Monthly Archives: April 2016

Living the fast life: Kepler-70b

Posted on April 12, 2016 by d51blog

The Kepler spacecraft (which was feared lost earlier this week) has discovered a veritable treasure trove of exoplanets over its seven year mission. Some of these planets may even be habitable. Kepler-70b is decidedly not one of them. Kepler-70b is the closer of two terrestrial planets to KOI-55, a subdwarf star which was once a red giant. […] Continue reading →

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The Largest Structure in the Universe

Posted on April 11, 2016 by clharrell

Through our studies of the solar system this semester, we have focused particularly on the scale of the universe. Throughout the cosmos, there are countless structures that are far more massive than any we perceive. Our galaxy is held together by gravity, forming a cluster. We can also observe clusters being held together by gravity […] Continue reading →

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Speaking of Big Craters…

Posted on April 11, 2016 by jasperluastronomy

The Chicxulub crater is a crater buried underneath the Yucatan Peninsula which is suspected to be the location of the impact of the meteor which wiped out the dinosaurs. The crater is more than 180km in diameter and 20km in depth. Estimates place the size of the impacting meteor to be at least 10km in […] Continue reading →

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Speaking of Big Craters…

Posted on April 11, 2016 by jasperluastronomy

The Chicxulub crater is a crater buried underneath the Yucatan Peninsula which is suspected to be the location of the impact of the meteor which wiped out the dinosaurs. The crater is more than 180km in diameter and 20km in depth. Estimates place the size of the impacting meteor to be at least 10km in […] Continue reading →

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Detection of Habitable Planets

Posted on April 10, 2016 by jasperluastronomy

We talked much in class about different methods of discovering extrasolar planets, and Dr. G pointed out to us that the only reason people bother looking for extrasolar planets is to try and find life outside of our solar system.  To do this, scientists have to narrow down the list of extrasolar planets into a […] Continue reading →

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Detection of Habitable Planets

Posted on April 10, 2016 by jasperluastronomy

We talked much in class about different methods of discovering extrasolar planets, and Dr. G pointed out to us that the only reason people bother looking for extrasolar planets is to try and find life outside of our solar system.  To do this, scientists have to narrow down the list of extrasolar planets into a […] Continue reading →

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The Crab Nebula

Posted on April 10, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

When a star dies, it goes supernova and shoots everything that it was once made of across space. The explosion that formed the Crab Nebula was first documented by the Chinese in 1054 AD. Though, you didn’t need to be an astronomer to recognize the explosion or its resulting nebula. The Crab Nebula was visible for […] Continue reading →

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To Infinity and Beyond! (Maybe)

Posted on April 10, 2016 by impossibleensign

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope is how we have found many exoplanets and have hoped to find more, however, the universe may have other plans… Continue reading →

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The Need for Space Travel

Posted on April 10, 2016 by mattsastronomyblog

“The future of humanity is going to bifurcate in two directions: Either it’s going to become multiplanetary, or it’s going to remain confined to one planet and eventually there’s going to be an extinction event.” – Elon Musk. In my last blog post, I talked about the possibility of another object in space colliding with […] Continue reading →

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Asteroids: Death, or Life?

Posted on April 10, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

Just hitching a ride Most people don’t think of asteroids as the bringer of life to Earth. Actually, for many, it’s the exact opposite. When someone says asteroids many people automatically think about mass extinctions, specifically the extinction of the dinosaurs (which was caused by a large asteroid). However, there is a theory called panspermia which […] Continue reading →

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