Category Archives: Class

Extremophiles, and What They Mean For Life in Space

Posted on April 14, 2020 by phildowd

Extremophiles are organisms on Earth that thrive in extreme environment that most other organisms wouldn’t be able to survive in. They are found in places that at a glance, seem unlivable, places like inside volcanoes, or deep in the ocean under extreme pressures. So why do these extremophiles matter when thinking about space? The ideaContinue reading “Extremophiles, and What They Mean For Life in Space” Continue reading →

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So Where Are the Aliens?

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Emily Chen

Our galaxy should be teeming with civilizations, but where are they? If we imagine that we would be able to survive long enough to become interstellar travelers, and that we begin to colonize habitable planets around nearby star systems, we would have dozens of outposts around nearby stars within a few centuries. We would beContinue reading “So Where Are the Aliens?” Continue reading →

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The Drake Equation

Posted on April 14, 2020 by emily

The Drake equation, also known as the Green Bank equation, is used to yield the number of technically advanced civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. The equation uses astronomical, biological, and psychological factors to determine this number. The formula was first discussed in 1961 at a conference on the “search of extraterrestrial intelligence”, formulated largelyContinue reading “The Drake Equation” Continue reading →

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Comets: where do they come from?

Posted on April 7, 2020 by maverickbennett

A comet is made of a nucleus (inner core), coma (cloudy envelope around the nucleus), and then a tail. Where exactly do these beautiful, fast-moving cosmic snowballs come from? Scientists are able to trace comets that we see in the inner solar system by retracing their orbits. Through this, scientists believe that comets come fromContinue reading “Comets: where do they come from?” Continue reading →

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Life on Europa?

Posted on April 1, 2020 by dannydonofrio217

When considering the likeliest hosts for extraterrestrial life in our very own system, Europa surely is near the top of possible candidates. One of Jupiter’s 79 (!) moons, it possesses the smoothest surface of any celestial body in the solar system. Because of this and imaging from probes, scientists have hypothesized that Europa has aContinue reading “Life on Europa?” Continue reading →

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Dwarf Perspective

Posted on March 31, 2020 by khalilgreene

There are many celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt. One notable object is a dwarf planet named Makemake. This dwarf planet was one of the objects NASA used to demote Pluto from its previous planet status down to dwarf planet status. NASA wasn’t aware of other bodies that looked like Pluto, and when they foundContinue reading “Dwarf Perspective” Continue reading →

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Plasma Bubble Around Uranus

Posted on March 30, 2020 by abbigailhughes

On January 14, 1986, Voyager 2 captured a picture of Uranus, capturing the planet’s chilling-blue color. Although the giant planet was already known for being odd — spinning on its side and having an off-center magnetic field. However, it was also recently identified that the icy planet has a giant magnetic bubble around it madeContinue reading “Plasma Bubble Around Uranus” Continue reading →

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Would Landing on Europa Make Us Europeans?

Posted on March 30, 2020 by williamjturner

As I commented in a previous blog post, one of the most fascinating questions that a person studying the solar system can ask is whether life exists outside of our Earthly home. Within this question lay an abundance of philosophical arguments, all counteracting one another and seeking to define the ‘correct’ answer to this question.Continue reading “Would Landing on Europa Make Us Europeans?” Continue reading →

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So Close, Yet From So Far ☄️

Posted on March 30, 2020 by vsli

The above image is of Comet Atlas, which is a comet that has been getting closer and much, much brighter over the past few weeks. If it doesn’t fizzle out, Comet Atlas will be able to be seen by the naked eye in as little time as a couple of weeks, at places without much … Continue reading So Close, Yet From So Far ☄️ Continue reading →

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Solar Winds

Posted on March 30, 2020 by fermifurby

Solar winds are arguably one of the most destructive forces in our solar system. As a kid, I never took these forces into account when thinking about space travel. In my mind, as long as you avoided flying your space ship directly into the sun (which I thought was on fire, of course), our starContinue reading “Solar Winds” Continue reading →

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