Tag Archives: technology

We are Lucky

Posted on April 29, 2024 by John Newell

We should be grateful for our place in exploration. Sometimes I get sad, and mope around upset that I was born at the wrong time. The phrase goes something like “born too late to explore the Earth, too early to explore the stars.” And it is so easy to get caught up in it. But […] Continue reading →

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Light Has Momentum?

Posted on April 29, 2024 by John Newell

How is that possible – And how can we take advantage? We know that light has no mass. And, according to classical mechanics, momentum is given by 1/2mv^2; in other words, according to classical mechanics, light cannot have momentum. But, as we know, light is different — and oh so interesting! By virtue of energy […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7: Space Propulsion

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Jonas Kobza

Though designing and building a rocket is a very complex endeavor, most people have a pretty good idea of what makes them fly: Burn a whole lot of fuel to produce thrust. This method does a great job of getting a rocket up to a high speed, relative to our planet and the solar system. […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8: Culmination of the Course

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Seth Creech

Picture: Potentially viable planets visualization ASTRO 2110 was my fourth astronomy class that I have taken here at Vanderbilt, and it was also one of my favorites. Astronomy is seen by many as interesting but irrelevant, so it was nice getting a deeper understanding of the most relevant parts of the universe to us by […] Continue reading →

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The Drake Equation

Posted on April 29, 2024 by sabrinaalperin

Have you ever wondered if aliens exist or how many there are? I sure have and so have many scientists. In 1961, Frank Drake created an equation to estimate the number of intelligent alien civilizations that may exist in our galaxy. This equation is called the Drake Equation. The Drake Equation Formula The terms of […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8 – ASTRONOMY!!!

Posted on April 25, 2024 by James Bamshad

My favorite astronomy image! In this blog post, I will give an overview of my experience in astronomy so far, and what I am excited about in the future. I have found ways to integrate astronomy in many conversations. My favorite example is when I related the world of astronomy to a concept that came […] Continue reading →

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Messages to Space

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Adriana Santos

Ever since humans realized there are worlds beyond our own, we have been curious if there is life outside of planet Earth. The universe is huge, so we can likely assume that somewhere out in the vastness of space there is life. But is it intelligent? Could we communicate with them? Would we even want […] Continue reading →

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Protecting Our Home

Posted on April 8, 2024 by John Newell

History is doomed to repeat itself. Will we be ready? Around 66 million years ago, an object estimated to be around 10km wide struck Earth at incredibly high speeds. The energy released was equivalent to roughly 100 million megatons of TNT. The impact, then, released over 6.5 billion times more energy than the catastrophically powerful […] Continue reading →

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A Messenger From Afar

Posted on April 7, 2024 by John Newell

 ‘Oumuamua, our first confirmed Extrasolar Object On October 19th, 2017, a telescope at the University of Hawaii, called Pan-STARRS1 detected an object unlike any before observed in our Solar System. It was highly elongated (by a ratio of at least 10:1), completely inert (no dust floating around or behind), and composed of rock and possibly […] Continue reading →

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Upcoming Mission: Dragonfly

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Adriana Santos

Since our class is coming to a close, I have been curious about future astronomical missions. What will the students who take ASTR 2110 learn that we do not have access to yet? One of NASA’s upcoming missions in partnership with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, is called Dragonfly and it will be observing the […] Continue reading →

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