Author Archives: astr2110geoffren

Unkillable, caterpillar-like piglets

Posted on April 26, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

What a cutie Tardigrades, aka Water Bears, aka Moss Piglets, are the most resilient species on Earth. They transcend the extremophile label. Many extremophiles are only able to thrive in their own extreme environment. Tardigrades can live in almost every extreme environment. They’ve been known to survive temperatures ranging from 1 kelvin above absolute zero […] Continue reading →

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The Crab Nebula

Posted on April 10, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

When a star dies, it goes supernova and shoots everything that it was once made of across space. The explosion that formed the Crab Nebula was first documented by the Chinese in 1054 AD. Though, you didn’t need to be an astronomer to recognize the explosion or its resulting nebula. The Crab Nebula was visible for […] Continue reading →

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Asteroids: Death, or Life?

Posted on April 10, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

Just hitching a ride Most people don’t think of asteroids as the bringer of life to Earth. Actually, for many, it’s the exact opposite. When someone says asteroids many people automatically think about mass extinctions, specifically the extinction of the dinosaurs (which was caused by a large asteroid). However, there is a theory called panspermia which […] Continue reading →

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Coronal Mass Ejections and You

Posted on March 13, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive outburst of Sun matter interweaved with magnetic field lines. This Sun matter basically consists of superheated particles accelerated at millions of miles per hour. This ejection isn’t self-contained, a lot of this stuff just goes shooting into space. This wouldn’t be so bad in of itself, except […] Continue reading →

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Space Bubbles AKA Quantum Foam

Posted on March 13, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

Spacetime is often described as a “fabric”, but there is one theory that would describe it as more like sea foam- made of a bunch of tiny bubbles. This is the quantum foam theory. The quantum foam theory basically came into existence to try and unite Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, something that […] Continue reading →

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Where is Everybody?

Posted on February 15, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

The Fermi Paradox questions how is it possible that if there are so many planets orbiting so many stars existing in so many solar systems making up so many galaxies composing so many superclusters creating our observable universe, how is it possible that we haven’t seen any other signs of intelligent life? This has many […] Continue reading →

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The Serial Killer Known as Light

Posted on February 15, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

Pretty Much a Giant Lightsaber Gamma Radiation Bursts (GRB) make up the brightest flashes of light from outer space and it isn’t even a contest. If we had the ability to see them we would probably all instantaneously go blind. These flashes of light can last anywhere from a few milliseconds to a few minutes […] Continue reading →

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Copernicus and the Luthers

Posted on February 9, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

Nicolaus Copernicus had the fortune to be born on February 19, 1473 and the misfortune to die on May 24, 1543. This man laid the groundwork for future astronomers who actually did things that we study as more than just history. Before Copernicus, the geocentric model of the universe was the prevailing theory about the universe. […] Continue reading →

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Eclipses Throughout History

Posted on January 26, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

Eclipse science! You’re just mowing grass one day and the sun disappears. You look up and see an eclipse. Today, people would just brush it off for the most part. There would be some oohs and ahhs, but most people would just treat it like any other day and probably forget about the occurrence a […] Continue reading →

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Comprehension

Posted on January 26, 2016 by astr2110geoffren

The universe is massive. There are billions of people on this planet. There are billions of planets in our galaxy. There are billions of galaxies in our universe. And this is just in the observable universe, possibly just a small slice of the true universe. But does this really mean anything to people? Does mankind […] Continue reading →

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