Author Archives: segalastronomyblog

The Drake Equation is an equation that was developed to help us determine what life exists in our universe beyond planet Earth. In class, we have been doing much work with the Drake Equation, including filling it out ourselves using our own estimates. But…is the Drake Equation useful or even worth our time? If you are […] Continue reading →

Watch out, Earth! Scientists have discovered a massive black hole in our universe, one that weighs the equivalent of 17 billions suns! While the size of this black hole is very significant, something that makes it even more unique is it’s location in our universe. According to astronomers, black holes this size are almost always […] Continue reading →

Launched in 2006, the New Horizons Space Probe set out with the mission to get the best view of Pluto that we humans have ever seen. And it just so happens that we succeeded! We are now seeing the absolute best images that we have ever seen of the famed dwarf planet. Recently, Pluto has […] Continue reading →

Rani: As our pedagogy seminar comes to a close, Jonathan and I want to take some time to thematically and ideologically wrap things up before we present our final project with one another. Personally, I approached this seminar with a fair amount of hesitation and largely an open mind – I had never participated in […] Continue reading →

What’s going on under the surface of pluto? The New Horizons probe passed Pluto just last year, after a nine year journey to the Kuiper Belt. Over the last few months, images from the probe have been being received back here on Earth. These images are the most high quality photos of Pluto we have ever […] Continue reading →

The Guardian published an intriguing article today regarding climate change and the huge impact it is having on our planet. More specifically, the impact it is having near the North Pole. It describes the rising temperatures and rising sea levels and the impact that this has on people residing in this area. The scariest part? […] Continue reading →

Forget about Florida. Have you ever considered vacationing in space? Thanks to Virgin Galactic, we are getting closer and closer to this possibility. Last year, Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo crashed in the southwest desert, killing a pilot and completely destroying the aircraft. However, Virgin is getting ready to launch a second SpaceShipTwo this month in Mojave, […] Continue reading →

If you spend an entire day at the beach, it is pretty obvious to notice that the tide changes throughout the day. Sometimes it comes up all the way to your feet while you lay in your beach chair, while other times the tide can be so low it seems like the water is a […] Continue reading →

Nicholas Copernicus- February 19, 1473 to May 24, 1543 Nicholas Copernicus’ greatest contribution to science was the idea that the Sun was the center of our solar system rather than the Earth. In other words, a heliocentric model rather than a geocentric model. This was a major step forward in determining that the Earth is […] Continue reading →