Author Archives: jagobillot

The Star That Vanished

Posted on May 1, 2021 by jagobillot

From 2001-2011, astronomers studied a luminous blue variable star about 75 million light years away in the Aquarius constellation. It was a massive star, about 2.5 million times brighter than our Sun, and it was approaching the end of its life. Flash forward to 2019, and an astronomer named Andrew Allan, began a study ofContinue reading “The Star That Vanished” Continue reading →

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What Life on Titan Would Look Like

Posted on May 1, 2021 by jagobillot

Titan is a world that fits many criteria for a world that could host life. Because it has temperatures at about -290 degrees celsius on the surface, life would most likely be extremophile microbes below the methane surface. But an organism living entirely off of methane did not seem likely to me originally, until IContinue reading “What Life on Titan Would Look Like” Continue reading →

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What Exactly Happened During the Big Bang?

Posted on April 17, 2021 by jagobillot

I think the Big Bang is such an interesting piece of the Universe’s creation. An explosion that created everything that we observe right now. While the Big Bang is popularly known, I don’t think many people grasp how quickly and powerfully this explosion happened. For 10-43 seconds, the universe was inside of a microscopic pinpoint.Continue reading “What Exactly Happened During the Big Bang?” Continue reading →

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The Oddities of Titan

Posted on April 17, 2021 by jagobillot

Titan is one of 62 moons revolving around Saturn. Before 2004, not much was known about Titan, other than the fact that it is Saturn’s largest moon. NASA sent the Cassini spacecraft to the outer to investigate and send back information about Titan. Cassini sent back pictures of a very planet-like moon with a denseContinue reading “The Oddities of Titan” Continue reading →

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Mount Vesuvius and the Pompeiian Disaster: How it happened

Posted on March 20, 2021 by jagobillot

I was watching a documentary about the sheer power and destruction that Mount Vesuvius lay upon those heedless Roman citizens in Pompeii, and it got me thinking about the movement of the tectonic plates. What needs to happen underneath the land to create enough power to bury a city in 15 feet of rubble andContinue reading “Mount Vesuvius and the Pompeiian Disaster: How it happened” Continue reading →

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Radioactive Proof of the Earth’s Age

Posted on March 20, 2021 by jagobillot

Radioactivity of elements starts with an unstable elemental isotope. An unstable atom on radioactive elements carries too many protons or neutrons, and eventually, it must expel energy from the atom, and become an entirely new stable element through the process of beta decay. This process, for every unstable atom, is completely spontaneous and there isContinue reading “Radioactive Proof of the Earth’s Age” Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 16, 2021 by jagobillot

Nicholas Copernicus.  Born February 1473, Died May 1543. Johannes Kepler. Born December 1571, Died November 1630. Tycho Brahe.  Born December 1546, Died October 1601. Galileo Galilei. Born February 1564, Died January 1642. Isaac Newton. Born January 1643, Died March 1727. Nicholas Copernicus and Isaac Newton did not live with any of the scientists on thisContinue reading “Historical Astronomers in Context” Continue reading →

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Introduction Blog

Posted on February 1, 2021 by jagobillot

Hi I am Joe Gobillot. I am a Senior, and I am majoring in Economics. I am excited to expand my knowledge of Astronomy because I feel like its important to at least semi-understand our place in this universe. Here’s a cool picture of the Sun.
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