Monthly Archives: November 2016

Close neighbor

Where you look at Alpha Centauri in the night sky you are really looking at a system of three stars. Astronomers think that one of the stars has at least one planet.

(The Great Courses – The Search for Exoplanets)

The attempt to add more southern states

While the United States was embarking on Manifest Destiny and colonizing the West, southerners were pursuing Cuba and Central America as new states to bring into the Union as slave states. In 1848 President Polk announced that he was in favor of offering $100 million to buy Cuba but the offer was never sent. A Cuban solder of fortune named Narciso Lopez tried on several occasions to invade Cuba for the south and got help from southerners despite being thwarted on one occasion by the US government. He was able to land at one time but the attempt to create revolt in Cuba failed. Another soldier invaded Nicaragua on at least two occasions but was never able to keep his initial holdings.

(Book – Battle Cry of Freedom – James M. McPherson)

It’s all about angles

Our Milky Way galaxy is a disk which is horizontal, but our solar system’s horizontal angle is slightly angled different from the Milky Way. Because of this angle the core of the galaxy is seen best from our southern hemisphere.

(The Great Courses – The Search for Exoplanets)