Tag: Astronomy

Exploring the Quantum World: From Plants to Pulsars
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Exploring the Quantum World: From Plants to Pulsars

Presented by Mike Goldman, Joey Goodknight, and Tansu Daylan What do the interior of an atom, the bottom of a volcanic caldera, and the center of the sun have in common? Mike will begin with an introduction to quantum mechanics, which explores its relationship with our everyday world. Some aspects of the quantum world seem perfectly sensible but other concepts, like superposition, are deeply counterintuitive. … Continue reading Exploring the Quantum World: From Plants to Pulsars

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Space Faring Plankton: Fact or Fiction?

From Scientists find traces of sea plankton on ISS surface A recent article published by the Russian News Agency ITAR-TASS has made the unlikely claim that plankton, microscopic organisms typically found in the earth’s oceans, have been found on the surface of the International Space Station. These space faring plankton wouldn’t be the first microorganisms to survive (and even thrive) in space. However, it is … Continue reading Space Faring Plankton: Fact or Fiction?

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NASA’s Physics-Defying Space Engine More Fiction Than Fact?

The history of modern physics contains several examples of crazy and successful new ideas. Unfortunately for scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, their “impossible” space engine may not be one of them. Why? Simply put, it violates Isaac Newton’s third law of motion. NASA’s experiment involved placing a radio antenna inside of a sealed, metal container. Once turned on, radio waves produced by … Continue reading NASA’s Physics-Defying Space Engine More Fiction Than Fact?

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planet scape - space art
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Earth-sized and in its habitable zone

A recent story that’s stillplanet scape – space art making waves is the detection of Kepler 186f, a planet the size of Earth and in the so called “habitable zone” of its host star. It would seem K186f is then very much like Earth but that’s not exactly true. The “habitable zone” is defined as the region around a star where liquid water can exist (the bedrock of life as we know it). For a star like our sun, the Earth is in this “goldilocks region,” not too hot, not too cold. But K186f’s sun is a lot cooler than ours, so it’s much closer in! The host star, Kepler 186 is an M1 star, a cool star around 3800 Kelvin, compared to our sun’s 6000 Kelvin temperature. Continue reading Earth-sized and in its habitable zone

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Exploring Planets Near and Far

Presented by Anjali Tripathi How many planets are there? What are they like? In this lecture, we will talk about the variety of planets that are found beyond the Solar System. These so-called exoplanets have been discovered near and far, throughout the Galaxy. We’ll talk about the detection of these planets and their location in space, as well as their location relative to their host … Continue reading Exploring Planets Near and Far

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A distant galaxy acts as a giant magnifying glass

From “Detection of the Gravitational Lens Magnifying a Type Ia Supernova“ The supernova of PS1-10afx was seen in 2010 and extremely bright for its class and location ~9 billion light years away. New research suggests that a galaxy in front of it, invisible in the bright light, had acted as a giant magnifying lens for the light on its way to Earth. This finding, when … Continue reading A distant galaxy acts as a giant magnifying glass

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Shedding Light on Supermassive Black Holes with Pulsars

Pulsars have been nicknamed “cosmic lighthouses” after the narrow beams of radio light they sweep through space. For astronomers, one newly-discovered pulsar is casting light on an unexplored and mysterious region of the cosmic “ocean”: the immediate neighborhood of the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way galaxy’s heart. Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit regular pulses of radio waves. The pulsar in … Continue reading Shedding Light on Supermassive Black Holes with Pulsars

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Inflation of the Universe!

We may know that the universe began with a Big Bang, but until yesterday, we had no direct evidence for the drastic expansion the universe is thought to have undergone in the moments after its birth. This “inflationary” model has grown from a speculation in 1979 into the best available explanation of how the universe’s infant moments (less than a trillionths of a trillionth of a second) formed crucial aspects of our universe today. Continue reading Inflation of the Universe!

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Earth Formation: The making of planet earth

Presented by Katherine Rosenfeld, Laura Schaefer, Anjali Tripathi For millennia, our understanding of Earth came from our own experiences on the planet. Today, with the ability to observe other planets in the Solar System and planets around other stars, we have a better sense of our place in the Universe and how the Earth formed and evolved. This evening’s lecture will begin with current knowledge … Continue reading Earth Formation: The making of planet earth

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One Man on Mars: An interview with Dr. Andrew Knoll

Harvard University Professor Dr. Andrew Knoll speaks on the scientific intrigue of Mars, his involvement with the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, and the future of Mars investigation Mars. The Red Planet, the fourth from our sun. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars has intrigued humans for thousands of years. The peoples of ancient China, Egypt, and Babylonia studied it in detail, using only … Continue reading One Man on Mars: An interview with Dr. Andrew Knoll

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