Monthly Archives: April 2017

Blog 5 – Comet Composition

Posted on April 4, 2017 by johnjohnb4

Comets are the relatively small, icy objects that orbit a star.  They are classified as “small solar system bodies”, as are asteroids.  Along with ice, they contain rocky dust and other complex chemicals, leading them to be described as “dirty snowballs.”  Spectra can be used to determine the composition of comets.  From them, we know […] Continue reading →

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Blog #6: Space Weather: Impact on Earth

Posted on April 4, 2017 by andrewsolarsystem

We usually think of the Sun as providing us with only a few things such as light and heat, however, the Sun’s impact on Earth extends far beyond that. One additional way that the Sun impacts Earth is through the spewing of products of the Sun’s atmosphere directly toward Earth. The Sun releases electrically charged […] Continue reading →

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TRAPPIST-1

Posted on April 4, 2017 by adamz6300

NASA’s Spitzer telescope has recently discovered multiple Earth size planets orbiting a single star. 7 planets to be exact. The system was named TRAPPIST after the Belgian operated telescope in Chile that discovered the first two planets. These planets are relatively close to us as well. 40 lightyears may seem like a lot, but in astronomical […] Continue reading →

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Blog #5: Triton: From Kuiper Belt to Neptune

Posted on April 4, 2017 by andrewsolarsystem

The Kuiper Belt is a disc in the solar system, extending from Neptune’s orbit to 50 AU from the Sun. The belt is like an asteroid belt, but it is far larger and more massive, containing many small bodies and remnants from the formation of the solar system. As expected, most objects in the Kuiper […] Continue reading →

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New Horizons Probe Halfway Between Pluto and Its Next Target in Kuiper Belt

Posted on April 4, 2017 by njelinek425

Just today, (April 4) the NASA probe New Horizons reached its halfway point between the Pluto system and its next target in the Kuiper belt, the small object 2014 MU69. 2014 MU69 is a trans-Plutonian, rather small Kuiper Belt object; with an average diameter of only about 30 miles it is only about 1% the size of […] Continue reading →

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Some Planets Are Just So Extra… (Extrasolar, That Is)

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Ashley Garcia

An extrasolar planet, or an exoplanet, is one which orbits a star other than our Sun. These planets provide interest and opportunities for research, because under the correct conditions, such as those upon Earth, there is a possibility that life could exist and/or be discovered upon these planets. By observing exoplanets, and specifically searching various… Continue reading Some Planets Are Just So Extra… (Extrasolar, That Is) Continue reading →

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Blog 4: Electron Rainfall

Posted on April 4, 2017 by vandyastro

Picture   Earths two radiation belt known as the Van Allen belts where discover in 1958. But recent discoveries have shown that a third belt will sometimes appear. The image above shows the three belts in yellow and green represents the space between them. The Van Allen Belts since they are regions of dynamic radiation […] Continue reading →

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Blog 4 – The Sunspot Cycle and Earth’s Climate

Posted on April 4, 2017 by johnjohnb4

For this blog I thought I’d write about how sunspots affect the Earth’s climate, as I am studying environmental sciences and I recently took Professor Gilligan’s Global Climate Change course (highly recommended and it counts for AXLE).  Sunspots are the most interesting feature on the sun’s surface.  They are the dark patches that periodically appear […] Continue reading →

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Blog #4: How did the Moon form?

Posted on April 4, 2017 by andrewsolarsystem

  For a long time, we were generally unsure of how Earth’s moon originally formed, and there were a few popular theories which were later disproven. Below are original theories about the formation of the Moon and how they were disproven: Fission Theory: This theory is based on the fact that the chemical composition of the […] Continue reading →

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Blog #6

Posted on April 4, 2017 by niharikadar

Image of Ceres The asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter. This area is where the dwarf planet Ceres is located. Given that it was the first dwarf planet to be visited by a spacecraft and the largest object in the asteroid belt, there have been quite a few interesting discoveries about this celestial object. Here … Continue reading Blog #6 Continue reading →

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