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	<title>Bench Press &#187; earth</title>
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		<title>WolframAstronomy</title>
		<link>http://blog.benchside.com/2009/08/wolframastronomy/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.benchside.com/2009/08/wolframastronomy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Science and the Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[astronomy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eclipse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[path of sun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[solar system]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[WolframAlpha]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[We previously discussed using the powerful Wolfram&#124;Alpha tool to look up medical/biological information, but did you know it also works for astronomical information also? The Wolfram&#124;Alpha blog lists a couple of great tricks, including: the ability to identify the stars in the sky based on your location looking up information about a specific star’s distance, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We previously discussed using the powerful <a href="http://blog.benchside.com/2009/06/webmd-20/">Wolfram|Alpha tool to look up medical/biological information</a>, but did you know it also works for astronomical information also?</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.wolframalpha.com/2009/08/13/wolframalpha-for-stargazers/">The Wolfram|Alpha blog</a> lists a couple of great tricks, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>the ability to identify the stars in the sky based on your location</li>
<li>looking up information about a specific star’s distance, brightness, spectral class (astronomy nerds out there know the “Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me!” classification system), mass, and even surface temperature!</li>
<li>looking up information about the next lunar and solar eclipses, sunrises, and sunsets</li>
<li>looking up general information about the planets in the solar system</li>
</ul>
<p>What I find most impressive, however, is Wolfram|Alpha’s ability to generate <strong>graphical depictions of the information you’re looking for</strong>, whether it be understanding what you’ll see when you look up in the sky:</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.benchside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/image.png"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="image" src="http://blog.benchside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/image-thumb.png" alt="image" width="546" height="357" /></a></p>
<p>Visualizing the path of the sun for a particular day:</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.benchside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/image1.png"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="image" src="http://blog.benchside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/image-thumb1.png" alt="image" width="452" height="211" /></a></p>
<p>Or getting a sense of the <a href="http://blog.benchside.com/2009/06/n-problems/">3-body-configuration</a> of the sun, moon, and earth:</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.benchside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/image2.png"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="image" src="http://blog.benchside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/image-thumb2.png" alt="image" width="376" height="254" /></a></p>
<p>Chalk this up as yet another cool thing you can do with Wolfram|Alpha!</p>
<p>(Image credit: Wolfram|Alpha and Wolfram|Alpha blog)</p>
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