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Monthly Archives: April 2016
“Hot” Jupiters
Last unit, we learned about the formation of our own solar system, in which small, rocky planets formed close to the Sun, and large, gas giants formed far from the Sun (past the frost line). This is due to the fact that during planetary formation, the area closest to the Sun was extremely hot, and […]
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So Extra…
Extrasolar planets are very important to our study of the universe. The idea that there are planets that orbit other stars the way we orbit the Sun changes our entire perspective of how the universe operates. There are many challenges with detecting extrasolar planets, but once they are found they can provide us with a … Continue reading “So Extra…”
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Charon: The Major Key to Pluto
Up until very recently, Pluto was considered the ninth planet of our solar system. That all changed when the definition of a planet was revised, and Pluto just became another Kuiper belt object albeit the most famous one. We know significantly more about Pluto than any other Kuiper belt object simply because it was discovered … Continue reading “Charon: The Major Key to Pluto”
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Posted in Dwarf Planets, Universe
Tagged astro2110, blog7, charon
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Io
Io is Jupiter’s third largest moon. What is notable about Io is that it is the most geologically active body in the entire Solar System. It is extremely volcanic, and is the only body other than Earth that we have observed with active volcanism. The volcanic activity occurs because Io is greatly affected by tides […]
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The Dwarf Planet Sedna
According to Inuit mythology, Sedna was the name of a mortal woman who became a goddess of the ocean and the underworld. One version of the myth holds that Sedna was a young woman who consented to marry a hunter, only to find, once she had left home with him, that he was in fact […]
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Posted in Class, Dwarf Planets
Tagged astro2110, blog7, dwarf planet, Mythology, Sedna
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Rocky Planets Shouldn’t Get This Big…
Planetary formation theorists are scratching their heads at the recent discovery of the largest rocky world found to date – BD+20594b. This exoplanet is a rocky world with a diameter half that of Neptune. With a planet that size, one may think that we were talking about a gas giant, but we’re not. According to our present […]
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Posted in Exoplanets, Universe
Tagged astro2110, blog7, Extrasolar Planets
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Pluto’s Heart
The Tombaugh Regio, nicknamed “Pluto’s Heart” (pictured above), is one of the most extensively studied features of the dwarf planet. Thanks to NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, we can get a closer glimpse into the heart-shaped bright spot on Pluto’s surface. More recently, New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern has theorized that Tombaugh Regio is the result of […]
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The Mystery of “Hot Jupiters”
Over the last decade, astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, many of which have gone against our current understanding of planet formation. Most of these exoplanets orbit very close to their star, as these are the easiest to discover since they block out more light from their respective stars than planets orbiting farther out do. […]
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Posted in Exoplanets, Galaxies, Universe
Tagged astro2110, blog8, jupiter, orbits, Solar System
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The Possibility of Life on Enceladus
One question that still excites both amateur and professional astronomers is the possibility of life on other worlds. Certain important elements, however, must be present in order for organic life to exist. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s icy moons, has an underground ocean that may be a source of life, either sometime in the ancient past …
Posted in Aliens, Jovians, Moons, Observables
Tagged astro2110, blog7, enceladus, Uncategorized
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The Possibility of Life on Enceladus
One question that still excites both amateur and professional astronomers is the possibility of life on other worlds. Certain important elements, however, must be present in order for organic life to exist. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s icy moons, has an underground ocean that may be a source of life, either sometime in the ancient past […]
Continue reading
Posted in Aliens, Jovians, Moons, Observables
Tagged astro2110, blog7, enceladus, Uncategorized
Comments Off on The Possibility of Life on Enceladus