“Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.”

One of my favorite quotes from my one of my favorite movies, Interstellar, perfectly sums up my feelings towards human progression into space. Ever since I was first asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I knew I wanted to be an astronaut. Though I may not be on the path now, for as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by space and space exploration. Astronomy has been one of my favorite courses at Vanderbilt and was a great break from classes in my economics major. I wish I had started classes in astronomy sooner in my career here because then I would have had a chance to pursue a minor before I graduate. I don’t think anything would have been funnier than having a major in econ with a minor in astronomy because then I could tell everyone that I know the economies of the stars.

This class has shown me things that have boggled my mind and I know for a fact that I can’t comprehend many of the things I have learned. It has developed my world sense and helped me realize that many things that happen here in our limited and small time on Earth are petty and useless. I feel as if I am one of the smallest cogs in a wheel of a greater engine that is roaring down a highway, but even though I am small I help turn the engine and keep it going. This is not to say that I feel less value in myself now, I actually feel more. I feel the need to proliferate the ideas of astronomy and the greater sense of our place in the universe that can be achieved through its knowledge to my limited friends and family so they too can understand. I wouldn’t say that I am politically active or that I feel the need to support movements but I can say for sure that whenever I have the chance I will vote for pro space exploration politicians and legislature. I would do anything and more to help the cause so that someday my ancestors may have the chance to leave this Earth that I will never have.

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

–Dylan Thomas

I will end with a picture I made on photoshop when I should have been studying for this final – featuring a kangaroo from the Nashville Zoo with its joey superimposed on the Colorado flag created from pictures taken by the Hubble space telescope:

Is Earth a Zoo for the Universe?

The Fermi Paradox has sparked a lot of minds to find solutions, one of the more interesting was proposed by John Ball back in 1973. Known as the Zoo Hypothesis, it suggests that aliens have purposefully kept at bay from our galaxy so as to observe us in our natural habitat. The theory submits that if humans were to detect the observing aliens it would ruin the zoo because humans would change how we act. Though they may not be actively hiding themselves, they may just be advanced past our levels of detection – we could essentially be goldfish in a bowl for them. Aliens could be watching us as part of a scientific purposes or just to let us grow on our own as part of a natural preservation. Whatever the reason, our only way of ever finding out will be advancement in technology.

Green Galaxies?

Back in 2007, using the popular website Galaxy Zoo, Hanny van Arkel discovered galaxies with emitting a green color. Though stars emit the color green, it is thought that it isn’t possible for their color to appear green. Now equipped with new data from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers believe these green galaxies to actually be two galaxies merging, each with their own super massive black hole. The super massive black holes orbit each other upon merging galaxies and feed off large amounts of material in the other galaxy leaving large amounts of ionized oxygen in the farthest outreaches of the galaxy with the green hue coming from “the echo” of these.

New Horizons to Pluto and Beyond!

This July, NASA’s space probe New Horizons is set to flyby Pluto and the Kuiper Belt giving us our best look at Pluto yet! The probe has been en route for nearly a decade and has already started sending back pictures. Since we have never had a look at the surface of Pluto, the surface is entirely unknown and starting tomorrow, and extending until April 24th, NASA is taking nominations for names of new features discovered on Pluto. If you have ever wanted to leave a mark on mankind then maybe this is your chance!

Other Life in our Solar System?

Through the use of computer modeling, a team of NASA scientists have confirmed that Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, contains water under its icy top layers. New modeling that takes into account salinity of the planet’s water suggests that below the surface there are pancaked layers of ice and liquid water. Since we know that life on Earth formed through liquid water we know that there is a possibility of life existing in the oceans beneath the surface of Ganymede. The water content on Ganymede is 25 times larger than Earth and its entire surface is covered in ice. The ESA has a mission planned to launch to Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto, in 2022 so there can be research done on the ground level.

Nuclear Fission or Fusion?

Fusion involves the combination of nuclei between two atoms and fission is the process of splitting the nuclei of atoms. When looking at the release of energy from nuclear fission versus nuclear fusion there is a clear winner: Nuclear Fusion. Through the use of the interactive tool, you can compare the power of fission versus fusion.

Think Saturn’s rings are cool? Think Bigger.

Saturn’s rings are large, 175,000 miles across large, but as the old adage goes-bigger is better. Scientists looking at exoplanets have discovered a planet with rings 200 times larger than that of Saturn’s. The planet itself, known as J1407b, is guessed to be a gas giant 10 to 40 times larger than Saturn. Scientists hope they can observe these rings over time and learn about the formation of moons around gas giants similar to our solar system.

(An artist’s rendition of J1407b if it were in the place of Saturn in our Solar System)

Tour de Light

If you’re like me, when you think of light you think of the visible light spectrum, the colors of the rainbow. In reality light is much more than what we can see with our eyes, the spectrum extends far in both directions. Through the use of this interactive tool, you can fully explore the spectrum of light. Since electromagnetic radiation is the only way we can receive information from the universe, it’s very helpful to have a full understanding of light because one day you could be the man or woman behind the telescope on the brink of the next astronomical breakthrough!

A Historical Time Frame of Galileo Galilei

Galileo was instrumental to the development of astronomy because he was the first to use a telescope and publish his findings. His findings proved the heliocentric over the geocentric model which was a pivotal change in astronomy. He was considered a major player in the scientific revolution.

During Galileo’s lifetime, the first major event that I will cover is the Eighty Year War. This was a war fought for Dutch independence of Spain and lasted from 1568-1648 with the result being Dutch independence. The war was set off from high taxation and dissatisfaction with their foreign rule.

The second major event that I will cover is the Gunpowder Treason Plot. Occurring in November of 1605, it was an assassination attempt on the King of England, King James I. The assassination attempt was led by English Catholics and intended to blow up the House of Lords. All conspirators were executed. This is the plot that the movie V for Vendetta used as historical inspiration.

Ivan IV Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Terrible, lived from 1530-1584. He was the first Tsar of Russia and considered to be the leader that brought Russia from medieval to a true power in the region. His nickname comes from his brutality against nobility and his mental instability, shown in the Massacre of Novgorod.

The world was a very different place when Galileo was an astronomer. Spain was still an empire still fighting for control over Europe. King and Queens still ruled empires, monarchy was the norm for most countries. Freedom for Galileo to do his work was low due to control from the churches and state. During his lifetime there was definitely more turmoil from wars and executions than we see nowadays.

Shadow Bands!

If you’re like me, you have probably never heard of Shadow Bands. Shadow bands are a phenomenon that accompany total solar eclipses and occur just before and after totality, appearing as lines of alternating lines of dark and light moving across the ground and the sky. Why these occur is somewhat of a mystery, but the leading theories focus on crescent sunlight refracting or bending irregularly from turbulence in the atmosphere. They are best observed from a location at the edge of totality leading people to somewhat choose between a location that has totality with lesser shadow bands or a location with more shadow bands but not a total solar eclipse. When the total lunar eclipse passes over Nashville in 2017 be sure to look for this phenomenon!