Author Archives: theskyisbeautifultonight

The End of an Era

Posted on April 29, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

Or, more accurately, the end of a semester.  I’ve had a lot of fun blogging for this class, and I’ve learned a lot about that vast expanse above our heads known as the cosmos.  One of the most important things I’ve learned, I think, is the vastness of space.  Even in our solar system, planets […] Continue reading →

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Guys, We are a Type 0 Civilization

Posted on April 29, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

The Kardashev Scale As we persevere in our search for other intelligent life out there in the far reaches of space, we should also remember that, if they exist, we have no idea what they would look like, or how powerful they might be in comparison to us, or how they would respond to us […] Continue reading →

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Asteroids in Orbit?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

It looks like we’ll be bringing an asteroid home sometime soon.  NASA wants to identify an asteroid in deep space, figure out a way to capture it, and bring it into our own planetary region, ultimately setting it in orbit around our moon, all by the year 2025.  This proposal was included as a part […] Continue reading →

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Terrific Titan

Posted on April 12, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

NASA Titan, Saturn’s largest moon (and second largest in the solar system), is a really cool world.  Like Earth, it has a thick atmosphere, making it the only moon in our solar system to have one.  Also, like Earth, Titan’s atmosphere is mostly composed of nitrogen, and has a presence of organic molecules that contain […] Continue reading →

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Almost Interstellar

Posted on March 22, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

So, has humanity become Earth’s first interstellar species?  It all depends on whether the Voyager 1 spacecraft has left our solar system or not. Voyager NASA First, some history.  The Voyager program actually consisted of two space probes, Voyager 1 and 2, launched September 5, 1977 and August 20, 1977, respectively.  The probes were launched […] Continue reading →

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Galileo’s Moons

Posted on March 22, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

To me, moons are fascinating.  Many planets in our solar system have them, with the majority belonging to the gas giants in the outer solar system.  For me, the most interesting of all the moons is not Earth’s, but rather the Galilean ones, so named because Galileo Galilei was the first to discover them orbiting […] Continue reading →

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The World Will End in Ice

Posted on February 28, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

I’m fascinated by the end of the universe.  It’s a pretty interesting mental exercise, theorizing about how everything might end (and us with it), especially since I definitely won’t be around to see any of those theories come to fruition.  Of course, I have a favorite theory, that being the “Heat death of the universe”. […] Continue reading →

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500 Days of…Solitude

Posted on February 21, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

European Space Agency So this piece of news is a bit old, but I think its worth talking about: we’re one step closer to intersolar travel!  I’m not talking about a probe or rover, however.  In this case I’m talking about things of a human nature.  From 2007 – 2011, in a cooperative effort between […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 7, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei is important to astronomy for several reasons.  Although he often receives credit for inventing the telescope, he did not actually do that.  He did, however, greatly improve upon them, to such an extent that they could be used to peer far into space.  His other great contributions were being the first […] Continue reading →

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Star Lore

Posted on January 28, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

Constellations of the northern sky Have you ever looked up into the night sky, gazed upon the stars, tried to imagine them within those famous constellations, and wondered, how the heck does that group of stars look like a man carrying a club and a shield/lion/pelt?  That would be Orion, (also, The Hunter) who I found […] Continue reading →

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