Daily Archives: April 27, 2017

Alien Life Closer to Home

Posted on April 27, 2017 by elliottlifeastronomy

Although intelligent life has yet to make its debut for us, extraterrestrial life may be a little closer that we typically think of- specifically Martian life.  No, no, not little green men or facehugger kind of Martian life, but microbial life.  And not just on Mars either!  The three likeliest candidates for elementary life in […] Continue reading →

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Upcoming Solar Eclipse

Posted on April 27, 2017 by liuy54

As some of you may know, there is an upcoming Total Solar Eclipse that will be visible in Nashville, TN! The last total solar eclipse visible from the United States was back in 1998, so it’s been a while, but it’s finally back! On August 21st, the eclipse will be visible at 1:27 PM local […] Continue reading →

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Black Holes

Posted on April 27, 2017 by brandonandthesolarsystem

While the concept of black holes has become a cultural phenomenon thanks to movies such as Interstellar, it still seems like the general public knows very little about them. In order to help clarify any misunderstandings, welcome to a brief introduction on black holes. In essence, a black hole consists of a massive amount of mass […] Continue reading →

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The Fermi Paradox

Posted on April 27, 2017 by elliottlifeastronomy

“Where are they?” asked Enrico Fermi to his colleagues in 1950.  Where is all the life that, by all rights, should populate our galaxy and the rest of the universe?  The Fermi Paradox arises from the knowledge that the whole of human history is but a blip in the cosmic calendar.  If we have so […] Continue reading →

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The Comet Time Forgot… Until Now

Posted on April 27, 2017 by vmorehead0

A stone carving at a major archaeological site suggests a comet struck Earth thousands of years ago and started an ice age. Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological site located in modern-day Turkey.  Built before Stonehenge, it served as an ancient temple site and religious center where multiple people would gather, but it also seemed to have been an astronomy … Continue reading The Comet Time Forgot… Until Now Continue reading →

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Drake Equation

Posted on April 27, 2017 by liuy54

You may have heard of the Drake equation before, and you may have heard that it can “predict” the number of aliens we may one day face (or fight?). Well, you’re not too far off. The Drake equation allows astronomers and scientists to estimate the number of civilizations that exist in the deep vast space […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8: Possible Picture of a Black Hole

Posted on April 27, 2017 by vandyastro

Scientist have tried to take a picture of a black hole by creating a massive telescope. This telescope used radio wave based telescopes connected all over the world to create an earth sized telescope which may have the power to actually take a picture of a black hole. While this picture will not truly be […] Continue reading →

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New Alien Planet

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Haley Topper

Recently, there was a new world discovered that is quite Earth-like. It is an exoplanet named OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb. This planet is about as massive as our earth, and orbits its start at around the same distance as earth orbits our sun, however, there is a major difference. The star that our new exoplanet orbits is tiny and […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7: Last Universal Common Ancestor

Posted on April 27, 2017 by vandyastro

The Last Universal Common Ancestor, LUCA, was a microbe that live around 4 billion years ago. It is believed that it is anaerobic and autotrophic, not breathing and making its own food. There is also evidence it live near iron-sulfur rich hydrothermal bents deep underground. it would have possessed a metabolism dependent upon hydrogen, carbon […] Continue reading →

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Astronomy and Us

Posted on April 27, 2017 by ksun1

“I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos, in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.” – Carl Sagan Even after learning all of the mysteries, all of the answers, all of the beauty, and all of the chaos of the universe, it is still natural […] Continue reading →

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