarce areas with…
The circumplanetary environments in our Solar System host a stunning array of moon and ring systems. Study of these environs has yielded valuable insights into planetary system formation and evolution, and there is every reason to believe…
Geographical distributions, ages and sizes of astronomy-related organizations have been investigated from comprehensive and up-to-date samples extracted from the master files for StarGuides/StarWorlds. Results for professional institutions,…
Magic squares have been well explored here on Earth [1], but there appears to have been little-to-no examination of $\textit{lunar}$ magic squares. Some kinds of magic squares exist on the moon (i.e. under lunar arithmetic) but not on Earth…
Presented is a successful two week lab involving real sky observations of the Moon in which students make telescopic observations and analyze their own images. Originally developed around the 35 mm film camera as a common household object…
Totality during the solar eclipse of 2017 traverses the entire breadth of the continental United States, from Oregon to South Carolina. It thus provides the opportunity to assemble a very large number of images, obtained by amateur…
The Heliophysics Decadal survey should embrace the coming opportunity of sustained lunar surface exploration and facilitate cross-disciplinary efforts to unlock the secrets of the Sun that are held by the lunar surface. With planned Artemis…
Both the basic educational contents for students and study programs for science teachers include several topics in physics and astronomy, from the simplest ones to others as advanced as nuclear fusion to explain stellar evolution and…
While graphical records of astronomical/meteorological events before telescopic observations are of particular interest, they have frequently undergone multiple copying and may have been modified from the original. Here, we analyze a…