Astronomy Tutorial 1 Notes
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Astronomy
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Dec 6, 2023
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Uploaded by SargentMole10762
Tabyian Ahmed
Ahmedt31
400250213
Astronomy Tutorial #1 Reflection
Who can go to mars? Are ourthey the best choice?
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Fair way for us to choose?
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Bringing human issues (food, building new system (medical, homes, etc.)
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Who spearheads? What country
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Invasive of us to g and destroy their environment
o
The first gen to grow there; is it fair to let them endure those struggles
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How do we split the resources sustainably to last us generations
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Ethical governance of staying there? Who decides what we do there? A board of directors? Who
decides our environmental impact
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Utilitary benefit to go there for us even if there is life there
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What are the long term effects of going t mars? Are we brining new diseases and illnesses
o
After what we have done to earth, doing the same to mars is unethical
o
Taking over the indigenous populations is unethical
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Shoukdnt do it unless it’s a last measure, should repair and use Earth prior to going elsewhere
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Humanity as a whole is greedy; human nature points to what has happened on earth will
happen again on mars
o
If we colonize we have a duty to protect
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If we colonize mars, where would we go after? Where would we draw the line
o
Mars expiditio makes people care less about climate change and then when we go to
mars they would think “we can go to another planet”
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Mars isn’t hospitable, how would we form life there?
Once we go to mars we have an obligation to protect as a moral responsibility
Lecture stuff
JWST
- next generation hubble space telescope
- hubble observes light the way the human eye does which is visible light (i.e red, blue, green)
but it cannot detect ultraviolet or infared
- JWST can see infared
- took decades to build and was funded by Nasa, Europe Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency
- 4 instruments on board (2 only take spectra)
Tabyian Ahmed
Ahmedt31
400250213
Astronomy Tutorial #1 Reflection
What are the ethical implications of colonizing Mars or other places in the Solar System? Should we do
it?
With this question in mind, our discussion brought up many points ranging from who would go,
what would resource allocation look like, and if we go to Mars do we have a moral obligation to protect
the planet. A point that I found interesting was one wherein we discussed what going to Mars entails.
Mars is a planet with very little atmosphere, making is not very hospitable thus bringing the question of
how we would form life there, and what illnesses/diseases can that bring in both the short and long
term? Moreover, we don’t know how or if Mars or any other planet renews its resources, as such how
can we split resources to sustainably last us and who governs this. Generally, the class agreed that
colonizing Mars would bring many unknown struggles. A challenging and new idea discussed was the
argument of human psychology. The point stated that humanity as a whole is greedy and that we will
neglect our duty to protect Mars or any other planet and would rather act as an invasive species looking
for its own utilitarian benefit; in other words, human nature points to what has happened on Earth will
happen again on Mars. This would then spiral and can create a “we can go to another planet” mindset
after Mars becomes inhabitable, so where would we draw the line? As a result, the class said that an
expedition to Mars or elsewhere should be halted unless we are at a last resort; instead, we should look
into repairing Earth prior to relocating. Ultimately, the class agreed that it would be unethical to colonize
a planet that has life, but if the planet is lifeless than we can colonize as long as it is done in a sustainable
fashion, however, this should only be done as a last measure.
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