Category Archives: Science

Fermi Paradox

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Ethan Jones

Paradoxes are always interesting to contemplate, and the Fermi paradox is no different. First proposed by Enrico Fermi (above) the Fermi paradox in a nutshell is if the scale and probability of our universe favors intelligent life developing elsewhere, then why have we not found any evidence of that life. This paradox sparked Frank Drake […] Continue reading →

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Visualizing Exoplanet s

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Angela Harris

The subject of my blog 5 post was the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. While learning about this system of extrasolar planets, I was fascinated by the  illustrations of exoplanets that can’t be photographed by telescopes. Tim Pyle and Robert Hurt are two artists who create renderings of exoplanets by using data about an exoplanet’s size, mass, […] Continue reading →

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NASA’s Astrobiology Program

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Angela Harris

Astrobiologists at NASA use data from many NASA missions to study the possibility of life on other worlds. Here are a few ways they use data from other missions to support the NASA Astrobiology Program:  Chandra X-ray Observatory   The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope that detects emission from extremely hot regions of space (exploded […] Continue reading →

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The End of the Universe

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Owen Purcell

One of the more morbid questions that astronomers have debated over the last few decades has been the possibility of the end of the universe. With the widespread acceptance of a model of the universe that is in some way finite, there are questions about how the state of that universe could change over time. […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context— Galileo

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Seth Creech

Picture of Galileo Galileo (February 15, 1564 – January 8, 1642) made major strides in the argument for heliocentrism, observing sunspots and the phases of Venus, two pieces of information that seemed to point to the imperfection of the celestial world and that the Sun was the gravitational center of the Solar System about which […] Continue reading →

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How do we Reconcile With the Fermi Paradox?

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Justin Kim

The Fermi Paradox questions the discrepancy between the vastness of the universe and the apparent lack of intelligent life. This paradox has been discussed at length with many experts and as all paradoxes go, there is no clear conclusion. However, there does appear to be strong rebuttals to the paradox. One rebuttal that I find […] Continue reading →

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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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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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Pluto, The Hated One

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Ethan Popper

Blog Post #5 – Pluto, The Hated One Pluto, our beloved cosmic underdog, has had a rollercoaster of a journey in the astronomical community. Once considered the ninth planet of our solar system, it was demoted in 2006 to “dwarf planet” status, much to the dismay of Pluto enthusiasts worldwide. But don’t let its diminutive […] Continue reading →

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Protecting Our Home

Posted on April 8, 2024 by John Newell

History is doomed to repeat itself. Will we be ready? Around 66 million years ago, an object estimated to be around 10km wide struck Earth at incredibly high speeds. The energy released was equivalent to roughly 100 million megatons of TNT. The impact, then, released over 6.5 billion times more energy than the catastrophically powerful […] Continue reading →

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