Daily Archives: April 17, 2022

The Moons of the Jovian Planets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by McKenzieKing

Some of the most well known moons in our Solar System, aside from our own, are Jupiter’s Moons. They are known as Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. However, there are over 170 known moons that orbit all of the Jovian…

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Exoplanets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

The words in the above picture are hard to make out, but I really liked the visual of some of the known exoplanets graphed on a plot. The color and appearances of these planets are not truly known since we have not directly seen them, but they are inferred based on density, temperature, metal content, […] Continue reading →

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Using Variable Stars to Find Exoplanets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by alexlitt

One of the preeminent methods for finding exoplanets is tracking periodic variations in stellar brightness. In class, we practiced this technique by examining the light curves of certain variable stars and identifying the presence of orbiting exoplanets. In the real world, scientists must first identify variable stars and then determine which of these variable stars’ […] Continue reading →

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The Moons of Saturn

Posted on April 17, 2022 by AndreaS

There are many moons of Saturn, but the two largest are Titan and Enceladus. Titan is an enormous moon, the second largest in the Solar System after Jupiter’s Ganymede. It is notable for its thick atmosphere, which is made up of mostly Nitrogen compounds. Its surface is characterized as geologically young, with evidence of lakes […] Continue reading →

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Blog 5: Comets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

Comets are relatively small bodies in our solar system comprised of dust, rock, gases, and ice. They are remnants from the formation of the solar system, and their solid bodies, or nuclei, can range from a few miles to dozens of miles wide. When its orbit gets close to the sun, this nucleus heats up […] Continue reading →

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Black Holes

Posted on April 17, 2022 by alexbawa

If you’re like me, you’ve heard plenty about black holes, but your only real understanding comes from a couple Interstellar screenings. The movie does a pretty great job being accurate, but even the excessively brilliant characters don’t know whats going on behind the scenes. This blog is an exploration of the phenomena, equal parts for […] Continue reading →

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Wormholes

Posted on April 17, 2022 by jadonroy

One of the many wonders of our cosmos that peaked my curiosity to the world of astrophysics was the concept of the wormhole. After seeing a wormhole being used in one of my favorite movies, Interstellar , I became even more fascinated with this topic as it I was given a cinematic and visual example […] Continue reading →

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The Moons of Jupiter

Posted on April 17, 2022 by AndreaS

Jupiter has many moons, but the largest of them are the Galilean moon, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io. This post will explore the defining features of these Jovian moons. The largest of Jupiter’s moons is Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System. In fact, Ganymede is larger than Mercury. This moon has a liquid […] Continue reading →

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Neptune’s Triton’s Origins

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Sheila Chau

As compared to other moons, Neptune’s Triton was captured into Neptune’s orbit. This was found out due to its backward rotation and how it rotates at a high inclination to Neptune’s equator. Rather than being formed in the disk of gas around Neptune, Triton was most likely captured into Neptune’s orbit.  There is one way…Continue reading » Continue reading →

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Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Posted on April 17, 2022 by alexbawa

Growing up, I grew to recognize Jupiter’s distinctive birthmark, but I never attempted to understand it. I figured their were clever astronomers out there who knew what was going on and I’d end up absorbing what they know from a TED talk at 1.5x speed. After looking into it though, it turns out the Great […] Continue reading →

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