Tag Archives: blog9

Impacts on Saturn and the Drake equation

Posted on April 29, 2013 by werdercj

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft recently observed meteors colliding with Saturn’s thin rings.  This marked the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn’s rings, although astronomers already expected this to be occurring regularly.  However, specific details of such impacts were merely speculation, much of which is cleared up via […] Continue reading →

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Origins Of Life

Posted on April 29, 2013 by jacksonlangham

Two scientists, Alexei Sharov and Richard Gordon, have plotted the genome size of different kinds of organisms against their presumed date of origin. They only had five data points, but […] Continue reading →

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11 of the Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox

Posted on April 29, 2013 by zoodrey

The Fermi Paradox is the current contradiction between the estimates about the existence of extraterrestrial civilization and our current lack of proof and interaction with such a civilization. According to Wikipedia’s page on the Fermi Paradox, Fermi argues that The Sun is a young star and here are billions of stars in our galaxy that are more … Continue reading » Continue reading →

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Guys, We are a Type 0 Civilization

Posted on April 29, 2013 by theskyisbeautifultonight

The Kardashev Scale As we persevere in our search for other intelligent life out there in the far reaches of space, we should also remember that, if they exist, we have no idea what they would look like, or how powerful they might be in comparison to us, or how they would respond to us […] Continue reading →

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Tardigrade – Water Bear!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by YanruChen

This is one of the most amazing animals on Earth! It has a very geeky name “tardigrade”, but is also known as water bear as it lives in water. It can live in most extreme conditions from just above absolute zero to above the temperature of boiling water. It can also withstand dehydration, extreme pressures […] Continue reading →

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Silentium Universi

Posted on April 29, 2013 by burnspress

Fermi’s paradox, Fermi’s question, the Great Silence, and Silentium Universi are all names ascribed to one of the most fundamental questions of astronomy: “Where is everybody?” It is a question based in rationality, because in the search for extraterrestrial life the numbers just don’t seem to add up. With enough probes and some decent rocket technology, it is […] Continue reading →

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A Message From Earth

Posted on April 29, 2013 by williamrmccormick

A Message From Earth. A foolhardy attempt from humans to try and reach alien life forms, it was sent on October 9, 2008. This message was sent towards the planet Gliese 581 c, a large terrestrial planet orbiting around the star Gliese 581 that is believed to have the possibility of life. The message was […] Continue reading →

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The Golden Record

Posted on April 29, 2013 by mirandaskunz

In the early 1970s, plaques containing information about humans and Earth were sent out on plaques on the Pioneer spacecraft. By the late 1970s, these plaques were upgraded to golden records on the Voyager probes. These phonographic records, designed to inform aliens who might discover the probes about humans, included 115 images, greetings in 55 […] Continue reading →

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The Meaning of the Drake Equation

Posted on April 29, 2013 by rtjobe

The Drake equation was originally created by (and is named after) astronomer Frank Drake. Given the values of a number of variables, his equation may be used to estimate the number of species in the galaxy capable of interstellar communication. Drake’s proposed equation is as follows: N = R * fp * ne * fl […] Continue reading →

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The Drake Equation – A Scientific Shot in the Dark

Posted on April 28, 2013 by marknshirleyvu

The Drake Equation is an incredibly interesting topic of discussion.  Obviously, determining the number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy is a monumental task.  Because of the sheer size of the problem, the fact that a simple equation can bring us anywhere close to a reasonable guess is in itself very impressive.  As impressive as […] Continue reading →

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