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Blog 4 – A Journey to the End of Time
In this blog, I would like to share a very stunning video that provides a visualization of cosmic events and scales that is both awe-inspiring and humbling. I believe it is a creative and educational way to learn about astronomy and physics. Moreover, it serves as a philosophical reminder of our place in the universe.…
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Blog 3 – Progress in Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion is a process that combines two light nuclei into a heavier one, releasing an enormous amount of energy. It has the potential to provide a clean, safe, and nearly limitless source of energy for humanity, without the environmental and safety concerns associated with nuclear fission. There are two main approaches used by countries…
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Blog 2 – Aristotle and Plato’s cosmology
Aristotle and Plato were both influential ancient Greek philosophers. While they made great contributions to the field of philosophy and politics, their views about the universe also had lasting impacts on Western history. In this blog, I want to share and compare the cosmologies put furth by the two philosophers based on what I learnt…
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Historical Astronomers in Context
Galileo Galilei (2/15/1564 – 1/08/1642) Galileo Galilei was a very important physicist and astronomer .Based on his observations and discoveries, he supported the heliocentric model of the universe against the dominant view of geocentric model at that time. In terms of innovations, he improved the functionality of telescope and used it to successfully observe the…
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Blog 1 – Size of celestial objects
In this blog, I want to share a Youtube video about the comparison of the sizes of various celestial bodies in the universe, from the smallest particles in the microworld to enormous galaxies. In the last two weeks of class, we learned about the mathematical expressions for astronomical distances. However, from my personal perspective, these…
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Blog 0 – Weixuan Zhang
Hello everyone, my name is Weixuan Zhang. I am excited about the content of this semester’s course. The first picture in this post was taken by me in Guizhou province, China last summer. The specific location is on top of a mountain in the most underdeveloped area of Guizhou. Due to the lack of light…