Tag Archives: astro201

Tides

Posted on February 14, 2015 by serenakumar

Have you ever been to a beach and wondered why at some times of the day, the ocean water reached further onto the land than at other times of the day?  You may have heard the terms ‘high tide’ and ‘low tide’. Tides are caused by the gravitational force of the sun and moon, as… Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Tides

The Search for Life and the (Not So) Habitable Zone

Posted on February 14, 2015 by dillonkoval

The question of other life in the Universe is one that has long plagued scientists and astronomers. The pure size of it makes it supposedly statistically probable that if life can happen on Earth, then it can (and probably does/has) happen elsewhere. Because the only type of life that we know is our own, scientists […] Continue reading →

Posted in Universe | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Search for Life and the (Not So) Habitable Zone

The Continual Search for Planets

Posted on February 14, 2015 by conorastr201

The discovery of new life-harboring planets has been a hot topic in the last century, but there has always been a limitation: we couldn’t see other planets. However, observational technologies and techniques have progressed to the point where we may be able to find more Earth-like planets within a few short years. The main problems […] Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets, Instruments, Stars | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Continual Search for Planets

Gravitational Redshift

Posted on February 14, 2015 by farhannshabab

Most of us know about redshifting, a phenomenon of the Doppler effect. This is the change in frequency of a wave, both mechanical and electromagnetic, for an observer when there is relative motion between the source and the observer. For example, when an observer is moving closer to a wave source, each successive wave front […] Continue reading →

Posted in Light, Physics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Gravitational Redshift

The Scale of Atoms and Modern Processors

Posted on February 14, 2015 by conorastr201

Everyone knows that atoms are small, but exactly how small is small? This new video by Kurz Gesagt explores this question, and the sheer scale is mind boggling to try to imagine. Among the analogies used is that of filling rooms with rice grains; if the end of your finger was the size of the room, and […] Continue reading →

Posted in Physics, Science | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The Scale of Atoms and Modern Processors

Was Life on Earth Planted by Aliens?!?!

Posted on February 14, 2015 by leedd1

Scientists in the United Kingdom have discovered something astonishing: a tiny, metal globular object the width of a human hair captured by a team of researchers using a high-flying balloon in Earth’s stratosphere. According to University of Buckingham’s astrobiologist Milton Wainwright, the globular object “has filamentous life on the outside and a gooey biological material […] Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Universe | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Was Life on Earth Planted by Aliens?!?!

The Great Filter

Posted on February 14, 2015 by alephnulluniverse

When you think of the size of the universe, there must be life elsewhere. There are 100 – 400 billion stars just in our galaxy, and just as many galaxies in the universe. If we estimate that 5% of all stars are sun-like, which is on the low side. There should be 500 quintillion sun-like […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Great Filter

ESA’s Rosetta Mission

Posted on February 14, 2015 by bryancm1

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission is probably fresh in a lot of your minds as it came to fruition in November of last year. For those unaware, the Rosetta space probe is the first probe to orbit a comet – the Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The probe also came equipped with a lander, which touched down shortly […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Physics | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on ESA’s Rosetta Mission

The Early Telescopes

Posted on February 14, 2015 by alephnulluniverse

The earliest working telescopes was made around 1608 with many who claimed its discovery. The design was simple; a convex objective lens and a concave eyepiece allowed the user to see further. In 1655, astronomers had build more powerful telescopes using a design by Kepler. This design used a convex objective lens and a convex […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Instruments | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Early Telescopes

A Smiley Face in Space :)

Posted on February 14, 2015 by leedd1

A picture taken by Hubble shows what appears to be a face complete with two eyes, a nose, and a smile. The two eyes are actually galaxies while the smile is made up of curving light that forms a partial circle around the figure. However, the smile doesn’t exist. There is lots of immeasurable and […] Continue reading →

Posted in Light, Science, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A Smiley Face in Space :)