Category Archives: Class

Blog 7 – Drake Equation “Haters”

Posted on April 25, 2024 by James Bamshad

Frank Drake in front of his “Drake Equation” I had a great time learning about and using the Drake Equation during our class period. However, after doing more research, I found many people who are heavily against the Drake Equation. In this blog post, I will review some of their main arguments. First, on “Y […] Continue reading →

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Gotta find them all!!

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Abbie!!

Knowing about all the planets in our own solar system made us wonder if there are other planetary systems out there as well. And there are!! But how did we detect these extrasolar planets? There are four ways to detect extrasolar planets. The simplest way, but not always the easiest way, is direct observation. That’s […] Continue reading →

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No, we cannot communicate with aliens

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Owen Purcell

Since the beginning of our endeavors in the final frontier, one of the central themes has been the expectation and hope of extraterrestrial life. It has been the theme for an incalculable quantity of science fiction, and one of the paramount symbols used when justifying our efforts to explore the universe. In that effect, many […] Continue reading →

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All is Said and Sun

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Adriana Santos

Wow, I cannot believe we are already at the end of the semester! This class has certainly been a journey, and we learned so much together! At the beginning of this course, I was not sure what to expect, and I was nervous that it was totally out of my wheelhouse, but ASTR 2110 gave […] Continue reading →

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Messages to Space

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Adriana Santos

Ever since humans realized there are worlds beyond our own, we have been curious if there is life outside of planet Earth. The universe is huge, so we can likely assume that somewhere out in the vastness of space there is life. But is it intelligent? Could we communicate with them? Would we even want […] Continue reading →

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A New Era of Stargazing

Posted on April 24, 2024 by liamoneill95

This beach pictured on Nantucket Island is my favorite place on Earth, and the origin of my interest in astronomy and curiosity of what lies beyond what we know. This beach is on the tip of the island, making light pollution a limited issue and allowing for incredible stargazing when the sun sets beyond the […] Continue reading →

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The Drake Equation

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Maddy Pollard

Are we alone in the universe? This is the question that has driven years of space exploration and innovation. Humans have always wondered if there are other advanced civilizations similar to our own. Unfortunately, we lack technology that is advanced enough to know for certain. But in 1961, astronomer Frank Drake wrote an equation that […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8: 51 Pegasi

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Nicholas Fleisher

In this blog post, I’m going to be discussing more of what we learned from Unit 4, specifically about the Doppler method. As we all now know, the Doppler method is a critical tool for detecting extrasolar planets. It searches for a star’s orbital movement around a center of mass by looking for changing Doppler […] Continue reading →

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Life on Mars?

Posted on April 22, 2024 by liamoneill95

Does life/did life once exist in areas of the solar system outside of our home planet Earth? In trying to answer this question, we turn to our closest neighbor and most likely candidate, Mars. As of right now, there is no evidence, past or present, that Mars has ever been home to life. That being […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7: Thermophiles!

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Nicholas Fleisher

In this blog, I’m going to be discussing all things thermophiles! Thermophiles are organisms that are found in really hot temperatures (60 degrees Celsius – 140 degrees Celsius). Found these organisms aren’t simply found there… they thrive there! Thermophiles typically inhabit a variety of extreme ecological sites, usually hot springs like in Yellowstone National Park […] Continue reading →

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