Tag Archives: earth

The Future of Life On Earth

Posted on March 16, 2014 by katiew

The future of Earth and the future of life depends on multiple factors.  Disregarding human technology and the effects of global warming, Earth’s future depends on interactions with other objects in the solar system, the increase in the Sun’s luminosity, and the rate of cooling of the Earth’s interior. For example, scientists have predicted that […] Continue reading →

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Where Can You See Stars in the 4th Largest City?

Posted on February 15, 2014 by hollyreichert

In the heart of the museum district in Houston, Texas, there is the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  Besides a football field size paleontology hall, IMAX screen and butterfly center, HMNS hosts the Burke Baker Planetarium.  The planetarium also is used to train astronauts to help them be able to identify stars. In addition to […] Continue reading →

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The Highest Tides in the Bay of Fundy

Posted on February 15, 2014 by hollyreichert

Tides are created by the Moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth.  While the Sun also pulls on the Earth, it is so far away that the tides are not as affected by the Sun as they are by the Moon.  The tidal force is created by the difference in gravitational pull on each side of […] Continue reading →

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The 2017 Nashville Eclipse!

Posted on January 28, 2014 by drgrundstrom

In class yesterday we talked about eclipses and so here’s the post about it! The totally awesome (and very dedicated) Mr. Eclipse (i.e., The Ultimate Resource for Eclipse Photography) is a favorite of NASA so they use his diagrams on their eclipse website. The foremost resource for the 2017 eclipse is eclipse2017.org.  The Interactive Google […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post #2: Solstices and Equinoxes

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Lauren

As in the olden days, the sun was used to measure and chart the passing of time.  The sun is the life-source for all living things here on earth and is a vital part of the ecosystem.  The fact that the length, intensity, and the spot of the sun’s glow on earth determines the seasons, […] Continue reading →

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And It All Leads Up To The Now

Posted on April 21, 2013 by wherrysg

This semester we have studied everything from the creation of the universe to black holes to microscopic bacteria living on the bottom of the ocean floor. The range of topics covered in this class has helped round my view of the beginnings of time up until now and clarified many common misconceptions ranging from tides […] Continue reading →

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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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Who Needs Telescopes When You Have Dry-Cleaning Fluid?

Posted on February 19, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source For Raymond Davis Jr, this was a legitimate question that he proposed to the science community in the 1960s with his Homestake Experiment. This experiment was Davis’s quest to learn about neutrinos–a neutral subatomic particle with an almost-zero mass and that also rarely reacts with normal matter. According to this article, Davis’s research […] Continue reading →

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Aliens Don’t Exist! Or Do they….

Posted on February 19, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source I’m sure at some point we have all considered the possibility of life on other planets. What would they look like? How would they communicate? How advanced or primitive would they be compared to us? And most importantly, where/what would they call home? Like many kids, I was one whose view of aliens […] Continue reading →

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Precession and the Poles

Posted on January 27, 2013 by mirandaskunz

Pretty much everyone in the North Hemisphere knows about the North Star and how it can be used in navigation. The North Star is such a familiar subject to me that I was surprised when I learned that the North pole does not always point toward the North Star. As we have learned in astro […] Continue reading →

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