Monthly Archives: March 2016

As climate change heats up, Arctic residents struggle to keep their homes

Posted on March 15, 2016 by segalastronomyblog

The Guardian published an intriguing article today regarding climate change and the huge impact it is having on our planet. More specifically, the impact it is having near the North Pole. It describes the rising temperatures and rising sea levels and the impact that this has on people residing in this area. The scariest part? […] Continue reading →

Posted in Observables | Tagged , , | Comments Off on As climate change heats up, Arctic residents struggle to keep their homes

Dating the Solar System?

Posted on March 15, 2016 by samihahplanet

No,  I’m not referring to taking our Solar System out to a romantic dinner and movie. What astronomers and physicists are interested in is the age of our Solar System. And given the vastness and inaccessibility of most of the Solar System, revealing the true age of it has proven to be quite the challenge. Astronomers have, however, been able to […] Continue reading →

Posted in Observables | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Dating the Solar System?

A Mission to Smell Mars

Posted on March 15, 2016 by nickwtheastronomer

Exciting news out of the European continent this week, a joint mission to Mars sponsored by Russia and the European Space Agency is successfully underway. Blasting off from its launch pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on March 14th, 2016, the first spacecraft in the ExoMars mission began its approximately seven-month trip to Mars’ atmosphere. The main goal […] Continue reading →

Posted in Space Travel | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A Mission to Smell Mars

Spaghettification

Posted on March 15, 2016 by OscarBen

The event horizon of a black hole is the point of no return. When an object gets close to this event horizon, extreme tidal forces from the black hole create a gravitational field that is so strong it begins to compress objects into long, thin shapes, like spaghetti. These are the same tidal forces we’ve discussed… More Spaghettification Continue reading →

Posted in Physics | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Spaghettification

NASA’s Solar Probe Plus

Posted on March 15, 2016 by solarsystemjoe

By 2018, NASA will launch the Solar Probe Plus.  This probe will get within 9 solar radii of the surface of the Sun.  That distance is 7 times closer than any probe has ever been.  A portion of the probe will have to remain cool and the rest of it will have to be as […] Continue reading →

Posted in Sun | Tagged , , | Comments Off on NASA’s Solar Probe Plus

Atmosphere of Mars

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Alex Pratte

  For my 5th blog post, I decided to write about what the atmosphere of Mars is like. All the information I write about can be found in this link. According to Space.com, Mars’ atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s atmosphere and is pretty much all carbon dioxide. There are some other elements […] Continue reading →

Posted in Terrestrials | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Atmosphere of Mars

A Viral Photo Gone Wrong

Posted on March 15, 2016 by annamcc9

This image was talked about in class today; it has gone viral as a supposed image of Earth from the Hubble Deep Space Telescope. There are a number of reasons why this is absolutely impossible. One clear reason is the size of the atmosphere. From this distance, the atmosphere on Earth could not possibly be […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, SolarSystem | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A Viral Photo Gone Wrong

Nuclear Fusion: the Energy Source of the Future?

Posted on March 15, 2016 by chasejaeger

Though the power of the Sun is quite amazing, the Sun is simply a giant, burning ball of hydrogen. Due to the immense gravity of the Sun, hydrogen particles at the Sun’s core are under enough pressure that they collide with one another despite the force of the positive charges to repel one another. In […] Continue reading →

Posted in Stars | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Nuclear Fusion: the Energy Source of the Future?

Nuclear Fusion: the Energy Source of the Future?

Posted on March 15, 2016 by chasejaeger

Though the power of the Sun is quite amazing, the Sun is simply a giant, burning ball of hydrogen. Due to the immense gravity of the Sun, hydrogen particles at the Sun’s core are under enough pressure that they collide with one another despite the force of the positive charges to repel one another. In […] Continue reading →

Posted in Stars | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Nuclear Fusion: the Energy Source of the Future?

The Orion Nebula

Posted on March 15, 2016 by annamcc9

Nasa’s website overlays two images of the Orion Nebula, utilizing information from both the Spitzer Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. This image shows the cosmic cloud, within which astronomers believe more than a thousand young stars are forming. There are four in particular, found near the center of the cloud, that are particularly monstrously […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Light, Stars | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Orion Nebula