Daily Archives: March 21, 2022

Making our Earth

Posted on March 21, 2022 by gcomartin

New findings by the AKARI space telescope, coupled with surface modeling at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology present new evidence that the asteroid matter which composes Earth was located much further out in the solar system than initially thought. Their study involved computer modeling to develop reflective spectra of hypothetical […] Continue reading →

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The Orion Nebula

Posted on March 21, 2022 by AndreaS

If you have participated in observing for class, then you have seen through a telescope the Orion Nebula. Nebulae are star-forming regions that when studied can tell us lots about how stars and solar systems come to be, and the Orion Nebula is no different. When we look at the Orion Nebula through a telescope, […] Continue reading →

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The Martian: Based in Science or Fiction?

Posted on March 21, 2022 by timmyshaheen

The Martian originated as a book written by Andy Weir, then was adapted into a movie which was directed by Ridley Scott. The book and the movie prided themselves on being scientifically accurate. In fact, when Andy Weir was first writing the book, he published chapters on his blog, and adjusted them based on the […] Continue reading →

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The Formation of Nebulae

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Karan Bhardwaj

In discussing how planets and stars form, one will quickly find the nebular hypothesis — an idea that stars and the planets that orbit them were formed from clouds of gas called nebulae. But how was this nebula first formed, where did it come from, and what are the different types of nebulae? A nebula […] Continue reading →

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Findings of The Cassini Spacecraft

Posted on March 21, 2022 by alexbawa

On October 15th, 1997, the rocket carrying the Cassini Spacecraft and its Huygens probe took off from Cape Canaveral. It was sent to the outer solar system to study Saturn, as well as its moons. The Huygens probe was deployed to one of these moons, Titan, recording images and data. In 2017, after running out […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post 3 Creation and Composition of the Solar System

Posted on March 21, 2022 by isaachuggins

The creation of our planet, the Earth, was achieved by the forces of gravity over millions of years, melding together different rocks into a sphere. This process, known as accretion, let the Earth grow into the size it is today, with the help of Thea, a large planet that turned into our moon. These rocks […] Continue reading →

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Let’s Talk About Super-Earths

Posted on March 21, 2022 by jordanekstein

Super-Earths refer to planets discovered that are more massive than earth, yet lighter than ice giants like Neptune or Uranus. These super-earths can be composed of rock, gas or both and they must be between can be between 2 and ten times the size of earth. Despite their category name, this type of planet is […] Continue reading →

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History of our Solar System

Posted on March 21, 2022 by jschorr21

Approx. 13.8 billion years ago, everything we know and love in the universe was formed with The Big Bang. Fast-forwarding 9.2 billion years, we can start to see the formation of our Solar System. 4.6 billion years ago, what we call the Solar System was nothing but a large cloud of debris, gas, and dust […] Continue reading →

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Persevering through the trials of landing on Mars

Posted on March 21, 2022 by timmyshaheen

Space rovers can cost a space program billions of dollars to make; in fact, Perseverance cost NASA 2.7 billion dollars. (Planetary) With that much money, time, and effort being put into a project, it makes sense that those behind it, wish to actually see their hard work successfully operate. For this to happen, the rover […] Continue reading →

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The Different Atmospheres in our Solar System

Posted on March 21, 2022 by jordanekstein

An atmosphere consists of the gases surrounding a planet. Atmospheres are created by volcanism (outgassing of volcanoes involves eruptions that take gasses from the earth’s interior and put them into the atmosphere), evaporation (of compounds such as water), and life (outgassing of carbon dioxide and oxygen). Life is an interesting component of an atmosphere as […] Continue reading →

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