Author Archives: Jeanie Zeng

Bringing Colonialism to Space

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

“I’m certain success is one of the possible outcomes for establishing a self sustaining Mars colony, in fact a growing Mars colony. I’m certain that it’s possible.”  –Elon Musk “I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space.”  –Stephen Hawking “We want to go to space to save the Earth.” … Continue reading Bringing Colonialism to Space → Continue reading →

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MEET the home of E.T.?

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

Liquid water, energy and organic material. According to NASA’s director of planetary science, James Green, these are the major criteria needed for life to form. Green and the rest of his NASA colleagues have also identified four extraterrestrial worlds in our Solar System that hold particular potential for the possibility of life. These worlds encompass one … Continue reading MEET the home of E.T.? → Continue reading →

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Why Galileo Mattered

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

When Galileo began using his invention, the telescope, for observation of the cosmos, he was very quickly able to make three discoveries. The most revolutionary of his discoveries were that the surface of the moon was rough and uneven and satellite objects he later identified to be moons orbited Jupiter. These discoveries were fundamental in challenging … Continue reading Why Galileo Mattered → Continue reading →

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The Kuiper Belt Mystery: will we have nine planets again?

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

    It’s the planet furthest from the sun. No, it’s not Neptune. It’s Planet Nine. Cold, icy, and shrouded in darkness, Planet Nine is potentially an undiscovered planet lurking in the outer regions of our solar system just beyond the Kuiper Belt. It’s estimated to be 10 times the mass of Earth and reside at … Continue reading The Kuiper Belt Mystery: will we have nine planets again? → Continue reading →

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Nuclear Waste: a closer look

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

Every year, approximately 20% of the energy generated by the United States comes from nuclear power. Throughout the years, our consumption of nuclear power has brought with it over 90,000 metric tons of nuclear waste. 97% of nuclear waste in the world has been classified as low- or intermediate- level waste (LLW or ILW) while the … Continue reading Nuclear Waste: a closer look → Continue reading →

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Crop Circles: A Brief History

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

Crop circles have long captivated the attention of conspiracists. Their theories suggest that they appear within hours and during daytime without forewarning or even observation of their creators. Modern-day conspiracists have often pointed to them as evidence of the supernatural or more recently, extraterrestrial communication. The idea is that aliens have used beams from their spaceships … Continue reading Crop Circles: A Brief History → Continue reading →

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Tides: The Next Big Thing

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

When we speak of renewable energy sources, solar power often dominates the conversation. Our sun is the brightest point in our observable sky. It’s the largest object in the solar system. It’s the source of life on Earth. It’s easy to forget about the second brightest, 400 times smaller (diameter-wise) source of tides. Although it … Continue reading Tides: The Next Big Thing → Continue reading →

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Johannes Kepler: Historical Figures in Context

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

Who is he? Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630) was a revolutionary in many fields of scientific discoveries including optics and logarithms. He is important to astronomy most notably because of his work with planetary motion. As the first person to develop a set of physically and mathematically sound laws that correctly accounted for … Continue reading Johannes Kepler: Historical Figures in Context → Continue reading →

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The Powers of Ten: Very Powerful, Ten/Ten would Recommend

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

It’s always interesting to see the ways in which humans try to conceptualize the the scale of the universe. It’s not an easy task to reconcile such different size and distance scales such as that of quarks and galaxies. In some cases, we use mathematical values to help us formulate a sense of these scales. … Continue reading The Powers of Ten: Very Powerful, Ten/Ten would Recommend → Continue reading →

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Blog 0: Introduction

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

Hello hello, My name is Jeanie and I’m a student at Vanderbilt taking ASTR 2110. This is my blog for the class. Despite the constant movement of the stars, I am still a Virgo (credit: Astrology Zone)   Continue reading →

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