Tag Archives: astro201

Reflection

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Leigh

Above is one of my favorite images of a feature of the Universe. The part of this class that has left the greatest impact on me is the material and discussion devoted to what exists (or potentially exists) outside of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Warp Drive

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Leigh

Before we can achieve interstellar travel like it appears in science fiction, scientists must make huge leaps and develop a way to exceed the speed of light, as well as a way to work around the issue of spacetime and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The Pale Blue Dot: Religion and Science

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Asad Pabani

While I intend on continuing this blog in the future, for my last blog post in Astronomy 201, I will be taking a more serious approach. I will touch briefly on the relationship between religion and science by examining the image shown below of the Earth as a tiny speck of light in the distance, […] Continue reading →

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The Pioneer Plaque and the Objectification of Men in Inter Galactic Space

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Asad Pabani

The Pioneer plaques are a pair of gold-anodized aluminium plaques which were put on board the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecrafts in the early 1970s. They contain on them a pictorial message of the civilization that exists on Earth in case either of these spacecrafts are intercepted by intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy […] Continue reading →

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The Solar System: An Overview

Posted on April 20, 2014 by hollyreichert

This year I learned details about the Solar System that I did not even know existed.  Before astronomy this year, I did not know about the Kuiper Belt.  I thought we only had the Asteroid Belt.  I knew that comets and asteroids were different– but I was not sure what the difference was.  Now I […] Continue reading →

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Extremophiles Under the Sea and in Space

Posted on April 20, 2014 by hollyreichert

Life can be found everywhere on Earth, even in extreme environments.  The organisms that live here are called extremophiles and rely on things other than oxygen for survival.  Hydrothermal events are an example of extreme environments in which extremophiles have been found.  At the bottom of the ocean, temperatures and pressures are so high that […] Continue reading →

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Warp Drive: Science Fiction or Future Reality?

Posted on April 20, 2014 by gradytlynch

This video segment explores the possibilities of creating a warp drive spacecraft that isn’t bound by the cosmic speed limit of lightspeed. The idea highlighted in the video is that fluctuations in spacetime itself would propel the spacecraft, as opposed to the spacecraft propelling itself through space. This complex theoretical process is described in the […] Continue reading →

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The Fate of Earth

Posted on April 20, 2014 by gradytlynch

This infographic tales prediction to the extreme as it outlines the future of earth, taking us from a mere 1000 years in the future to the impossibly far away end of our universe as we know it. Produced by IIB Studio, this diagram tests the limits of our ability to estimate and predict the future. […] Continue reading →

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White Holes

Posted on April 9, 2014 by blakestar2k14

A white hole is a hypothetical region space time which cannot be entered from the outside.” The idea of a white hole is essentially that is the opposite of a black hole. A “worm hole” is the connection from black hole that consumes all matter around it, and send its through a warp in space […] Continue reading →

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Pluto’s moons

Posted on April 9, 2014 by blakestar2k14

There has been much debate on the status of Pluto’s classification. It is now believed to be a “dwarf planet”. One reason that people are challenging this is because of its existence of moons and a moon system. This picture from NASA shows the layout of Pluto and its surrounding bodies .  Source There are […] Continue reading →

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