Author Archives: Quint Gfroerer

What if life existed in every solar system?

Posted on April 27, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

The Drake equation investigates the likelihood of intelligent, communicating life existing on other worlds in our galaxy. But what if life could easily exist on other worlds, and there was life in every solar system around us? What could this potentially mean for us? First, we must consider the fact that the closest star to […] Continue reading →

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The Golden Record: A Message Sent to the Cosmos

Posted on April 27, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

In 1977, the Voyager I and Voyager II spacecrafts were launched into space to study the outer solar system. After conducting flybys of the planets in the outer solar systems, the Voyager spacecrafts continued to travel away from Earth, and will eventually travel out of our solar system. With this knowledge, golden records were placed […] Continue reading →

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‘Oumuamua: An Interstellar Visitor

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

In 2017, a small, long object between 100 and 1,000 meters in length and between 35 and 167 meters in height and width passed through the inner solar system with a trajectory and speed only possible if it originated from beyond our solar system. This object, now known as ‘Oumuamua, is one of the first […] Continue reading →

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Enceladus: Alien Life in Our Own Solar System?

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

Enceladus is an icy moon of Saturn, and is fairly small (or medium-sized, for a moon) with a diameter of about 500 km. For reference, the Moon has a diameter of about 3,475 km. Despite its size, however, Enceladus has been rated as among the most probable sources of life in our own solar system […] Continue reading →

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Proxima: Our Cosmic Neighbor

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

The closest star to our solar system is one named Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri is a relatively small star, as it is a red dwarf star with about 12.5% the mass of the Sun and only about 0.17% as bright as the Sun. Proxima Centauri resides about 4.25 light years away from Earth, and is […] Continue reading →

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The Cassini Spacecraft

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

The story of the Cassini spacecraft is one of scientific discovery and self sacrifice. Cassini was launched in 1997 and spent 20 years in space, focusing on the planet Saturn, its moons, and its rings, before the spacecraft’s intentional demise in 2017. Through Cassini, we were able to land a probe on Titan, Saturn’s largest […] Continue reading →

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The James Webb Space Telescope

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

As you may have heard in the news recently, the James Webb Space Telescope (or JWST) was launched into space on December 25, 2021. The JWST is meant to be the successor to the Hubble Telescope, as it detects light further into the infrared spectrum than the Hubble telescope, and so can see stars that […] Continue reading →

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Johannes Kepler in Historical Context

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630) revolutionized astronomy and improved upon the works of previous astronomers (including Copernicus and Tycho) in multiple ways. Kepler was able to develop a mathematical model of the universe that was heliocentric and was both more accurate and simpler than that of Ptolemy, whose geocentric model with […] Continue reading →

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Totality

Posted on January 30, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

On August 21, 2017, my family and I drove from Atlanta, Georgia to Clemson University in South Carolina to witness the solar eclipse in totality. Atlanta reached 97% totality, but Clemson reached complete totality: At about 2:37 PM, the moon completely covered the sun, positioning itself perfectly between earth and the sun and casting a […] Continue reading →

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Starting Up

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Quint Gfroerer

By me This picture is from when I visited my sister abroad over Thanksgiving Break. I am Quint Gfroerer, I’m from Atlanta, GA, and I am a junior majoring in neuroscience and minoring in astronomy. Continue reading →

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