Monthly Archives: April 2017

Callisto

Callisto is one of the largest Galilean Moons which were discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. Callisto is the second-largest moon of Jupiter and the third-largest in the whole Solar System. The moon is composed of approximately equal amounts of ice and rock, having the lowest density and surface gravity of Jupiter‘s major moons. Also, […] Continue reading

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Blog #8: Extremophiles – Exposure in Space

  There are many extremophiles on Earth, some that roam the Sahara Desert and come out only for the hottest parts of the day and some that scale the coldest parts of the arctic. Extremophiles are an interesting phenomenon with applications to discovery of other life in the universe. If these organisms can survive in […] Continue reading

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Casscenery (The Cassini Photos of Saturn)

As the 20 year long Cassini mission comes to an end, no one wants to miss the exciting events of the last 4.5 months. Cassini is slated to crash into the surface of Saturn on September 15th this year, but not before Cassini swoops progressively lower to the gas giant, giving scientists unprecedentedly close images … Continue reading Casscenery (The Cassini Photos of Saturn) Continue reading

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Blog #7: The Great Filter Theory

If we think for a moment about the size of our universe and how many Earth like planets orbiting a star much like our Sun, it doesn’t take long to begin to wonder, where is everybody else? This is called the Fermi Paradox. Some estimate that there should be about 10 quadrillion (10 million billion) […] Continue reading

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Lone Ranger

We usually defined a planet as something that orbits a star but this lone ranger a.k.a. nomad planet, rogue planet, free-floating planet, or  orphan planet is unique since they do not orbit a star. Instead, they orbit the galaxy directly and considered as homeless world where they have neither sunrises nor sunsets (starless planet). What Are … Continue reading Lone Ranger Continue reading

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From the Space Bar to Space Exploration: Information, References, and Resources So That You Can Boldly Go

If you read the title, then you probably understand what is going to be included in this post. Just to clarify however, what you should expect is a bunch of interesting and hopefully useful resources in various formats (apps, software, sites, news outlets, etc) if you want to continue exploring the ‘verse outside of this… Continue reading From the Space Bar to Space Exploration: Information, References, and Resources So That You Can Boldly Go Continue reading

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Recent Landslides on Ceres display Ice Content

A series of landslides on Ceres’ surface has been photographed last week, displaying solid evidence for frozen water comprising a sizable portion of its composition. Images displayed three different types of landslide classifications. Type I landslides are relatively round and large, similar to rock glaciers and landslides found on Earth. These landslides are found at […] Continue reading

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“Where is Everybody?”

All quiet on the vertical front. Continue reading

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OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb or The Iceball Planet

(ScienceDaily) Yesterday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced the discover of a new planet orbiting the star much fainter than our sun, but, it is of similar size to earth and a similar distance to earth. In fact, this is actually the smallest planet ever discovered using a technique called microlensing (ScienceDaily). Microlensing utilizes the … Continue reading OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb or The Iceball Planet Continue reading

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Blog #7

Image of hematite tubes from microfossils discovered in the hydrothermal vents We only had to memorize a few dates for Astro 2110, but one of them was how long ago life on Earth began. Memorizing such dates are easy, but I think it’s so interesting to consider how exactly scientists (and our textbook authors!) are … Continue reading Blog #7 Continue reading

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