Tag Archives: astro201

Solving a ‘Universal’ Delimma

Posted on April 21, 2013 by wherrysg

For those of you who are not familiar with the Fermi Paradox, it is “the apparent contradiction between the high probability extraterrestrial civilizations’ existence, and the lack of contact with such civilizations”.  There are many people out there convinced that life on other worlds doesn’t exist, but let me ask you this: what makes us […] Continue reading →

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3 Prime Locations for Life

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Megan C

Scientists recently announced that Kepler has found 3 exoplanets that are our best bet for finding life outside the solar system. These three planets – Kepler62e, Kepler 62f, and Kepler 69c – are the smallest to be discovered within the habitable zone, meaning that liquid water could potentially exist on any or all of them. And […] Continue reading →

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A Changing Vision

Posted on April 19, 2013 by a2megal

In the news recently (back at the end of March), astronomers began to hypothesize (running simulations and doing extensive calculations) about what would happen if Comet 2013 A1 were to hit mars. Right now, this 1 to 3 km in diameter (the nucleus size) comet has a roughly 1 in 2000 chance of impacting Mars. […] Continue reading →

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On the Hunt

Posted on April 19, 2013 by a2megal

During class recently we have been talking a lot about the Drake Equation and extraterrestrial life. Tying all of the various topics that we have discussed together has been this concept of “astrobiology.” Class over the past couple weeks was the first time that I had ever heard the term astrobiology (that could be my […] Continue reading →

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Blog #10: Accumulation of Astronomy

Posted on April 17, 2013 by hannahladendorf13

  In this article by National Geographic, astronomers have recently discovered a galaxy that is about 13 billion light years away from us that we are now being able to see develop.  This galaxy is very similar to our own … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Blog #9: Alien Life?

Posted on April 17, 2013 by hannahladendorf13

  Last year the Discovery Channel started a new show titled, “Curiosity” which examined what it would be like if advanced life, such as aliens, were to attack our Earth.  In this clip, physicist Dr. Michi Kaku discusses what our … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Asteroids in Orbit?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

It looks like we’ll be bringing an asteroid home sometime soon.  NASA wants to identify an asteroid in deep space, figure out a way to capture it, and bring it into our own planetary region, ultimately setting it in orbit around our moon, all by the year 2025.  This proposal was included as a part […] Continue reading →

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Terrific Titan

Posted on April 12, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

NASA Titan, Saturn’s largest moon (and second largest in the solar system), is a really cool world.  Like Earth, it has a thick atmosphere, making it the only moon in our solar system to have one.  Also, like Earth, Titan’s atmosphere is mostly composed of nitrogen, and has a presence of organic molecules that contain […] Continue reading →

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Spacecraft of the Future

Posted on April 11, 2013 by JT McJunkins

Image Source After the end of the Space Shuttle program, many alternative spacecraft designs have begun to surface. Most of these designs are spaceplanes, much like the Space Shuttle, which means that they can glide through Earth’s atmosphere and… Continue reading →

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New Way to Study Asteroids

Posted on April 11, 2013 by jacksonlangham

NASA and the White House just announced the space agency’s budget for the 2014 fiscal year. Included in that budget is a $100 million dollar project to retrieve and research […] Continue reading →

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