Monthly Archives: April 2017

Hyperthermophile

A hyperthermophile is an organism that thrives in extremely hot environments—from 60 °C (140 °F) upwards. An optimal temperature for the existence of hyperthermophiles is above 80 °C (176 °F). Hyperthermophiles are a subset of extremophiles, which are often micro-organisms within the domain Archaea, although some bacteria are able to tolerate temperatures of around 100 °C (212 °F), as well – Wikipedia. […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Hyperthermophile

A Universe Produced Home Birth Video

About 4.5 billion years ago, our solar system was “born”, out of a spinning disk of gas and dust, that somehow became a bunch of planets, moons, and the other miscellaneous space objects that we know and love today. While our solar system is definitely unique in a variety of ways, it is not the… Continue reading A Universe Produced Home Birth Video Continue reading

Posted in Class, Exoplanets, SolarSystem | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A Universe Produced Home Birth Video

Blog #8: Aliens?

One of the most common questions people have when they look at the sky is, “Are there any other life out there?” Many would think yes. Many, many stories, shows, and games have been made about alien species living out there. The math also adds up. While the Drake Equation isn’t exact, using any reasonable … Continue reading Blog #8: Aliens? Continue reading

Posted in Aliens, Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Blog #8: Aliens?

First Super-Earth Exoplanet with Atmosphere Discovered

Earlier this month, scientists discovered the existence of an atmosphere on an exoplanet much like Earth, making this the first Earth-like exoplanet with atmosphere to have been detected aside from earth itself. The planet is named GJ 1132b, located in the constellation Vela as a planet of the low-mass star GJ 1132. The planet is […] Continue reading

Posted in Exoplanets, Instruments, Light | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on First Super-Earth Exoplanet with Atmosphere Discovered

BLOG #7-Discovering New Planets

On April 26th 2017, Scientists from NASA discovered a curious exoplanet named OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb orbiting a small brown dwarf star 13,000 light years away with a mass only 7.8 percent of that of the Sun. This curious planet has a mass similar to that of earth and orbits its mother star at the same distance as … Continue reading BLOG #7-Discovering New Planets Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , | Comments Off on BLOG #7-Discovering New Planets

Exoplanets 🌌

What is an exoplanet? “An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is any planet that orbits a star other than the Sun”, – Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Over the years we have discovered many exoplanets of any size, temperature, surface, etc. But how to astronomers do this? How do you find an exoplanet? These planets are very small and […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , | Comments Off on Exoplanets 🌌

Monkeys in Space!

The pioneer monkey in space was named Albert II. On his mission, he made it 83 miles above the Earth. However, despite surviving the trip up, Albert II died when his parachute malfunctioned on his way down.  On his trip, he was under anesthesia, and attached to sensors so that scientists could monitor his vitals… Continue reading Monkeys in Space! Continue reading

Posted in Historical, Space Travel | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Monkeys in Space!

The Pioneer Plaque

While unlikely that Pioneer 10 will reach another civilization, NASA (mainly Carl Sagan and Frank Drake) provided Pioneer 10 with a plaque that would hopefully tell another intelligent civilization about our own civilization on Earth. Continue reading

Posted in Aliens, Class, Historical, Science | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Pioneer Plaque

Beyond our Solar System

Extrasolar planets are a recent discovery in the time of our Universe. So far, there are 3,475 confirmed exoplanets. These planets are most often comparable to the gas and ice giants that we have in our Solar System. However, there is a constant search for planets that are similar to ours: in the habitable zone around their respective… Continue reading Beyond our Solar System Continue reading

Posted in Universe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Beyond our Solar System

The Arecibo Message

The Arecibo Observatory was constructed in 1963 as the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. Sitting in a naturally spherical valley in Puerto Rico, this telescope looks decidedly different from the pristine optics associated with optical telescopes such as the Keck Observatory or the Hubble Space Telescope. This is because the Arecibo Observatory peers … Continue reading The Arecibo Message Continue reading

Posted in Aliens, Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Arecibo Message