My Favorite Parts of the Semester
I learned a lot about the universe in this class, but what really stuck out at me throughout the semester was how principles that I had previously learned in physics are used to discover new planets or what they’re made of. For example, I learned about the Doppler Effect in my 7th grade science class by thinking about the changing pitch of a police car as it drives by. I never would’ve thought that the same principle could be used to prove that a planet is orbiting a star.
I also enjoyed learning about all the different factors that need to be taken into account in order to determine the probability of life existing in our galaxy. I had never considered that we have been around for such a short time of the galaxy’s life span that it is very likely that even if intelligent life did evolve on another planet, we would not be around in the same time period.
Lastly, I had never used a telescope before, and I thought that it was really cool to be able to see Jupiter in such detail.
The Solar System 
