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The header image is part of a photo of an auroral display taken from my backyard just outside Kirksville, MO on 7 November 2004. The full image is here.


Office: NA – I am retired now.
Research Lab: NA – I am retired now.
Office Hours: NA – I am retired now.

e-mail: mgoggin_at_truman_dot_edu
(replace _at_ and _dot_ with the appropriate symbols)

Curriculum Vitae


Time Lapse of 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

The link below is a time lapse of the solar eclipse from mid-Missouri. The hazy clouds added some color to the ring around the moon which is not visible in this sequence. Note the moon’s shadow, the “sunset” in all directions, and the “shrinking” of the sun at totality due to the reduced scattering of sunlight in the cloud.

EclipseTL2_2017

 

Fun with Optics

Question:  What is producing the difference between the left photos and the right photos?  Although the two pairs of photos were taken years apart, the individual photos in each pair were taken within minutes of each other.  The answer is at the bottom.


Useful/Interesting Links

  • xkcd (“A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.”)
  • Do you have what it takes to be a scientist?  Find out here.

Answer to question:  The pictures on the left were photographed with a polarizing filter oriented to block vertically polarized light and the photo on the right had the filter oriented to block horizontally polarized light.


Go to:

Truman Physics Department Home Page

School of Science and Math Home Page

 

Truman Home Page