Monthly Archives: April 2020

The Drake Equation

Posted on April 14, 2020 by emily

The Drake equation, also known as the Green Bank equation, is used to yield the number of technically advanced civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. The equation uses astronomical, biological, and psychological factors to determine this number. The formula was first discussed in 1961 at a conference on the “search of extraterrestrial intelligence”, formulated largelyContinue reading “The Drake Equation” Continue reading →

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Comets: where do they come from?

Posted on April 7, 2020 by maverickbennett

A comet is made of a nucleus (inner core), coma (cloudy envelope around the nucleus), and then a tail. Where exactly do these beautiful, fast-moving cosmic snowballs come from? Scientists are able to trace comets that we see in the inner solar system by retracing their orbits. Through this, scientists believe that comets come fromContinue reading “Comets: where do they come from?” Continue reading →

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How Life Could Start and Exist on Europa

Posted on April 4, 2020 by gabezharovtothemoon

Although our understanding of the evolutionary process is deep, the exact time and process through which the first life forms on Earth arose is still not entirely clear. The panspermia hypothesis speculates that life exists throughout the universe and is distributed through asteroids, comets, and space dust, and that life on Earth was brought fromContinue reading “How Life Could Start and Exist on Europa” Continue reading →

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How Big Can a Planet Get?

Posted on April 4, 2020 by gabezharovtothemoon

Jupiter is big. Not only is it the biggest planet in our solar system, but it is large enough to fit all the other planets in the solar system inside of it. However, Jupiter is not as dense as Earth, and even though it can fit about 1,300 Earths inside of it, it is approximatelyContinue reading “How Big Can a Planet Get?” Continue reading →

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Life on Europa?

Posted on April 1, 2020 by dannydonofrio217

When considering the likeliest hosts for extraterrestrial life in our very own system, Europa surely is near the top of possible candidates. One of Jupiter’s 79 (!) moons, it possesses the smoothest surface of any celestial body in the solar system. Because of this and imaging from probes, scientists have hypothesized that Europa has aContinue reading “Life on Europa?” Continue reading →

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