Author Archives: lightwyrs

Psychrophiles!

Posted on April 30, 2023 by lightwyrs

Extremophiles are organisms that can live in extreme environments. There are many different environments in which extremophiles live in, but I am going to talk about one of them: pyschrophiles! Psychrophiles are organisms that have adapted to perpetually freezing environments. These environments include deep seas and polar regions. These bacteria survive in these temperatures by […] Continue reading →

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Thermophiles on Venus

Posted on April 30, 2023 by lightwyrs

Thermophiles are a type of extremophiles that can survive above 45 degrees Celsius. These organisms are usually bacteria, and here on Earth they are found in hot springs. I wanted to talk about the possibility of life existing on Venus, not on the surface (it is far too hot there – 475 degrees Celsius). But, […] Continue reading →

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James Webb Space Telescope and the Carina Nebula

Posted on April 9, 2023 by lightwyrs

The James Webb Space Telescope is by far the most intricate piece of technology we have ever sent into space. The engineering process for the JWST took nearly 30 years to build with Randy Kimble (who had worked on its predecessor – the Hubble Space Telescope) and had a cost of $10 billion. The components […] Continue reading →

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Exoplanet – VHS 1256b

Posted on April 9, 2023 by lightwyrs

There have been over 5,000 exoplanets discovered to this day. Amongst those 5,000 is exoplanet VHS 1256b. This exoplanet is about 40 light years away from Earth. It was discovered fairly recently with the James Webb Telescope, and it is especially interesting because of its relatively young astronomical age. This exoplanet was formed only about […] Continue reading →

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Trappist 1-E and the Possibility of Life

Posted on March 7, 2023 by lightwyrs

The Trappist 1 system is a collection of seven rocky worlds that orbit an ultra cool dwarf star which was named 2MASS J23062928-0502285 at the time of its discovery because of the telescope used. All of the worlds in Trappist 1 are Earth-like meaning it contains the same elements like iron, oxygen, magnesium, etc; however, […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context!

Posted on February 2, 2023 by lightwyrs

Sir Isaac Newton was born on January 5, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England to Hannah Ayscough and Isaac Newton Sr. During his lifetime he made enormous contributions of the field of physics, math and astronomy. He invented calculus jointly with Gottfried Leibniz (another famous mathematician), and created the theory of gravity. This work in the […] Continue reading →

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The Cosmic Calendar 🪐

Posted on January 23, 2023 by lightwyrs

“We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st.” -Carl Sagan The Cosmic Calendar is a concept presented by famous astronomer Carl Sagan. In this diagram, the 13.8 billion year history of the universe is condensed into a […] Continue reading →

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About Me :)

Posted on January 17, 2023 by lightwyrs

“Cosmology brings us face to face with the deepest mysteries, questions that were once treated only in religion and myth.” -Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980) My name is Cortneia, and I am from Phoenix, Arizona! My major is Physics with a concentration in Astronomy. I have always loved space (I even wrote my […] Continue reading →

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