Category Archives: Universe

Blog 1: We Are All So Small!

Posted on February 14, 2017 by terranojm

Space is such a fascinating thing. There is just so much out there beyond our planet: so much we know about and even more we don’t know about! Growing up in school, we all learned about the solar system. As a result, we concluded that maybe our world isn’t the center of the universe like we may have … Continue reading “Blog 1: We Are All So Small!” Continue reading →

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The Speed of Light

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Haley's Comet

Growing up I had frequently heard the phrase “Faster than the speed of light” but until now, I had no idea what that truly meant. Prior to this class, all I knew was that faster than the speed of light meant FAST, and that all human travel was slow in comparison. In fact, according to… Continue reading The Speed of Light Continue reading →

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Death by Black Hole

Posted on February 12, 2017 by josiezd

Unfortunately, astronomers and physicists are pretty sure you can’t just go through a black hole and pop out the other side – you will, in fact, die. The real question is, how exactly will you die? Continue reading →

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Blog 1- The Cosmic Calendar

Posted on February 8, 2017 by sullivrs

The Cosmic Calendar is an interesting way to conceptualize the history of the universe.  The Cosmic Calendar was invented by astronomer Carl Sagan (source), and condenses the chronology of the universe into a single year.  The Big Bang occurs on January 1st, and current history is at the very end of December 31st.  I think that… Continue reading →

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The Power of the Powers of Ten

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Matt Machado

The Powers of Ten is a 1977 short film that puts the immensity (and smallness) of the universe into perspective by zooming out from a couple’s picnic in Michigan at a distance of 1 meter to a vast view of galaxy clusters at a distance of 10^24 meters. By watching this journey from small to […] Continue reading →

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Powers of Ten–Our Big Universe

Posted on February 4, 2017 by vmorehead0

In 1977, Charles and Ray Eames produced a documentary about the scale of the universe.  This documentary, Powers of Ten: A Film Dealing with the Relative Size of Things in the Universe and the Effect of Adding Another Zero, compared the relative sizes of people, locations, planets, and galaxies in our universe.  The film achieved this comparison by … Continue reading Powers of Ten–Our Big Universe Continue reading →

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The Zodiacal Constellations

Posted on January 30, 2017 by josiezd

What are the origins of the zodiac and why are the signs different now? Continue reading →

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The Scale of the Universe

Posted on January 28, 2017 by connormorency

When I first watched the YouTube video titled “The Known Universe by AMNH”, I was blown away by the sheer … More Continue reading →

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The Fermi Paradox

Posted on April 30, 2016 by alecsolarsystem

As Arthur C. Clarke once famously said, “Two possibilities exist. Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” This quote is relates in a very basic way to the Fermi Paradox. The paradox is that through the Drake Equation and the sheer size of the universe, there should […] Continue reading →

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What If Extremophiles Were Not First?

Posted on April 27, 2016 by andyastronomer

A recent and exciting discovery for scientists is the existence of extremophiles. Extremophiles are organisms that thrive in environments previously thought to not support life. Currently, the prevailing thought is that the first forms of life were some form of extremophile – potentially thermophiles. However, what if most extremophiles (or all of them for that […] Continue reading →

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