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Tag Archives: extraterrestrial life
The Importance of Extrasolar Planets
Extrasolar planets, often called exoplanets, are planets that exist in other solar systems other than our own. These planets are very hard to find and study because their light is fainter than the light given off by the stars which they orbit. In 1992, astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail noticed several planets orbiting theContinue reading “The Importance of Extrasolar Planets” Continue reading
Posted in Class, Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog5, Extrasolar Planets, extraterrestrial life
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Is Space Exploration a Good Idea?
The coronavirus is now spreading across the globe and has been declared to be a pandemic. If a virus like this is so dangerous to humans, viruses that may exist somewhere else in the galaxy or universe would be so much worse… One day our sun will most likely grow to a red giant andContinue reading “Is Space Exploration a Good Idea?” Continue reading
Posted in Class, Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog4, extraterrestrial life, me
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What Is Life?
While talking about the search for extraterrestrial life, you may notice the difficulty in drawing a line between the living and nonliving. Bacteria are considered life forms, but viruses are not. Artificial Intelligence is able to do a lot of things that human beings can do, but it is not viewed as life by the … Continue reading What Is Life? → Continue reading
The Great Filter
A lesser-known cousin of the Fermi Paradox is “The Great Filter.” The filter refers to a point in a species’ development that destroys most, if not all life. Essentially, the reason that the paradox exists must be because something is stopping other civilizations– all other civilizations. For us Earthlings, there are two possibilities: the filter … Continue reading The Great Filter Continue reading
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Tagged astro2110, blog7, extraterrestrial life, fermi
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The Future of Mars
Two prevalent and salient questions and goals surround our red neighbor. The first is the appreciable discovery of liquid water on Mars’s surface, which opens the door to the possibility of discovering life. The other is the goal of both NASA and private aerospace companies such as SpaceX to colonize Mars and establish a permanent human presence and … Continue reading The Future of Mars Continue reading
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Tagged astro2110, blog6, extraterrestrial life, Mars
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Blog #4
A topic I’ve always found interesting is the idea of the likelihood of extraterrestrial life in the universe. Many scientists in recent history have noted that there is an extremely high probability of life elsewhere in the universe due to the immense amount of stars and planets that must exist with favorable circumstances for the […]
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Potential Ocean Underneath Jupiter’s Surface
Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have found out that there is an ocean beneath the surface of Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede. According to NASA officials, this ocean that is buried under a thick crust of ice may hold more water than the collective amount of water on Earth. Scientists think the ocean is 10 […]
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Signs of Warm Water Found on Enceladus
NASA’s spacecraft, Cassini, has made an astonishing discovery about one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus. This spacecraft has entered Saturn’s orbit and is sending information to the space center about Saturn and its moons. The purpose of sending this spacecraft was to make an effort of finding another celestial body that have habitable traits similar to […]
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Posted in Aliens
Tagged astro201, blog5, extraterrestrial life, saturn
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Life from Earth, elsewhere
In class, we have discussed the possibility that life on Earth did not originate on Earth, but came to Earth on an asteroid or other impactor. But another idea is that the inverse is true: Later impacts on Earth sent life to other locations in the Solar System. Recent simulations suggest that some of the…
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Posted in Class, Historical, Science, Universe
Tagged astro201, Biology, blog10, extraterrestrial life, extremophiles, waterbear
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The origins of life and the Drake equation
In using the Drake equation to discuss and estimate the probability of non-Earth life in our universe, one factor we estimated was the probability of life developing on a given planet in the habitable zone. The problem with making such an estimate as students in an Astronomy 201 course, of course, is that we all…
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Posted in Class, Historical, Physics, Science, Universe
Tagged abiogenesis, astro201, Biology, blog9, drake equation, extraterrestrial life, origins of life
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