Tag Archives: astro201

Habitable Exoplanets

Posted on April 9, 2013 by kevinm387

Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo have developed a rank ordering system of comparing exoplanets to Earth called the Earth Similarity Index. Using this system, scientists have been able to highlight a few exoplanets similar to Earth and have determined which ones are the most similar to Earth. To visit the website, […] Continue reading →

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Chemical Activity on Titan

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Will K

  Scientists at NASA now believe that Saturn’s moon Titan is much more chemically active than we previously thought. According to Astronomy Magazine, the found that the “complex organic chemistry that could eventually lead to the building blocks of life extends lower in the atmosphere than previously thought.” This is activity in the lower atmosphere […] Continue reading →

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We Are The Aliens

Posted on April 9, 2013 by surujdeka

We have always questioned if Earth is the only planet capable of sustaining life in the universe and whether one day, we will get to meet real life extraterrestrials. Well, if new evidence is to be believed, all we might have to do to look at aliens is go look at a mirror. Researchers at […] Continue reading →

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The Galilean Moons of Jupiter

Posted on April 9, 2013 by staunesm

With the constant discovery of more and more objects in space, it is difficult to keep track of the planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and exosolar planets that we already know and love.  Therefore I am using this blog as an … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Exoplanets in the Habitable Zone

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Will K

  According to recent astronomical discoveries, there are much more Earth sized exoplanets in the habitable zone than scientists previously thought. In a study of cool stars, called M-dwarfs, researchers found that rocky, medium sized exoplanets could be relatively common. The possibility of a moderate climate and liquid water is greater for these planets when […] Continue reading →

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Creating Life

Posted on April 9, 2013 by charlesbcochran

You might think this is Earth, but this is something much more intriguing……… Many years from now, humanity will be threatened by a plethora of factors that will cause the inevitable. Humans will have to seek refuge somewhere other than … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Finding Exoplanets – Gravitational Microlensing

Posted on April 8, 2013 by charlesbcochran

The search for exoplanets is difficult. Even more so when the method of gravitational microlensing is used. Back in the day, Einstein proved the existence of gravitational lensing. Basically what happens is when a distant and close star are aligned … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Why Pluto is Not a Planet

Posted on April 8, 2013 by indianwm

This informative video talks about Pluto, from discovery to why it is no longer considered a planet, but a dwarf planet. The discovery of Pluto was in 1930 by a man named Clyde Tombaugh in Arizona. Since this time Pluto has been classified as a Dwarf Planet. It lays in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune […] Continue reading →

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Green Peas Shed Light On Universe Beginnings

Posted on April 7, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source In 2007, astronomers made a discovery of what they called the Green Pea galaxies. These galaxies are those that are undergoing high rates of star formation and help us understand reionization–which is an extremely important process in the development of our universe. Reionization by definition is “the process that reionized matter in the […] Continue reading →

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A Black Hole’s Diet

Posted on April 7, 2013 by wherrysg

Source Incredible! While studying a distant galaxy, astronomers noticed a bright flare of X-rays coming from another galaxy that happened to be in their field of view. Upon closer look, they discovered that it was actually a black hole ‘eating up’ what they believe to be either an extremely large planet or a smaller brown […] Continue reading →

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