Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Astronomy questions from kids, Part 1

Published on October 9, 2010 by   ·   42 Comments

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Readers Comments (42)

  1. fertilizerspike says:

    You forgot to mention that about 99% of astronauts are in the military, so that’s pretty much a prerequisite to becoming an astronaut. NASA is a military administrative organization.

    SETI was created to eavesdrop on terrestrial communications. They monitor a billion channels just in the tiny slice of EM spectrum that we use for communication. Every signal SETI has decrypted to date has been terrestrial in origin.

  2. anonymouslybeautiful says:

    Just wanted you to know I Just sat here and watched all of your “Kids Questions” videos with my space-obsessed 5 year old nephew. He was enthralled with the way you explained things. When I went to show him another video about space he yelled, “NO! I only want the guy in the red shirt!” haha. Thank you for making science interesting. We made a homemade Space Camp bank last month and he has been saving up. I think we may have a little astronaut on our hands. :)

  3. AbdulRButt says:

    Thank you for answering these questions

  4. monkeyboy4746 says:

    Questions I have gotten from children while actually outside using a telescope:

    “Do the stars burn out in the daytime when the Sun comes up?”

    “That (Orion’s 3 belt stars rising on the horizon) isn’t stars, it is a radio antenna”

    “How do you get your telescope in your car?”

    “My daddy has one like that, but he doesn’t use it on the sky”

  5. kungfro says:

    I once asked a friend, “did you hear? Pluto’s not a planet anymore!”

    Her response was, “What, did it blow up??”
    :(

  6. mattrix2007 says:

    Hi, what would be the affects on earth if we got hit by a mass coronal ejection? if it was strong enough to penetrate the ionesphere would gamma rays give us radiation, or would it simply just knock out all our electronics? and is this possible it could happen?. thanx friendly guy.

  7. BitnikGr says:

    What?! He wasn’t teached in school about other planets in solar system? After 1995 astronomers found other planets?!!!! Gimme a gun, I’ll shoot myself!

  8. kidzcontrolRS says:

    at about 7:00 you start to talk about the type of telescopes you had a a kid, i was wondering if you could maybe show us the telescopes you have now?

  9. Gengar10000000000 says:

    They’re yes or no questions, you idiot.

  10. UneX100 says:

    Damn , you’re really friendly :)

  11. Germanboy567 says:

    and sedna

  12. andytom says:

    Yeah, and Makemake and Haumea.

    Although, if anyone even considers making Sedna a planet, he should be hung and dismembered. Just look at it’s crazy orbit.

  13. marker853 says:

    high school teachers are dumb

  14. kungfro says:

    And Sedna. And Charon! And Ceres. Ceres was considered a planet once, then it was discovered that it was the largest member of a belt of objects, called “asteroids.” Same EXACT thing happened to Pluto.

    If anyone still “thinks” Pluto is a planet, they HAVE to concede that Ceres is one too.

    And since Pluto and Charon both revolve around a common center of gravity, you can’t regard either as the true dominant body; they’d have to consider Charon a planet too.

    But… they’re not.

  15. tietziano65 says:

    cool, he’s Harald Lesch’s younger brother ?! 5*****
    >>Harald Lesch, Prof. d. Astrophysik, Observatorium München , Moderator v.”spacenight” Radio Bayern

  16. XSk8guyX says:

    It would be fun to throw water in the space

  17. andytom says:

    If Pluto would be a planet, then Eris would have to be one as well….

  18. rumidom says:

    he still there you know? just because is not a planet anymore does’t mean you should ignore him

  19. IrishEyesAreHungOver says:

    Pluto, may you rest in peace. It was nice knowing you.

  20. 702LowDown702 says:

    Europa has sexy mermaids.

  21. Countdown1990 says:

    I already knew most of this stuff but it was entertaining. Subscribed, keep it up man

  22. AppleItems247 says:

    you should read this guys book its called death from the skies its about how the world will end like when the sun dies and stuff

  23. Cfigginslz says:

    yeah i love astronomy, but there are no classes at my school, so i took chem, and i love it now!!!

  24. elkabong2501 says:

    apogee is when the moon is farthest from the earth, perigee when it’s closest

  25. gul11and says:

    what the difference between apogee and perigee

  26. randy95023 says:

    Continued- Drake Equation only counts planets and not the moons that orbit those planets. We know from Jupiter and Saturn’s moons that they could have life, just like a planet IF they were in the “Goldilock’s Zone”. Multiply the end result of the Drake Equation by 400 Billion and it would be more accurate. Why didn’t Drake count for those moons?

  27. randy95023 says:

    We would have to be extremely arrogant to believe that WE are the only intelligent life in the Universe. There are probably many millions of advanced civilizations scattered throughout the many Galaxies. Inter stellar and inter galactic distances will probably keep us from communicating, let alone traveling to, other civilizations. The “Drake Equation” is purposely EXTREMELY conservative so people like Carl Sagan don’t look like “nuts” to the average Joe…

  28. Zurround100 says:

    I always liked Carl Segan. I wish instead of dying of cancer he had lived to a ripe old age like some people do. Had that happened I would have loved to get to meet him.

  29. OccamsRzzr says:

    I’ve been there!!!! It is BIG! Then we went back to San Juan and got drunk.

  30. Ypipable says:

    Orion may help.

  31. Synthetrix says:

    Agreed. It’s nice to believe in X-files fantasies, but the reality is that there is no real evidence of any alien visitors past or present.

  32. dprague says:

    There is no intellent life on Earth. Thus, we need to eliminate one possibility from this equation.

  33. opiates says:

    @OldSchoolSkill That, and the fact that WE are here guarantees it. It happened here so it’ll happen elsewhere.

  34. p0llenp0ny says:

    And then you have the military industrial complex determined to help them blast us back to the stone age. ;-)

  35. p0llenp0ny says:

    And also the relatively short time period that an intelligent civilization exists. We’re just a flash of light going off in a universe with unimaginable time scales.

  36. OldSchoolSkill says:

    This presentation of the Drake equation, from the Cosmos series, is the best evidence for the possibility of alien life.

    Notice: this is based only upon the number of stars in our galaxy; 400 billion.

    This was done before the Hubble discovered that there are hundreds of billions of GALAXIES throughout the universe.

    Statistically, alien life is virtually a guaranteed proposition. Seeing aliens on Earth is highly unlikely though because of vast distances and the limitations of light-speed.

  37. myhood25 says:

    your just geussing and your calling that smart?

  38. DancingSpiderman says:

    I enjoyed how Carl would get lockjaw three times during every sentence.

    Spock’s uncle, Carl Sagan.
    I wish you were still here with us.
    R.I.P.

  39. rayunseitig says:

    Where can I get the plans for one of these?
    Nice video.

  40. JezeroCraterDweller says:

    Carl Sagan’s ability to take what we know and make it so that everyone has a chance to see and hear it was his greatest gift.

    I want to see some of the others that inhabit this universe!

  41. anthony68drake says:

    What about the Koran thumpers? They seem like the group most determined these days to take us all back into the Stone Age….

  42. Donatello2030 says:

    just great higway of info.everyone apart from the bible thumpers know that we need science to further our knowledge of planetary formation for our own survival on this planet,,,as the only people in control of our destiny are us,,,whether we survive as a species or go the way of the dinosaurs ,,only our own understanding can save us ,,, the more we know the longer we will survive. Thank you.Carl Segan,NASA,ESA,& you *** SDESDE***




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