Author Archives: Megan C

Space junk

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Megan C

After 60 years of sending things into space, the number of satellites, rocket stages, and pieces of debris floating around the Earth is gigantic.  As that number continues to increase, the number of collisions between these objects is expected to increase too. We don’t think much about space junk. I guess we just hear about […] Continue reading →

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3 Prime Locations for Life

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Megan C

Scientists recently announced that Kepler has found 3 exoplanets that are our best bet for finding life outside the solar system. These three planets – Kepler62e, Kepler 62f, and Kepler 69c – are the smallest to be discovered within the habitable zone, meaning that liquid water could potentially exist on any or all of them. And […] Continue reading →

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Dark Matter Discovered?

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Megan C

Scientists announced today that they may have finally found dark matter. Dark matter is the invisible matter making up most of the universe, but scientists can’t see it because it emits no light.  Scientists only know it exists because dark matter’s gravity bends light – gravitational lensing – and because stars are orbiting in galaxies […] Continue reading →

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The Little Solar System that Could

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Megan C

Pluto may no longer be a planet, but it sure is proving to be one of the most interesting objects in our solar system.  We’ve kicked it out of the planet club, but Pluto seems to have plenty of friends of its own, with scientists thinking the little dwarf planet could have 10 more moons […] Continue reading →

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Mars Suitable for Life

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Megan C

NASA scientists have just finished analyzing a sample of rock Curiosity drilled last month, and the results are certainly promising for the theory that Mars once was home to life. In the sample, they found elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, all of which are essential for life as we know it.  This sample […] Continue reading →

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Artificial Gravity

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Megan C

Given the importance of gravity to life here on Earth, it’s interesting to think about the lack of gravity used in space exploration. Of course there’s gravity in space, but not anywhere near the amount of gravitational force we feel on Earth. So why doesn’t NASA design its space shuttles and space stations to create artificial […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Megan C

Tycho Brahe (December 14, 1546 – October 24, 1601) was a Danish astronomer who is an important astronomical figure because of his naked eye observations. Before the telescope, he amassed a great trove of extremely accurate data that would be used by Kepler to develop his Three Laws of Planetary Motion. This means he basically provided the […] Continue reading →

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Lunar Phases

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Megan C

While searching for a good astronomy application to blog about, I found a lot of interesting moon apps, but I think the most helpful app for this class would have to be Lunar Phase. It’s a free app available for Android that not only shows you the current phase of the moon and the moon […] Continue reading →

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King of the Galaxies

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Megan C

It’s hard to imagine things on a galactic scale. I have trouble just picturing how big the Earth really is. Now try imagining something larger than Earth, larger than the Solar System, and larger than our entire galaxy. That’s this guy, NGC 6872. It’s a spiral galaxy five times the larger than the Milky Way. It […] Continue reading →

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Intro post

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Megan C

Hi, my name’s Megan C.  I’m a Junior triple majoring in Computer Science, Math, and Political Science. I love the West Coast. I visit Portland often because my older sister lives there, but I’m hoping to get an internship in Seattle this summer.  This is a picture of Mount Hood, which is considered the most […] Continue reading →

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