The University of Texas at Arlington

Today's Moon Phase

• The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) scientists mentioned the Moon's craters that have ice in them are probably charged up by static electricity from interacting with the solar wind. Is there a way to measure the voltage from some probe or other?
• This might be a good one to try to send to the LRO scientists because this will be depend on the amount of ice, as well as electromagnetic field strength caused by the solar wind. Unfortunately, static electricity can’t be measured by probes unless the voltage carrying medium is grounded and discharged. For example, we can’t measure the static electric voltage building up in clouds. However, if we knew the amount of current that was transmitted to a lightning rod by the cloud, then we would be able to estimate the amount of static electricity carried in the cloud just before the lightning.
• Can we experience weightlessness near a black hole?
• I don’t think that you would feel weightless around a black hole, because the difference in gravity between your head and feet is so great that you will be stretched into a long thin string. Even if you can get into a fast orbit around the black hole that would attempt to balance the gravitational forces, creating a free fall situation (exactly the same situation the astronauts have around Earth) you would still feel this stretching on your body. Some astronomers like to call this stretching effect, spaghettification, because it stretches you into a thin piece of spaghetti. You will eventually become stretched so much, that the bonds holding your atoms together will break, so it won’t be you that enters the black hole, but the protons, neutrons and electrons that make you up.
• How long would it take to get to Venus going 60 miles per hour?
• Venus’s distance from Earth varies depending on where each planet it is its orbit around the Sun. The closest that Venus ever gets to Earth is 23.6 million miles. That means that it would take 44.9 years to reach Venus travelling at 60 mph!
• Has NASA spotted an exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri a and b and proxima centauri?
• Yes! A planet, known as Alpha Centauri Bb, was discovered orbiting around Alpha Centauri B, which is part of a three-star system just 4.3 light-years away from us. Alpha Centauri Bb zips around its star every 3.2 days, orbiting at a distance of just 3.6 million miles (6 million kilometers) and is approximately the same size as Earth. For comparison, Earth orbits about 93 million miles, or 150 million km, from the sun.

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Today: Fri, Aug 2, 2013

Today's Events

• 2:00 pm   TimeSpace

Now Showing

Sunday
01:30 pm	Secret of the Cardboard Rocket
02:30 pm	Spacepark 360
Tuesday
02:00 pm	Texas Stargazing
03:00 pm	Spacepark 360
Wednesday
02:00 pm	We Are Astronomers
Thursday
02:00 pm	One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure
03:00 pm	Spacepark 360
Friday
02:00 pm	TimeSpace
Saturday
01:00 pm	One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure
02:30 pm	TimeSpace
05:30 pm	We Are Astronomers
07:00 pm	Pink Floyd

One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure

Discover the night sky with Big Bird, Elmo and their new friend from China, Hu Hu Zhu.

Pink Floyd

Enjoy a 60's style laser light show set to the music of Pink Floyd.

Secret of the Cardboard Rocket

Join two children on a magical journey through the Solar System, aided by a talking astronomy book, a cardboard rocket, and a vivid imagination.

Spacepark 360

Spacepark 360 is an out-of-this-world entertainment experience. Get transported to surreal vistas and experience the most thrilling amusement park rides the solar system has to offer!

Texas Stargazing

Find out what planets and constellations are visible in the night sky tonight.

TimeSpace

Experience TimeSpace, a new show that turns the UT Arlington's Planetarium into a time machine!

We Are Astronomers

Do you know what an astronomer does? Today's astronomer is not the lone observer of past centuries. We Are Astronomers reveals the global collaboration, technology, and dedication required to answer the unresolved questions of the Universe.