Category Archives: Historical

Project Orion: Blasting Off to the Stars

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the US was in the midst of the cold war. At that point, the American space program had fallen far behind Soviet rocket technology. Desperate to upstage the Soviets, the US began to pour funding into seemingly crazy technological research. One of these projects being Project Orion. In … Continue reading Project Orion: Blasting Off to the Stars Continue reading

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Project Orion: Blasting Off to the Stars

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the US was in the midst of the cold war. At that point, the American space program had fallen far behind Soviet rocket technology. Desperate to upstage the Soviets, the US began to pour funding into seemingly crazy technological research. One of these projects being Project Orion. In … Continue reading Project Orion: Blasting Off to the Stars Continue reading

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The Drake Equation

The Drake Equation is a formula that is commonly used to stimulate discussion of the possibility of extraterrestrial life-  not to necessarily quantify the number of communicating civilizations. The Drake Equation uses many variables to quantify estimates for the number of communicating civilizations, but a number of them are quite controversial as they are not […] Continue reading

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Astronomy’s Lasting Influence on Human Thought

If my short study of Astronomy has taught one thing, it is how influential Astronomy has been on our way of thinking as a species. This influence can be seen in ancient times, when civilizations such as in Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, Egypt, China, India, and Greece placed Astronomy and Astrology at the centers of their ideology, […] Continue reading

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Space Computers in Space

Hello friends, For my last blog post for ASTR 2110, I wanted to discuss a topic that I think is … More Continue reading

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The Space I Take Up: How Much of it Will I Get to Know?

Space. There is quite a bit of it. In the room I live in, there is 264 sq ft of it. On Earth, there is 196.9 million sq miles of it. But in space, it is seemingly infinite, or at least so it seems. With the Hubble constant still undetermined, and the shape of the… Continue Reading → Continue reading

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Europa: A Jovian Lunar Oasis?

Discovered in 1610 by the renowned astronomer, engineer, and philosopher Galileo Galilei, the Jovian orbiter Europa may again serve to revolutionize humanity’s cosmic perspective. Initially evidence that Earth was not the absolute center of motion in the Universe, Europa, among the discovery of the other Galilean moons, advanced the credibility of the heliocentric model through … Continue reading Europa: A Jovian Lunar Oasis? Continue reading

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On This Day in Astronomy History…

On this day, April 9th, 59 years ago in 1959, NASA introduced the world to their first ever astronauts, the Mercury 7.  A press conference was held in D.C. to announce the line up, and reveal America’s next move in the space race against the Soviet Union. This came a year after NASA had introduced […] Continue reading

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The Great Titan

Titan Picture Source Titan is Saturn’s Largest moon (the second largest moon in the solar system), and was discovered in 1655. Titan is almost the size of the largest moon, which is Ganymede (Jupiter’s largest moon). However, despite their similar size and relatively similar distance from the Sun, Titan has characteristics that Ganymede does not. … Continue reading The Great Titan Continue reading

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Pluto

Picture Source- Forbes Pluto was discovered in 1930, and at the time was considered the ninth planet of our Solar System. With further exploration, scientists realized that Pluto is actually part of a larger set of worlds that are a part of the Kuiper Belt. Pluto was then reclassified into a  dwarf planet. Pluto is … Continue reading Pluto Continue reading

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