Orbits - Blog Posts

Karl-Heinz Ströhle

Circling the Sun (larger)

No. 447 

A new geometric design every day 

No. 442

A new geometric design every day

Lissajous curves 😍

I remember learning about them fo the first time and thinking they were useless pretty curves, oh how wrong I was!

Now, to me they highlight the importance of resonances on dynamical systems and join number theory with differential equations while being hella cute

I love them

Ep. 13 Lunar and Solar Orbits - HD and the Void

This is a short one but I do explain concepts you can see and track yourself over the months with very little effort. The shapes of the Moon and how long it takes different planets to orbit the Sun! Time is a human construct! Tidal forces and the ...

Why do the Sun and Moon move the way they do? What’s up with that? Orbits? What? It’s a short but snug little episode here about the Sun and the Moon and how they look from Earth as they zoom across the sky.

Below the cut are my sources, music credits, a vocab list, the transcript of this episode, a composite image of the different phases of the Moon, and a list of the different names for the full moons through the course of a year. Let me know what you think I should research next by messaging me here, tweeting at me at @HDandtheVoid, or asking me to my face if you know me in real life. And please subscribe to  the podcast on iTunes, rate it or review it, and maybe tell your friends about it if you think they’d like to listen!

(My thoughts on the next episode, because I still haven’t found the time to cover them, are the Voyager golden records, space race history, the transit of Venus, the Moon landing, or Edmond Halley. Let me know by the 6th and I’ll hopefully have the next podcast up on October 16th.)

Glossary

blue moon - when you get two full moons in one calendar month. An older definition is when you get 4 full moons in a season, the third moon is called the ‘blue moon.’

ecliptic - the path of the Sun over the course of a year.

prograde - when a planet spins from east to west. 

retrograde - when a planet spins from west to east.

spaghettification - when extreme tidal forces pull an object apart in space.

Script/Transcript

Sources

Rising and setting times of the Sun on Earth via Cornell University

Seasons on Earth via Cornell University

Lunar phases and the Moon’s relationship to the Sun via Harvard

Tides via Hyperphysics

Tidal forces equation via AstronomyOnline.org

Tidal forces and spaghettification via NASA handout

Lunar phases composite via Fred Espenak

Names of the different full moons throughout the year via EarthSky.org

Blue moons via EarthSky.org

Intro Music: ‘Better Times Will Come’ by No Luck Club off their album Prosperity

Filler Music: ‘See The Constellation’ by They Might Be Giants off their album Apollo 18

Outro Music: ‘Fields of Russia’ by Mutefish off their album On Draught

Archive.