Monthly Archives: April 2023

Blog Post 8: How astro2110 Has Changed My View On Astronomy

Before coming into astro2110, I knew very little about astronomy. Now, after completing the course, my appreciation for astronomy has greatly increased. A few days before the semester started, one of my friends who is an astronomy nerd laughed at me for not knowing the phases of the Moon. I thought to myself, “I’m a […] Continue reading

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Until Next Time!

(Tatooine’s “Twin Suns“) I have always thought that astronomy and everything to do with Earth and outer space were so freaking cool (and terrifying), but it wasn’t until this year (taking both ASTR 1010 and 2110) that I got to really dive into the area of study. It’s a lot harder for me than some […] Continue reading

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Blog Post 7: What Will Happen If We Do Find Life Out There In Space?

The common question when thinking about life in space is always “Is there even life in space”? But few people think about what would actually happen next if we were to find life out there beyond the stars. If we ever do receive a message from extraterrestrial beings, many people have this vision of it […] Continue reading

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Maybe Signs of Alien Life Would Not be Good a Thing

When acknowledging the vastness of our universe, it is inevitable think that alien life must be somewhere. The Fermi paradox has addressed just this; however, in todays blog I would like to consider the scenario of the paradox being solver. In other words, what could go wrong if we finally found intelligent life outside of […] Continue reading

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Launching Spacecraft with Nuclear Bombs

You might be familiar with the Orion Spacecraft, which is the vehicle being used in NASA’s Artemis series of lunar missions. However, have you ever heard of Project Orion? Most conventional spacecraft are propelled using chemical reactions which create high velocity exhaust that is focused through a rocket nozzle. Newton’s Third Law dictates that the […] Continue reading

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Drake Equation

I have been thinking about whether there are civilizati […] Continue reading

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Godzilla the Extremophile

(Diagram of the various conditions in which different types of extremophiles live) Extremophiles are organisms that live in, you guessed it, “extreme” environments, like volcanoes, the bottom of the ocean, acidic areas, etc. When we talked about extremophiles in class, we mostly looked at microbes and bacteria- the little guys. But I want to talk […] Continue reading

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Astrobiology & The Search For Life

Astrobiology is the study of life that occurs somewhere other than Earth, as we’ve learned in class, and this blog post emphasizes its developments and possible future directions. There have been substantial scientific, technological, and programmatic advances achieved in the hunt for extraterrestrial life since the 2015 publication of NASA’s Astrobiology Strategy. Understanding the beginnings […] Continue reading

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Blog 7 – The Fermi Paradox

When learning astronomy, one often wonders if humanity is alone in the galaxy. Physicist Enrico Fermi pondered this question, and ultimately came to a rather profound conclusion. Statistically our galaxy should be home to at least a handful of advanced societies more than capable of interstellar travel, so why have we not encountered any? Fermi […] Continue reading

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Asteroid Mining

Hayabusa: A robotic spacecraft by JAXA to acquire a sample from the asteroid Itokawa Asteroid mining can be crucial in helping us to acquire rare materials in our solar system. The asteroid belt has 8% metal-rich asteroids and 75% volatile-rich carbonaceous asteroids.  Currently the technique is mainly just theoretical as we don’t have the infrastructure […] Continue reading

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