Tag Archives: Uncategorized

The Search for Habitable Exoplanets

Posted on January 24, 2015 by conorastr201

Earlier this month, the Kepler space telescope spotted three planets of Earth-like size orbiting in a nearby star’s “habitable zone,” or the area around the star in which water could exist in liquid form on a planet’s surface. However, the planets they found, along with the other 26 Earth-like exoplanets found thus far, do not […] Continue reading →

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The Scale of the Universe

Posted on January 24, 2015 by revanth111

(Source) After watching the Powers of Ten video and viewing the interactive Scale of the Universe website, it seems to me that Earth is like a speck of dust floating among countless others. In fact, the Powers of Ten video expands our perspective to 100 million light years into the emptiness of space where galaxies […] Continue reading →

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So What’s the Big Deal?

Posted on April 29, 2014 by kaswat

The Milky Way Galaxy So, I’ve spent 4 months learning about the solar system and how everything works so perfectly together. When I started astronomy it was just because I needed a technical elective; however, it gave me a lot of perspective. Our world is in the perfect placement in a 100,000 light-year galaxy to… Continue reading →

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The Future of Space Exploration

Posted on April 29, 2014 by almetetj

One of the most interesting perspectives that Astronomy 201 has given me on space exploration is the role that funding plays. While in the past much of the money needed to fuel new discoveries came from government grants, budget cuts and restructurings have left astronomers with less and less funding from this outlet. The future […] Continue reading →

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What’s in store for the future?

Posted on April 29, 2014 by thomasridgway

The field of astronomy is fascinating; there is much that we have yet to learn. This semester in Astro 201 …

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The Solar System is in us

Posted on April 26, 2014 by haydenwalling

The solar system is an amazing place filled with a vast spectrum of unique objects, and the most notable of them all is us. We and everything else in the solar system are comprised of the same materials that came from the same place, but only we have grown and developed to appreciate that fact. […] Continue reading →

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A Personal Satellite

Posted on April 9, 2014 by almetetj

Ardusat Breakdown Have you ever wished you could own your very own satellite? The space exploration hobbyist’s dream is coming true in a new arduino project called Ardusat. Developed by a company named Nanosatisfi, this product combines the open source user friendly interface of arduino technology with the space friendly CubeSat design platform. This project […] Continue reading →

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The Biggest Astronomical Question of Our Generation

Posted on April 9, 2014 by kaswat

Why is Pluto not a planet anymore? I mean, seriously? It makes us have to do things like rewrite textbooks and change our mnemonic devices.  What if we never find out the end of “My Very Earthly Mother Just Served Us Nine____”. Nine, what?!  Anyway, the bigger point here is what exactly defines a planet.… Continue reading →

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The Tunguska Asteroid

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Leigh

On June 30, 1908 an asteroid about 120 feet across entered Earth’s atmosphere and exploded above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia. At an elevation of about 28,000 feet, the combination of pressure and heat made the space rock explode … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology is Indistinguishable from Awesome: Dyson Sphere!

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Sam Chance

In honor of Freeman Dyson’s upcoming visit, I thought we could talk about Dyson Spheres. A Dyson Sphere is a structure which surround a solar system and collects all of the energy which is given off by the star.  Dyson published this idea in his 1960 paper “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infared Radiation“. … Continue reading Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology is Indistinguishable from Awesome: Dyson Sphere! → Continue reading →

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