Category Archives: Galaxies

Smiling Galaxy Cluster Found in Space!

Posted on February 13, 2015 by agiantchicken

That’s some intense gravitation lensing! A cluster of galaxies was recently discovered by the Hubble Telescope (AKA, uber relevant to class!) that appears to take on the shape of a bright smiling face. The galaxy cluster, known as SDSS J1038+4849, recently had the above picture taken by said telescope. While it may appear to us that […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Galaxies, Physics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Smiling Galaxy Cluster Found in Space!

Blog Post #3: The Magellanic Clouds

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Elizabeth D.

When we were discussing celestial navigation in class, a thought occurred to me: if Polaris cannot be seen in the …

Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxies, Historical | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Blog Post #3: The Magellanic Clouds

The Vast Size and Scale of the Universe

Posted on January 23, 2015 by hbutter13

Recently I saw this link on Facebook and I decided to check it out. I had no idea what I was in for. We have been talking about our galaxy and our nearest neighbor, The Andromeda Galaxy, a lot in class and this picture just released by NASA gives us a better idea of what exactly […] Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxies | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Vast Size and Scale of the Universe

The Pale Blue Dot: Religion and Science

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Asad Pabani

While I intend on continuing this blog in the future, for my last blog post in Astronomy 201, I will be taking a more serious approach. I will touch briefly on the relationship between religion and science by examining the image shown below of the Earth as a tiny speck of light in the distance, […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Galaxies, Science, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Pale Blue Dot: Religion and Science

A TITANIC COLLISION…but not really

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Asad Pabani

Collision: col·li·sion (kəˈliZHən) – noun: an instance of one moving object or person striking violently against another. Now imagine the outcome of a collision between Andromeda and the Milky Way which, according to the dictionary definition, should be a violent impact between two massive galaxies with millions of stars hurtling towards each other 2000 times faster than a […] Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxies, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A TITANIC COLLISION…but not really

Dinnertime for our Supermassive Black Hole

Posted on March 17, 2014 by hughavanheesewijk

For the first time we will be able to see our supermassive black consume a gas cloud. We have not been able to see our black hole in action yet so this provides an excellent opportunity to learn more about this mysterious thing at the middle of our galaxy. However, scientists are not really sure […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Galaxies, Physics | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Dinnertime for our Supermassive Black Hole

Blog Post #3: Defying Gravity

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Lauren

It always blew my mind that despite the vastness of the universe, there was a central force that centered it all.  Just thinking about how far away the sun is from the earth, but how a certain force (gravity) can still pull the two together past the distance to create an orbit and a revolution […] Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxies, Sun, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Blog Post #3: Defying Gravity

Spiral Galaxy

Posted on January 27, 2014 by paanvaannd

We’re used to being the big guys. When we think of something larger than us, we might think of whales or elephants, but we don’t deal with those regularly. We usually think of things like buildings, but we were the ones who built those too. Few people take the time to think about the scale […] Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxies, Stars | Tagged , | Comments Off on Spiral Galaxy

So Big…

Posted on January 27, 2014 by blankster22

Possibly my favorite thing to think about when I look up at the stars is simply how far away they are. Even though I know the measurements we have come up for for several of these stars, the actual distances … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Galaxies | Tagged , , | Comments Off on So Big…

And It All Leads Up To The Now

Posted on April 21, 2013 by wherrysg

This semester we have studied everything from the creation of the universe to black holes to microscopic bacteria living on the bottom of the ocean floor. The range of topics covered in this class has helped round my view of the beginnings of time up until now and clarified many common misconceptions ranging from tides […] Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Galaxies, Historical, Light, Physics, Space Travel, Stars, Universe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on And It All Leads Up To The Now