Is there life in Space?

News | The Solar System and Beyond by JPL - NASA

Have you ever watched sci-fi movies where there are aliens or extraterrestrial life, or maybe you remember watching E.T., Star Wars, Space Jam or Home as a child? But even now, the search for extraterrestrial life goes outside of the movie theater, it is actually happening outside of Earth's atmosphere. Scientists have been searching for planets that could possibly be home to life for years now, and the question there asking is, is there life in space? Is life in space even possible? The answer is yes. Sci-Fi movies are known for their outrageous ideas, but life in space is actually entirely possible, even if we don't find it in the next 20 years. Scientists have discovered thousands of planets and a good handful of them are a possibility for being a home to life.

Since the launch of NASA's Kepler mission, thousands of planets in our universe have been found by using the Doppler and transit techniques. As of mid-January 2016, scientists had discovered over 2,000 planets. While looking through these new planets, scientists are looking for a planet in it's Goldilocks zone, the zone where liquid water can be found on the surface of a planet, is big enough to have gravity, but not too big, a rocky planet, orbiting a sun-like star and one with the right atmosphere. This atmosphere would be close to the atmosphere of Earth. According to scientists and astronauts have predicted that there are 40 billion planets in their Goldilocks zone and 11 billion of them can be orbiting a sun-like stars. Meaning that they are orbiting yellow, white or red stars, otherwise known as an M, K, G or F star. That leaves us with 11 billion planets that can possibly support life.

11 billion is a huge number, there is a very large chance that at least one of these planets has some form of life, even if it is just a type of bacteria. The universe is a very vast place, we are only a speck within it. With our new technology and ability to find more planets as faster, a discovery is on the horizon. They have been finding more and more planets over the years and have been able to make great cutting-edge technology that can better detect planets through the "noise" cause by atmospheres and space. After all of these new discoveries and predictions, we have a lot of potential life carrying planets on our hands. Lets just hope that if we find extra-terrestrial life it won't end in an invasion.

The Vastness of Space | Galaxies, Solar Systems, Stars, and Planets

Universe by Hubble Ultra-Deep Field

Big. Such a small word for such a big meaning. But how big, is BIG? Sometimes the universe is so hard to imagine because of its vast size. The universe is home to millions of galaxies, billions of stars and the very solar system in which we live. It is so big that we don't have an Earth measurement of a size that would fit the distances that we need to measure. Instead, we measure distances with light years. Light years are the amount of distance that light can cover in a year. This is huge seeing as light is so fast. But even that can seem small when compared to the Universe, so why don't we take a look at a slightly smaller place in the universe, galaxies. Galaxies are masses of stars, planets, asteroids, comets, dust, and gas. There are three main types of galaxies, spiral, elliptical and irregular. A spiral galaxy is a galaxy that has a spiral shape, where an elliptical galaxy is more like an oval. Irregular galaxies, like the name suggests, are shaped irregularly. The galaxy that our solar system resides in is called the Milky Way. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, and we are only a small part of it. The solar system is just a small part of the galaxy that we are in and yet is it still so big. But we don't need quite a big measurement for our solar system. Instead of light years, we downgrade in size to an Astronomical Unit. This is the distance between Earth and the Sun. There are eight planets currently in our solar system. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. Then there is the Kuiper Belt which is home to dwarf planets like Pluto. There is also an asteroid belt between Earth and Mars. All of this is revolving around the Sun. The Sun is one of the many stars in our Galaxy. This gassy giant ball is where we come from. After the big bang, the only elements in the universe where helium and hydrogen. During the stars nuclear fusion, other elements were created, allowing us to be made. The Sun is Yellow medium star, though there are many different types. The Sun is actually considered a smaller star and is only one of the millions out there.

S&EP
SP2: Using Models

The universe is really big, but so is our solar system. sometimes it is hard to imagine just how big these distances are. So we used our bodies to see the different proportion. We folded and labeled a strip of paper that is as big as we are tall. Then we made the right proportions for the distances between the planets. This showed us how the distances of the planets in our solar system are so far apart and big.

XCC
XCC: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

The universe is so large that we need a whole new scale of measurement. Everything is very far apart and separated. The universe is such a vast place that everything has such a big proportion compared to earth. Everything is huge compared to what we have on Earth. Not only is everything so huge and spread apart, yet there is so much of everything. There are millions of stars, planets and galaxies, a very large quantity. Overall, everything is on a much larger scale and much bigger.

Earth's Orbit | Seasons, Eclipses, and Tides

Happy Spring! The Vernal Equinox by Mary Bates

Every year, we have many different seasons and weather patterns, but they all come back into four main categories, the four seasons. We all know what they are, the colder winter months, the bright springtime, fun filled summers and golden falls. But what causes all of these different times of the year. The answer is simple, Earth's tilt and orbit. Earth is tilted on its axis by 23.5 degrees and rotates in  a oval orbit around the sun. This causes for different parts of the Earth to face the sun at different times, making the four seasons. These four seasons are then split into 2 different sections, solstices and equinoxes. There are the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes when the sun is directly overhead at the equator. Then there are the Winter and Summer Solstices when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer.

These different seasons don't only affect our activities and weather, they also affect our tides. Many people know that the tides are controlled mostly by the gravitational pulls of the moon. This causes for high and low tides, but also spring and neap tides. When the moon and the sun are in perfect alignment, the earth experiences very high tides on the sides of the earth facing the sun and the moon, this is called a spring tide. Then there are neap tides. This is when the sun, moon and Earth form a right angle. This causes lower tides on the sides of the earth with tidal bulges. Tidal bulges are caused by water being pulled towards the moon and the sun, making a longer oval around the Earth.

While we are talking about the moon, we may as well talk about eclipses. There are two main types of eclipses, solar and lunar eclipses. A solar eclipse is when the moon comes in the way of the earth and the sun. This causes the sun's light to be blocked out from Earth for a period of time. There can also be partial or full eclipses depending on where the moon is. There are the Umbra and the Penumbra parts of an eclipse, for a full solar eclipse, the moon is in the Umbra, and for partial eclipses, the moon is usually in the Penumbra. Then there are lunar eclipses, this is when the Earth comes in the way of the sun and the moon, casting the moon into complete darkness,m for the most part. There are partial lunar eclipses in the Penumbra, full lunar eclipses in the Umbra, and then harvest moons which are full lunar eclipses but in exact alignment with the sun and the Earth, making it glow red.

S&EP
SP2: Using Models

Scientists use models everyday to help them better understand science concepts that they are studying or working on. We used models of the earth, its orbit, tidal bulges and more to help us understand how the Earth and it all works. It helps me to visualize what is going on and how everything was moving. These models showed me how the Earth orbited and what that did to affect the seasons, eclipses and tides.

XCC
XCC:Patterns

The seasons are a yearly reminder of all the patterns in our lives. The same four seasons happen every year in the same order at about the same time. They repeat and repeat in our lives. The same this is true for tides, the high an low tides come in a pattern or high, low, high, low... on and on and on. then we have the moon cycle of waxing, full, waning, new.... on and on. These cycles make up our year and some of the things within it, repeating in an everlasting pattern in our universe. This goes to show just how much cycles are patterns that affect us and the world around us, repeating themselves as time goes on.