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Monthly Archives: April 2019
Life Off Earth
Recently, I have read an article on Scott and Mark Kelly during the Twins Study by NASA. As a serious skeptic involving the potential for the human species to persist in space, I was surprised by the findings in study. Scott and Mark Kelly In the study, Scott was sent into low Earth orbit while … Continue reading Life Off Earth Continue reading
Ethics of Space Travel
As eager as we are to explore the solar system and beyond, space is not a very hospital place. Muscular atrophy, increased exposure to harmful radiation, and insomnia are just a few of the effects of spaceflight on the human body. Even acknowledging these known risks and the possibility of others, many people are eager … Continue reading Ethics of Space Travel → Continue reading
Posted in Public Policy, Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog7, Mars, radiation, space, Travel
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St. Elmo’s fire is a real thing
One really cool thing I learned about this semester is a thing called “St. Elmo’s Fire.” (I’m pretty sure the textbook mentions it somewhere, and after stumbling across it I was instantly curious.) So… what is it? For starters, it definitely does not involve Emilio Estevez or a fuzzy red puppet (or is it muppet?)…
Where are they?
The Fermi Paradox is a complicated contradiction that considers the probability that other life in the Universe exists, and asks why we have never encountered it. Essentially, some calculations were made to suggest with a high probability that there are many worlds in our universe and even solar system that are habitable, and that the … Continue reading Where are they? Continue reading
Resilient Life on Earth Increases Possibility of Extraterrestrial Life
Believe it or not, there are organisms on Earth that can survive unimaginable conditions! These beings are called extremophiles, and they’re nothing short of amazing. One example is the tardigrade, which can live in the most extreme heat, cold, dehydration and radiation. The simple fact that these organisms exist give us reason to believe that … Continue reading Resilient Life on Earth Increases Possibility of Extraterrestrial Life → Continue reading
Posted in Class, Exoplanets
Tagged astro2110, astrobiology, blog6, extremophiles, life
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Methane-Based Life
Is liquid water necessary for life to form? If judging strictly from the only life we know, of course. However, humanity’s exploration of the universe has just begun, and we can’t say for sure what lies beyond Earth. Other worlds within our solar system have organic compounds that life could possibly evolve from. In particular, … Continue reading Methane-Based Life → Continue reading
Posted in Aliens, Moons, Science, Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog6, life, methane, Solar System, titan
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Interstellar Travel
In many science fiction movies, spaceships race through the galaxy at extremely high speeds, seemingly ignoring many of nature’s laws that govern our universe. With what we know about the universe right now, it is impossible for any object to travel faster than the speed of light. Any man made object has not reached speeds … Continue reading Interstellar Travel Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Science
Tagged astro2110, blog7, interstellar travel
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the Fermi paradox
The Fermi paradox is named after the famous scientist Enrico Fermi. In this paradox, Fermi acknowledges the apparent contradiction between the amount of extraterrestrial life that we have detected (none) and the high probability that extraterrestrial life exists. For these “high probabilities”, Fermi was drawing on lines of reasoning similar to that presented in the…
First Image of a Black Hole
Roughly 50 million light-years away, in the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, resides a supermassive black hole that has about the cumulative mass of 6.5 billion suns. While this black hole is undoubtedly a monster, the true astonishment should come from the fact that image is the first time that scientists were able to … Continue reading First Image of a Black Hole → Continue reading
Ancient Egyptian Astronomy
The Ancient Egyptians cared a great deal about astronomy. Probably too much, in fact. According to their beliefs, the movements of the planets and stars played a role in the annual flooding of the Nile river, and if you are an Ancient Egyptian, you will do just about anything to appease the Nile, and that … Continue reading Ancient Egyptian Astronomy → Continue reading
Posted in Class, Historical
Tagged astro2110, blog7, Solar System
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