Author Archives: AlanL

My Favorite Parts of the Semester

Posted on April 28, 2013 by AlanL

I learned a lot about the universe in this class, but what really stuck out at me throughout the semester was how principles that I had previously learned in physics are used to discover new planets or what they’re made of. For example, I learned about the Doppler Effect in my 7th grade science class […] Continue reading →

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Extremophiles in the Berkeley Pit

Posted on April 28, 2013 by AlanL

In Butte, Montana there is a toxic waste site, the Berkeley Pit, which has been discovered to be the home of various extremophiles. Some of these have even been identified to possibly produce anti-cancer agents and anti-inflammatories. The Berkeley Pit is a lake that is filled with about forty thousand gallons of acidic, metal contaminated […] Continue reading →

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A Breakthrough in Space Travel

Posted on April 10, 2013 by AlanL

There is currently a project underway which aims to send astronauts in a fusion powered spacecraft to Mars and cutting the travel time to just 30 days round trip. Using existing rocket fuels it would take at least 4 years to travel the same round trip and would cost more than $12 billion. Using this […] Continue reading →

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Drawing Closer to Discovering the Mysteries of Pluto

Posted on April 10, 2013 by AlanL

Right now Pluto is a very mysterious planet. No man-made object has flown by it and so there is not a lot of information on its global geology or chemical composition on the surface. In 2 years however, New Horizons will finally reach the dwarf planet and retrieve valuable data that astronomers have seeked for […] Continue reading →

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The 8 Wonders of the Solar System

Posted on March 19, 2013 by AlanL

This site shows us the 8 wonders of the solar system and the amazing sights explorers would encounter if they could ever travel to each location. This list includes Jupiter’s red spot which could fit two Earth’s inside of it and the peaks of eternal light which is the only known region in the solar […] Continue reading →

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Using Paintballs to Deflect Asteroids

Posted on February 19, 2013 by AlanL

As you probably know on Friday February 15th there were two meteors heading Earth’s way. One of which crashed in Russia injuring over 1,000 people and the other missed Earth by 17,000 miles. The one that hit Russia was only 1.5 the size of a school bus while the other was 3 times that. Obviously […] Continue reading →

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Archeoastronomy

Posted on February 19, 2013 by AlanL

Over the summer I was in Mexico and visited some Mayan ruins in Tulum and Chichen Itza. It was incredible to hear all about how the cities were built with regard to the sun’s movement in the sky. In Chichen Itza, there is an observatory where they had 20 sight lines each marking a different […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 5, 2013 by AlanL

Nicholas Copernicus (19 February 1473-24 May 1543) was one of the three main people involved in the Copernican revolution. He was attempting to create more accurate predictions of planetary positions, when he stumbled upon Aristarchus’s heliocentric model. He was able to provide mathematical details that would make the model more convincing and ended up discovering simple […] Continue reading →

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Google Sky Map

Posted on January 27, 2013 by AlanL

Once I first learned about the Google Sky Map app I was amazed at how it worked and its capabilities. It uses the date and time and the phone’s GPS and compass to determine where you are and where you’re looking to create a star chart that you can interact with. If there is something […] Continue reading →

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Just how big is the universe?

Posted on January 27, 2013 by AlanL

It is impossible to comprehend just how big the universe is simply from a description. I could tell you that the Earth is approximately 150 million km from the sun and that it takes over 8 minutes for the sun’s light to reach us but understanding it is completely different. This video uploaded by stormeindustries […] Continue reading →

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