Category Archives: Historical

The “World” in Which We Live

Posted on January 27, 2014 by joshkip

Throughout the first few weeks of class, what I’ve found to be extraordinarily interesting in the field of astronomy is not so much the scientific discoveries we have come to understand, but rather what these findings can teach us in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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What are you doing with your 2 microseconds?

Posted on January 26, 2014 by kaswat

With a universe that is 13.8 billion years old, it’s almost impossible to fathom the time line for its life. Therefore, we created a cosmic calendar (seen below) to put it in perspective. This calendar shows the entire life of the universe in one calendar year. As seen on this calendar, the entire history of the… Continue reading →

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Humans: Only Around for a Blink of an Eye

Posted on January 25, 2014 by hollyreichert

The universe has been around for 13.8 billion years.  In the grand scheme of things, this means that human life has only been around for the blink of an eye.  When 13.8 billion years is put into one calendar year, homo erectus does not appear until 10:48 pm on December 31.  All of our human […] Continue reading →

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The Grandest Experiment

Posted on January 24, 2014 by jblubin

The majority of physics experiments take place in a small lab found in the basement of a university science building. However, for a grand hypothesis, one needs a grand experiment. The year was 1919 and a nervous Albert Einstein awaited the results of an experiment on the scale never before seen nor bested up to … Continue reading The Grandest Experiment → Continue reading →

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Astronomy Past and Future

Posted on April 28, 2013 by williamcpower

After completing this course in Astronomy I think the two most lasting impressions I have are the sheer magnitude of the Universe, and a better understanding of the importance of Astronomy. So much has been discovered and there is so much more left to be discovered and understood. It is through this process of discovery […] Continue reading →

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What excites me? Mars!!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by jacob933

Well, it’s been a great semester. I loved astronomy going into this class, and I love it even more going out. It definitely made me realize that planetary science is my favorite part of astronomy, and that’s why I’m pursuing the minor! However, I wanted to make this post about what excites me regarding the […] Continue reading →

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The Constant Search For Life

Posted on April 25, 2013 by indianwm

In this past week, three new planets have been discovered in Kepler’s habitable zone. These three planets are announced to potentially host life. This may or may not be true, but the thought of finding planets slightly larger than earth that are in the Goldilocks zone is exciting in itself. For me, this is what […] Continue reading →

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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 →

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Why Pluto is Not a Planet

Posted on April 8, 2013 by indianwm

This informative video talks about Pluto, from discovery to why it is no longer considered a planet, but a dwarf planet. The discovery of Pluto was in 1930 by a man named Clyde Tombaugh in Arizona. Since this time Pluto has been classified as a Dwarf Planet. It lays in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune […] Continue reading →

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Green Peas Shed Light On Universe Beginnings

Posted on April 7, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source In 2007, astronomers made a discovery of what they called the Green Pea galaxies. These galaxies are those that are undergoing high rates of star formation and help us understand reionization–which is an extremely important process in the development of our universe. Reionization by definition is “the process that reionized matter in the […] Continue reading →

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