Tag Archives: Uncategorized

Blog #7: The Great Filter Theory

If we think for a moment about the size of our universe and how many Earth like planets orbiting a star much like our Sun, it doesn’t take long to begin to wonder, where is everybody else? This is called the Fermi Paradox. Some estimate that there should be about 10 quadrillion (10 million billion) […] Continue reading

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Recent Landslides on Ceres display Ice Content

A series of landslides on Ceres’ surface has been photographed last week, displaying solid evidence for frozen water comprising a sizable portion of its composition. Images displayed three different types of landslide classifications. Type I landslides are relatively round and large, similar to rock glaciers and landslides found on Earth. These landslides are found at […] Continue reading

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OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb or The Iceball Planet

(ScienceDaily) Yesterday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced the discover of a new planet orbiting the star much fainter than our sun, but, it is of similar size to earth and a similar distance to earth. In fact, this is actually the smallest planet ever discovered using a technique called microlensing (ScienceDaily). Microlensing utilizes the … Continue reading OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb or The Iceball Planet Continue reading

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Hyperthermophile

A hyperthermophile is an organism that thrives in extremely hot environments—from 60 °C (140 °F) upwards. An optimal temperature for the existence of hyperthermophiles is above 80 °C (176 °F). Hyperthermophiles are a subset of extremophiles, which are often micro-organisms within the domain Archaea, although some bacteria are able to tolerate temperatures of around 100 °C (212 °F), as well – Wikipedia. […] Continue reading

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First Super-Earth Exoplanet with Atmosphere Discovered

Earlier this month, scientists discovered the existence of an atmosphere on an exoplanet much like Earth, making this the first Earth-like exoplanet with atmosphere to have been detected aside from earth itself. The planet is named GJ 1132b, located in the constellation Vela as a planet of the low-mass star GJ 1132. The planet is […] Continue reading

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Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, also known as “Brewer’s yeast”, is a very strange extremophile. It is known as an “Osmophile”, or an organism that thrives in environments with high sugar concentrations. Many people fear osmophiles because they are responsible for the spoiling of many sugary drinks such as orange juice or soda. However, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae is a species […] Continue reading

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Space Piglets

I almost fell out of my seat when I flipped the page in Cosmic Perspective and saw the crunched, grumpy looking face of the tardigrade. It had to be an artist representation, I thought, for nothing (on this planet) could really look like that. I was, obviously, completely wrong. Not only are these tiny animals … More Space Piglets Continue reading

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The Social Implications of Interstellar Travel

It is likely that all of us have grown up with at least one media account of the final frontier, be that Star Wars, Star Trek, Martian, or even Men in Black. Because of the inherent human fascination with the notion of interstellar travel, with arguably the greatest (presently) unanswerable question known to our species, … More The Social Implications of Interstellar Travel Continue reading

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Hexagon Jet Stream

If hurricane on Earth doesn’t sound horrendous enough for you, imagine the hurricane on planet Saturn! Located on 78 degree North, Saturn’s hexagonal hurricane took its place on the ten most fascinating astronomical facts. The sides of the hexagon length about 13,000km each, which is longer than the diameter of our planet Earth! Scary, isn’t… Continue reading Hexagon Jet Stream Continue reading

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Seven Brave New Worlds

Do you ever feel like one day the Earth is going to be too crowded and we would run out of resources? Is there any other habitable world out there that we could some day create a new life on? Maybe I’ve seen too much fictional movies that I somehow thought it is possible! But… Continue reading Seven Brave New Worlds Continue reading

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