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Author Archives: alecsolarsystem
The Fermi Paradox
As Arthur C. Clarke once famously said, “Two possibilities exist. Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” This quote is relates in a very basic way to the Fermi Paradox. The paradox is that through the Drake Equation and the sheer size of the universe, there should […] Continue reading
The Mystery of “Hot Jupiters”
Over the last decade, astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, many of which have gone against our current understanding of planet formation. Most of these exoplanets orbit very close to their star, as these are the easiest to discover since they block out more light from their respective stars than planets orbiting farther out do. […] Continue reading
Posted in Exoplanets, Galaxies, Universe
Tagged astro2110, blog8, jupiter, orbits, Solar System
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A Year in Space
Just last month Scott Kelly finished what many of us would deem unbearable: spending a year in space. For almost an entire year, Scott Kelly lived with fellow Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko on the International Space Station in order to see the effects that long durations in zero-gravity conditions have on the human body. Prior to […] Continue reading
Posted in Historical, Physics
Tagged astro2110, blog6, Solar System, spacetravel, Time
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Olympus Mons
Mars is the home of the largest volcano in the Solar System: Olympus Mons. It stands 22km above the surface of Mars, and is it so wide it takes up an incredible 300,000 square kilometers of land. In comparison, Mt. Everest is only 8.8km tall, and Olympus Mons is approximately the size of Italy. As seen in […] Continue reading
Posted in Terrestrials
Tagged astro2110, blog5, geology, Mars, Solar System, Uncategorized, volcano
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Hearing the Universe
One of the most groundbreaking theories in astronomy has just been proven with the announcement last week that gravitational waves have been detected. Einstein had predicted these waves in 1916 in his theory of general relativity, and they were only just found today using lasers, which Einstein also laid the foundation for one year later in 1917. These […] Continue reading
Posted in Class, Observables, Physics
Tagged astro2110, blackhole, blog4, Einstein, gravitationalwaves, gravity, waves
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The Tidal Forces
Tides are a well known and commonly occurring natural phenomenon that most people have witnessed. While many people just accept tides and don’t really think much about them, they are prime examples of how much of an impact other objects in our Solar System have on seemingly normal occurrences. The tides on a beach like […] Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Terrestrials
Tagged astro2110, blog3, Moon, Solar System, tides, water
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Historical Astronomers in Context
Nicholas Copernicus (2/19/1473 – 5/24/1543) played a massive role in laying down the foundation for modern day astronomy. He came up with the heliocentric model of the solar system where the Sun was at the center, as opposed to the Earth as everyone had previously thought. This sparked the Copernican Revolution where a lot of new information […] Continue reading
Posted in Historical
Tagged astro2110, Copernicus, HW6
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The Great Shift
The Earth is like the top from Inception. As it spins around at very high speeds it wobbles or “precesses” back and forth as the force of gravity from the Moon and Sun tug it from different directions, but it will never fall over. This movement, although much slower and less noticeable than the Earth’s […] Continue reading
Posted in Physics
Tagged astro2110, blog2, earth, precession, seasons, Solar System, Time
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The Cosmic Calendar
The Cosmic Calendar is truly an eye-opening visualization of the entire age of our universe. It shrinks the entire 13.8 billion years that the universe has been around into one calendar year where each second equates to a few hundred years. The birth of the human species and just how little we have been around compared […] Continue reading
Posted in Class, Galaxies, Historical, Universe
Tagged astro2110, blog1, cosmiccalendar, humanorigin, Solar System, Time
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My First Post
This is my first post, and this is my hometown, Philadelphia.
Wikipedia Continue reading