Tag Archives: Uncategorized

Planet-hunting

Image of the Surface of Proxima b Why would people live on other planet? Wouldn’t our Earth suffice the human needs? The answer is absolutely. But wouldn’t it be nice to discover some other worlds other than ours? What if there are actual lives out there besides humans who proclaimed to be the dominant of… Continue reading Planet-hunting Continue reading

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The Voyager Golden Record

  The Voyager Golden Record was a disc of sounds and images included with both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, both designed to study Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 went on to study Uranus and Neptune, and is the only spacecraft to have visited them. However, these spacecraft are still gathering and emitting data even […] Continue reading

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Life: A Love Story

Sitting in my late-night astronomy lab last night, we watched a computer simulation (based completely on real, observed data) take us out as far into the universe as our understanding has gone. Starting in the Himalayas, Tibet, then Planet Earth, and rapidly, sooner than I thought possible, we were so far out of my realm … More Life: A Love Story Continue reading

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Naming the Moons

For my mother’s 50th birthday, we bought her a star. Though arbitrary, I remember the immense amount of pressure that I felt when I was trying to give the star a name, knowing that (at least in our household) I was participating in the excavation of the final frontier, putting a little mark in my … More Naming the Moons Continue reading

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Blog 6- Trump Budget and Science

While not directly related to Astro 2110, I think that it is important to touch on the potential ramifications of the President’s recently released budget for the scientific community.  While it is unlikely that this exact budget will be passed, I think that it is nonetheless important to analyze.  It seems as though while the Trump… Continue reading

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Blog 3: Cosmic Background Radiation

A radiation that is an after-effect of the Big Bang still around today. It was actually discovered accidentally by two Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1965. They noticed a static that appeared to be coming from every direction at the same strength. Later scientists were able to trace out a Black Body curve for … Continue reading Blog 3: Cosmic Background Radiation Continue reading

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Space Physics and the Cassini Probe

Gravity is the magic super glue that keeps everything we know (and things we don’t know) together and functioning. Earth’s gravity keeps us on the ground, the moons gravity creates tides, and the sun’s gravity keeps us from flying away into oblivion. But why did Earth and the rest of the planets stay orbiting around […] Continue reading

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Rogue Radio Burst Leads to Discovery of Billion-Year-Old Galaxy

The detection of fast radio bursts, one of the universe’s most mysterious and rare occurrences, took place in early January of this year when signals from a dwarf galaxy over 2.5 billion light years away were first recorded. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are an incredibly rare phenomenon usually occurring in a millisecond or so, each […] Continue reading

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Want to discover a new planet?

Are you curious about what’s out there in our universe? Have you been wanting to do your own astronomical research? Has it been a dream of yours to discover a new planet? Fear no more! A team of astronomers led by MIT and the Carnegie Institution for Science is now giving the public the opportunity … Continue reading “Want to discover a new planet?” Continue reading

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The Importance of Spectroscopy in Solar System Exploration

While the very existence of visible light allows for the viewing of celestial bodies, not enough credit is oft given to the true capability of light’s full spectrum. Spectroscopy is an imaging and scientific method of measurement that involves the unique spectra that occur when light comes into contact with an object or substance of […] Continue reading

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