Monthly Archives: May 2022

Crop Circles, Extraterrestial Communication, and a Response to the Arecibo message

Posted on May 6, 2022 by jschorr21

In 2001, right near the world’s largest radio telescope in England, a strange phenomenon was observed. The crops near the telescope formed into an interesting formation: This formation from above convincingly resembled a face. Scientists were baffled, and what’s even more interesting is what came next. so in 1974, Carl Sagan sent out the Arecibo […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8 – Evidence for a Europan Ocean

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Jack Walton

Europa, Jupiter’s 4th largest and 2nd closest Galilean moon, is thought to have a large saltwater ocean covered by a layer of ice. An article from Nasa details the evidence for the existence of this ocean. The first piece of evidence is the matching zig-zagging cracks on the surface that indicate that the surface was […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7 – The Dark Forest Solution to Fermi’s Paradox

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Jack Walton

Fermi’s paradox is that based on the number of stars in our galaxy and estimates on the likelihood of intelligent, space-faring civilizations to develop in a star system, we should expect to see some signs of alien life in our galaxy. Some possible solutions to the paradox are that Life is more rare than we […] Continue reading →

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When the Sun Dies

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

All good things must come to an end, including the ancient (at least relative to humanity), life-giving star we see each day. Even though the sun is considered a young star, it still has a finite lifetime, and it will eventually “die” in about 5 billion years. The image above shows a rough timeline of […] Continue reading →

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blog post 08

Posted on May 4, 2022 by graceward02

This class opened my eyes to some really cool astronomy subjects. Astronomy is a subject that I never really got the chance to study in grade school. Since coming to college, and learning more about our universe, my perspective on life has changed. Learning about how vast our universe is, how our solar system formed, […] Continue reading →

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SolSys2110 – Culminating Post

Posted on May 4, 2022 by alexlitt

Over the course of four months, I have learned not just about our solar system, the Milky Way, and the universe at large, but also about the process of science, the history of astronomy, and humanity’s never ending (and really just beginning) quest to find companionship in the cosmos. Before I took this course, I […] Continue reading →

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blog post 07

Posted on May 4, 2022 by graceward02

The Fermi Paradox is the conflict between the lack of evidence of extraterrestrial life and high estimates for its existence. The main explanation people have come up with for this paradox is that intelligent life is rare. Using this explanation, it makes sense why there would be many places with rudimentary life, but without intelligent […] Continue reading →

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My newfound view of Astronomy and our Solar System

Posted on May 4, 2022 by jadonroy

Throughout this semester, I have learned so many new and fascinating things about our solar system and astronomy as a whole. Whether it be learning more about the fathers of Astronomy such as Copernicus or Galileo or mind-boggling concepts such as gravity, I now understand that I have only scratched the surface of understanding the […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7:Fermi Paradox

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Charles Littleton

The Fermi paradox is the conflict between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrials and the high estimates for their existence . The name came from the Italian-American Physicist Enrico Fermi. He was roughly quoted as saying “Where is everybody?” This paradox has been explained by saying that the number of intelligent civilizations is very low. […] Continue reading →

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Tardigrades… and what humans can learn from them

Posted on May 4, 2022 by alexlitt

Tardigrades are one of the most adaptable lifeforms in existence. The tardigrade is classified as an extremophile, or one who can live in extreme conditions, because of its ability to enter cryptobiosis. Cryptobiosis is a condition that results from slowing down an organisms metabolic and reproductive processes to almost a complete halt. The closest state […] Continue reading →

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