Daily Archives: April 9, 2018

Extraterrestrial Life Becomes Slightly Less Likely

Posted on April 9, 2018 by terranojm

The six most common elements found in living organisms on Earth are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and phosphorus. Recently, astronomers have been attempting to look more into the origins of phosphorus in the universe, and through observations of the Crab Nebula, they found that the amount and distribution of phosphorus in the Milky Way … Continue reading “Extraterrestrial Life Becomes Slightly Less Likely” Continue reading →

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Why Galileo Mattered

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Jeanie Zeng

When Galileo began using his invention, the telescope, for observation of the cosmos, he was very quickly able to make three discoveries. The most revolutionary of his discoveries were that the surface of the moon was rough and uneven and satellite objects he later identified to be moons orbited Jupiter. These discoveries were fundamental in challenging … Continue reading Why Galileo Mattered → Continue reading →

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“You Heard About Pluto? It’s Messed Up Right?”

Posted on April 9, 2018 by kathrynkellner

When I was a kid we had 9 planets. That 9th planet was Pluto, which was (unfortunately for my generation) demoted to just a dwarf planet in 2006 (NASA: Pluto in Depth). As outraged as I was as a child that Pluto got demoted, the truth is, besides knowing it was the 9th planet, I … Continue reading “You Heard About Pluto? It’s Messed Up Right?” Continue reading →

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Extrasolar Planets and the Search for Life

Posted on April 9, 2018 by alcottastr2110

Kepler 22-b Extrasolar planets are planets that orbit a star other than our own. Being in another star system, these worlds are very hard to observe since they are so far away and the light they produce pales in comparison to that of the stars they orbit. Because of this, although their existence had already … Continue reading Extrasolar Planets and the Search for Life → Continue reading →

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The Real Geo-Storm: Saturn’s Hexagon

Posted on April 9, 2018 by jonahastroblog

Saturn. The only planet that people are able to clearly point out that has a large ring going around it. Ask any elementary school-aged individual and they will tell you that the only thing they know about Saturn is that it is that “big planet with the ring around it.” The reality of this is… Continue Reading → Continue reading →

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Kuiper Belt Objects…What Are They?

Posted on April 9, 2018 by terranojm

Kuiper Belt Objects are unique in that they have different compositions than most asteroids and different orbits than most comets. This has led astronomers to contemplate the identity of Kuiper Belt Objects. Surprisingly, the answer isn’t so clear. Asteroids are mostly composed of rock while comets are mostly composed of rock and ice. Most Kuiper … Continue reading “Kuiper Belt Objects…What Are They?” Continue reading →

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Europa: A Jovian Lunar Oasis?

Posted on April 9, 2018 by stellarastronomy1995

Discovered in 1610 by the renowned astronomer, engineer, and philosopher Galileo Galilei, the Jovian orbiter Europa may again serve to revolutionize humanity’s cosmic perspective. Initially evidence that Earth was not the absolute center of motion in the Universe, Europa, among the discovery of the other Galilean moons, advanced the credibility of the heliocentric model through … Continue reading Europa: A Jovian Lunar Oasis? → Continue reading →

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The Most Mysterious Star

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Michael Natinsky

Between these two constellations lies a star that scientists are just not able to figure out. As we’ve learned in class, a star’s light emission usually has minuscule dips as its planets orbit. But this star, which is not even visible to the human eye, seems to have a massive and constant bundle of matter … Continue reading The Most Mysterious Star → Continue reading →

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The Twin Sunsets

Posted on April 9, 2018 by mattbarnhartastro2110

When you think of tatooine from Star Wars, you may think of a couple of things – sand, sand barges, more sand(it gets everywhere), and the twin suns we see in the beginning of A New Hope. While Star Wars may be a space fantasy and the dual stars seem outlandish since we are in … Continue reading The Twin Sunsets → Continue reading →

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Io

Posted on April 9, 2018 by samssolarsystem

The Voyager program was first to photograph Io, when it deployed its two high-resolution imaging probes (Voyager I and Voyager 2) on September 5 and August 20, 1977 to investigate the Galilean moon.  Io, one of Jupiter’s four Galilean moon, is a fascinating celestial object.  In fact, Io is the most volcanically active world in our Solar System.  Io’s surface is … Continue reading Io → Continue reading →

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