Category Archives: Historical

Astrobiology

Posted on May 3, 2021 by justinboreskyvanderbiltedu

Astrobiology is the study of life and the universe and the search for life beyond it. Nasa lists astrobiology as having three questions “How does life begin and evolve? Is there life beyond Earth and, if so, how can we detect it? What is the future of life on Earth and in the universe?” andContinue reading “Astrobiology” Continue reading →

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Religious Pushback to Science: The Scopes Trial

Posted on May 2, 2021 by rightascensionanddeclinolan

When you first studied biology, you likely saw a picture like this: Though discussing evolution seems commonplace today, it wasn’t always accepted.  Notably, the debate over teaching it in schools bubbled up in our backyard just under one hundred years ago: the 1925 Dayton, Tennessee, Scopes Trial.  In this post, I’ll tell you about theContinue reading “Religious Pushback to Science: The Scopes Trial” Continue reading →

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A New Discovery in the World of Extremophiles

Posted on May 2, 2021 by joeangella13

Geologists have recently discovered an entire new species of extremophiles among us on planet earth, and the location may shock you. More than 500 km away from nutrients and sunlight, these extremophiles have made a home beneath the Antarctic ice shelf (SOURCE). While this discovery was not meant to actually happen, scientists are pleasantly surprisedContinue reading “A New Discovery in the World of Extremophiles” Continue reading →

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I Want To Believe!

Posted on May 1, 2021 by olivesobservatory

Forget Fermi’s paradox. Forget the Drake equation. Yet another hot-button topic relating to astronomy and (potential?) extraterrestrial life is- you guessed it- unidentified flying objects (UFOs for short). Do I think it’s kind of a stretch that I’m relating this to chapter 24? Absolutely! But with the (relatively) recent declassification by the Pentagon of three… Continue reading →

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Theia

Posted on May 1, 2021 by dayanel123

For my last blog post I have decided to blog about something close to home. The Theia impact is also called the Big Splash, and is a hypothesis as to how we got our moon. The theory is that a mars-sized planetesimal impacted our proto-earth in its early life. This massive impact essentially shredded TheiaContinue reading “Theia” Continue reading →

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The Golden Record

Posted on April 30, 2021 by brianknapp

In 1977, a cool year for space enthusiasts and film buffs, NASA launched two spacecrafts known as Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. These crafts passed by Jupiter and Saturn, taking advantage of their alignment at that time. Voyager 2 also flew by Uranus and Neptune, and is now traveling across the vast expanse of interstellarContinue reading “The Golden Record” Continue reading →

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Blog 6 Aristotle’s cosmology

Posted on April 23, 2021 by zvrec

In this blog, I would like to introduce Aristotle’s model of the universe. The cosmic theory from Aristotle is clearly wrong from the view of modern science. However, before modern astronomy was developed, Aristotle’s ideas about our world dominated people’s belief for thousands of years. It was embraced by scholars, philosophers, and religious leaders asContinue reading “Blog 6 Aristotle’s cosmology” Continue reading →

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Halley in History

Posted on April 17, 2021 by wslopes

Halley’s comet is one thought to have been noted in history millennia before it was ever realized that it was the same comet passing Earth every 75 years. The first official record of the comet’s passing was 239 BCE by Chinese astronomers, but it’s thought that it might have been recorded by the Ancient GreeksContinue reading “Halley in History” Continue reading →

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What’s in a name?: Gonggong & Xiangliu

Posted on April 17, 2021 by wendyyb

Much like many of their small world counterparts, Gonggong and Xianglu are a dwarf planet and moon (respectively) named after characters in mythology. Gonggong, a dwarf planet residing in the scattered disc beyond Neptune, is named after a Chinese water god. Gonggong is depicted as having a copper human head, read hair, and a dragon-likeContinue reading “What’s in a name?: Gonggong & Xiangliu” Continue reading →

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The Journeyman of ALL Comets

Posted on April 13, 2021 by joeangella13

In the past few weeks, scientists have revealed a major discovery about details from a comet that we have now identified came from an entirely different Solar System! This comet has been deemed as, “more pristine,” than any other comets examined by scientists, simply from the properties of its origin. (Independent) The comet has beenContinue reading “The Journeyman of ALL Comets” Continue reading →

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