Tag Archives: blog10

Thanks for a Wonderful Semester!

Posted on April 28, 2015 by abbeyrstephens

This has been an absolute whirlwind of a semester! There was not a class that went by in which I didn’t learn anything (and most of the time I learned multiple things)! And even though I feel like I understand solar systems and the universe a little better now, I can definitely say that the […] Continue reading →

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Astronomy, we need it!

Posted on April 28, 2015 by matthewrbirnbaum

Throughout two semesters of astronomy I have always been torn about its importance. On one hand the problems we face on Earth seem to trump anything that can happen is space, but on the other hand the more knowledge we obtain the more we are able to understand. What I started to realize towards the […] Continue reading →

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New Horizon’s Approaches Pluto: So What?

Posted on April 28, 2015 by agiantchicken

NASA’s New Horizon’s spacecraft is only three months approaching Pluto, and for the first time, we have a true color picture of the Pluto/Charon dwarf planet system. As I sit here typing this, I say, “so what?” Well, it turns out that this is the first time that any spacecraft has traveled so long and […] Continue reading →

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The Solar System: My Changed Perspective

Posted on April 28, 2015 by ctogrye

Hey Guys! This will be my last post for Astro 201. As I look back on this semester’s teaching, I realize how insular my perspective was. I had always heard about the vastness of the universe and how small we were in comparison, but I never realized how small exactly. This first struck me when […] Continue reading →

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Looking to the Future

Posted on April 28, 2015 by michellelei

Coming into college, I was excited to finally be able to take astronomy courses to satisfy my science requirements, since I had always had a mild interest in space. Taking ASTR 102 in my fall semester opened my eyes to just how extensive the universe was, and what an incredible way in which it developed.… Continue reading Looking to the Future Continue reading →

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Terraforming Mars

Posted on April 28, 2015 by bryancm1

Everyone seems so caught up on finding extraterrestrial life. I think rather than focus on finding others, carving out our own “space footprint” seems so much more exciting. If you’ve seen the 2013 Superman reboot Man of Steel, you would have been introduced to the concept of terraforming. The remnants of the Kryptonian race wish […] Continue reading →

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Stellar classification

Posted on April 28, 2015 by newbeelity

The stellar classification classifies stars based on their spectral characteristics. When passing through a prism, light from a star will be split into a spectrum displaying rainbow of colors interspersed with absorption lines. The strength of each line indicates the abundance of a specific ion. The abundance of different ions varies with the temperature of… Continue reading →

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What Will We Find?

Posted on April 27, 2015 by lukegchapman

I am most interested in two things: finding another planet that we can exist on, and finding life. I am aware that neither of these two events may happen in my life time but after taking ASTR 201 at Vanderbilt I am very excited to read about the advances that our world makes in these… Continue reading →

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Are There Aliens Around Us?

Posted on April 27, 2015 by dungeonastronomy

Have you ever imagined that maybe there are other kind of life forms that living around you every moment but only you are unable to perceive them? The nature has shaped all life on Earth in its distinct way. It offers us vision, olfactory, tactility and so on. However, there might be other kind of … Continue reading Are There Aliens Around Us? → Continue reading →

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My New Outlook on Space

Posted on April 27, 2015 by robbyks

Space has always been a fascinating thing to me. In the past, I would often find myself getting lost on Wikipedia reading articles about the Big Bang or the future of the Sun. When I was a kid, I had a recurring dream of traveling through space on a spaceship. Taking this course allowed me […] Continue reading →

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