Monthly Archives: March 2014

Science Fiction to Science Fact

Posted on March 30, 2014 by jblubin

It has always been the fantasy of science fiction writers to mine an asteroid for its precious materials. Stories such as Catch that Rabbit by Isaac Asimov, The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein, and the Heechee stories by Frederik Pohl are among hundreds that feature futuristic mining camps on asteroids. But now humanity has … Continue reading Science Fiction to Science Fact → Continue reading →

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A Breakthrough in Our Knowledge of the Big Bang

Posted on March 29, 2014 by philipapelles

BICEP 2, a telescope located at the South Pole, has detected proof for gravitational waves, which are practically ripples in space-time inferring there was some sort of disturbance or bang that caused the universe to form and expand. Gravitational waves up to this point were just theorized to explain how during the Big Bang the… Continue reading →

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Newly Discovered Dwarf Planet

Posted on March 29, 2014 by philipapelles

This month, scientists at the Carnegie Institution for Science discovered a distant dwarf planet. Labeled 2012 VP113, this dwarf planet was seen spinning way past the orbit of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt and is 80 AU away from the sun at its closest point. The Kuiper belt, a region of rocky entities, is between… Continue reading →

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Edmond Halley: Proving Newton

Posted on March 29, 2014 by jblubin

Newton was the first to provide a mathematical construct to describe the effects of planetary motion around the Sun. But then the question arose, how could we find evidence for the theory? Stepping up to the plate was the prominent astronomer Edmond Halley. Born in the English countryside on November 8, 1656, Halley was a … Continue reading Edmond Halley: Proving Newton → Continue reading →

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Rings and Diamonds? A Girl’s Best Friend!

Posted on March 27, 2014 by hollyreichert

  On Jupiter and Saturn, scientists have recently discovered that there could be a lot of carbon on the planet.  This carbon could be present in the form of diamonds that rain down from the sky.  While the diamonds eventually melt and don’t stay around for long, they can be as large as a centimeter […] Continue reading →

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Halley’s Comet Shooting Through the Sky

Posted on March 27, 2014 by hollyreichert

In 1705, Edmond Halley noticed records of comets passing by Earth in 1531, 1607, and 1682.  While at first they were thought to be three different comets, Halley thought they were all the same one.  The comet passes by Earth around every 75 years.  It was here last in 1986, and is predicted to come […] Continue reading →

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Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology is Indistinguishable from Awesome: Dyson Sphere!

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Sam Chance

In honor of Freeman Dyson’s upcoming visit, I thought we could talk about Dyson Spheres. A Dyson Sphere is a structure which surround a solar system and collects all of the energy which is given off by the star.  Dyson published this idea in his 1960 paper “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infared Radiation“. … Continue reading Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology is Indistinguishable from Awesome: Dyson Sphere! → Continue reading →

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Dying for Comfort: Mankinds’ Descent into Climate Change

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Sam Chance

Global Warming can be easily linked to human activities, all one must do is look at a chart of Carbon Dioxide concentration in the atmosphere on any of a number of time scales. Compare this with global temperature change, and it is clear that as CO2 emissions are rising so is global temperature.   But … Continue reading Dying for Comfort: Mankinds’ Descent into Climate Change → Continue reading →

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Observing the Night Sky

Posted on March 19, 2014 by karapetros

The website Sky and Telescope is very cool! It shows an easy to understand layout of what planets, stars, etc. you will be viewing in the night sky and where they will be moving throughout the night and week. It also gives you categories of different celestial objects you can try to search for in … Continue reading Observing the Night Sky → Continue reading →

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Wait, It’s How Big?

Posted on March 19, 2014 by blankster22

Most people are probably aware that our solar system is REALLY BIG. They probably also know that the Sun is much larger than anything else in the solar system. However, a number on the subject might surprise people: 99.8%. That’s how much of our solar system’s total mass is located in the Sun. All the […] Continue reading →

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