Lara Ertaul
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Capturing the Orion Nebula (M42): A Stellar Nursery Close to Home
This Thanksgiving, I used my Celestron Origin Mark II home observatory system to photograph one of the most beautiful objects in the winter sky, the Orion Nebula. The image reveals the bright, glowing core of M42, a region filled with… Continue reading
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Astrophotography Workshop at Chabot Space & Science Center: Unveiling Our Place in the Universe
On November 18, 2025, I attended the Astrophotography Workshop: Unveiling Our Place in the Universe at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California. The event is now over, but it offered an inspiring introduction to amateur astronomy and… Continue reading
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Computer Game Review: THARSIS: A Strategy Game Set on the Volcanic Hearth of Mars
Tharsis is a tense, turn-based survival strategy game where you command the crew of a damaged spacecraft on a mission to Mars. The game is built around dice-based decision making, resource management, and constantly escalating crises. Every turn forces difficult… Continue reading
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First Light with My Celestron Origin Mark II: The Andromeda Galaxy
I’m beyond excited to share the very first image taken with my brand-new Celestron Origin Mark II telescope! ✨ Behold — the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), our nearest spiral galaxy neighbor, located about 2.5 million light-years away. It’s incredible to think… Continue reading
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What Came Before the Big Bang?
This post is based on a project that I completed and presented during the Columbia University Pre-College Program in the summer of 2025, under the guidance of Dr. Paul M. Sutter. The goal of the project was to explore one… Continue reading
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Book Review: Paul M. Sutter’s Your Place in the Universe.
Paul M. Sutter’s Your Place in the Universe immediately reminded me of my experience this summer in his Columbia University Pre-College course, The Origin and Evolution of the Universe (ASTO0101-D01). In both the book and the class, Dr. Sutter made… Continue reading
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S.E.T.I: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
This summer at Harvard University Summer School, in my course Planets, Moons, and Their Stars: The Search for Life in the Cosmos with Prof. Dr. Alessandro Massarotti, I chose to focus my final research project on one of the most… Continue reading
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Book Review: Jeffrey Bennet’s Life in the Universe
While working on my Harvard Summer School project about the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in Prof. Massarotti’s class Planets, Moons, and Their Stars: The Search for Life in the Cosmos, I read Life in the Universe, 5th Edition by… Continue reading
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WHITE HOLES: From Black Holes to White Holes: A Quantum Rebirth of the Universe
This summer at Harvard University Summer School, I had the chance to study A Short Tour of the Universe Guided by Einstein and Others with Prof. Dr. Arvind Borde. For my project, I chose to focus on white holes, which… Continue reading
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Book Review: Carlo Rovelli’s White Holes
This summer at Harvard Summer School, while taking A Short Tour of the Universe Guided by Einstein and Others with Prof. Dr. Arvind Borde, I decided to read Carlo Rovelli’s book White Holes. From the very first pages, I was… Continue reading
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