Monthly Archives: April 2021

ExploreSol

It might surprise you to know that the sun is over 90 million miles away from us! That’s right: something that far away is able to provide us with life-saving light and warmth. A process called nuclear fusion is responsible for the sun’s tremendous heat and brilliant shine. Though it may look different from otherContinue reading “ExploreSol” Continue reading

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The Fermi Paradox

The Fermi Paradox is the paradox that while there are probably other intelligent life forms in the Milky Way, none have have made any communication with Earth. Since Earth is a younger planet of the Milky Way, if intelligent civilizations existed they would likely be much older, meaning they would have the technology to communicate […] Continue reading

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Thermus Aquaticus

Thermus Aquaticus is an extremophile that can survive extremely hot temperatures. It is a species of bacteria, whose scientific classification is Bacteria, Deinococcus-Thermus, Deinococci, Thermales, Thermaceae, Thermus, Thermus Aquaticus (Domain, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species). Thermus Aquaticus is a chemotroph, which means it obtains food through chemosynthesis. The species was first discovered in 1969Continue reading “Thermus Aquaticus” Continue reading

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Blog 6 Aristotle’s cosmology

In this blog, I would like to introduce Aristotle’s model of the universe. The cosmic theory from Aristotle is clearly wrong from the view of modern science. However, before modern astronomy was developed, Aristotle’s ideas about our world dominated people’s belief for thousands of years. It was embraced by scholars, philosophers, and religious leaders asContinue reading “Blog 6 Aristotle’s cosmology” Continue reading

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Comet Swift-Tuttle

Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle (which is unfortunately not named after Taylor Swift) is just one of the several thousand comets that are known to astronomers. The “P” in its name stands for “periodic comet”, which means that it has an orbital period of less than 200 years. It was separately discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift andContinue reading “Comet Swift-Tuttle” Continue reading

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How Moons Get Their Names

With advancements being made in telescopy allowing astronomers to use the astrometric, Doppler, and transit methods to unparalleled accuracy, we can’t let ourselves get behind in naming these fascinating new worlds. Before we were discovering extrasolar planets, however, we were classifying small worlds and satellites within our own Solar System. Some of the more notableContinue reading “How Moons Get Their Names” Continue reading

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Galaxies

Galaxies are cosmic Islands of stars, gas, dust and dark matter. They span across very long distances and they are held together by gravity. There are multiple types of Galaxies as shown in the the photo above. The word galaxy is derived from the greek word “galaxias”. It means milky, which is a direct referenceContinue reading “Galaxies” Continue reading

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Kuiper Belt Objects

The Kuiper Belt is a region in the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune as shown in the photo above. Although they have only scratched the surface, there has been about 2,000 objects discovered so far in the Kuiper belt. It is said to be filled with bits of rock and ice, along withContinue reading “Kuiper Belt Objects” Continue reading

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The Heart of Pluto

Pluto’s beloved carotid glacier, Tombaugh Regio, has been the apple of astronomers’ eyes ever since New Horizons made its fly-by in 2015. This fly-by gave us the highest resolution images of Pluto we’ve ever been able to capture, and in these new photos, a particular feature on the dwarf planet’s surface rose to a meteoricContinue reading “The Heart of Pluto” Continue reading

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Types of Kuiper Belt Objects

You have likely heard of the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, but did you know we also have the Kuiper belt? It’s approximately 20 AU (astronomical units) wide and is located beyond Neptune. Several dwarf planets such as Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, and Eris are all located here. Unlike asteroids which are mostly composedContinue reading “Types of Kuiper Belt Objects” Continue reading

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