Tag Archives: technology

Blog #4: Telescopes

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Lauren

Even though I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, I have never taken the time to visit the renowned Griffith Observatory until this past winter break.  After my trip, I found my awestruck in wonder by the breathtaking beauty of the night sky.  It is difficult to see stars in the city since […] Continue reading →

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Where Can You See Stars in the 4th Largest City?

Posted on February 15, 2014 by hollyreichert

In the heart of the museum district in Houston, Texas, there is the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  Besides a football field size paleontology hall, IMAX screen and butterfly center, HMNS hosts the Burke Baker Planetarium.  The planetarium also is used to train astronauts to help them be able to identify stars. In addition to […] Continue reading →

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The magic of Stellarium

Posted on January 27, 2014 by asadpabani

Have you ever accidentally stumbled upon something amazing? Like that burger joint you stumbled into when you were out late on Friday night and found out they served the most amazing cheeseburger? Finding out about Stellarium last semester had something of a similar effect on me. While previously I was left swooning over magnificent pictures […] Continue reading →

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Star Walk: Planetarium in Your Pocket

Posted on January 25, 2014 by hollyreichert

When looking up into the sky at night, usually I can’t identify all the constellations above.  The Star Walk app knows where you are and tells you what stars and planets are above you.  You can hold it up wherever you are and it is like having a mobile planetarium.  Even in the city where […] Continue reading →

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New Discoveries: The New Age of Astronomy

Posted on April 29, 2013 by werdercj

This picture compares the inner planets of our solar system to Kepler-62, a newly discovered planetary system NASA’s Kepler mission has recently discovered three super-Earth-size planets in the “habitable zone,” or the range of distances form a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might sustain liquid water.  It is planets like these […] Continue reading →

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Impacts on Saturn and the Drake equation

Posted on April 29, 2013 by werdercj

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft recently observed meteors colliding with Saturn’s thin rings.  This marked the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn’s rings, although astronomers already expected this to be occurring regularly.  However, specific details of such impacts were merely speculation, much of which is cleared up via […] Continue reading →

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A Grim Future, Brightened by the Stars

Posted on April 29, 2013 by burnspress

For my culminating post, I want to reflect on how my perspective on space and the future of astronomy has changed over the course of Astronomy 201. Firstly, everything I learned in this course, from gravity and planetary formation to stars and habitable zones, has given me a fundamental and scientifically realistic understanding of space […] Continue reading →

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The Golden Record

Posted on April 29, 2013 by mirandaskunz

In the early 1970s, plaques containing information about humans and Earth were sent out on plaques on the Pioneer spacecraft. By the late 1970s, these plaques were upgraded to golden records on the Voyager probes. These phonographic records, designed to inform aliens who might discover the probes about humans, included 115 images, greetings in 55 […] Continue reading →

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Voyager 1

Posted on April 28, 2013 by juliettealper

Voyager 1 launched in 1977 in order to collect data and research the outer planets of our solar system. Currently, 11.5 billion miles from Earth, scientists are having some difficulty determining when exactly the Voyager is going to leave the solar system. It has completed its mission of surveying the outer planets, such as Saturn, […] Continue reading →

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The Perks of Infinity

Posted on April 28, 2013 by ibrahim2016

The good thing about the universe is that there a lot of things. It has got something for everybody. Take a look at these artworks: What I ultimately learned from this course was that, somewhere out there, these places have to exist. They better do. Image and Image and Image and Image and Image and […] Continue reading →

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