Author Archives: brandonlipper

May the 4th be with you: the Twin Suns of Tatooine

Posted on May 4, 2021 by brandonlipper

One of my recent blogs crushed the dreams of many Star Wars fans by debunking the close proximity of asteroids within an asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back. That is why, in the spirit of Star Wars Day, I will be sharing an aspect of the films that Star Wars ended up getting correct:Continue reading “May the 4th be with you: the Twin Suns of Tatooine” Continue reading →

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Our Neighbor the Space Octopus

Posted on May 4, 2021 by brandonlipper

While the potential of finding microorganisms on Mars has intrigued us here on Earth for a while now, more advanced life may live on Jupiter’s fourth largest moon: Europa. In fact, Professor Monica Grady has proposed that, not only is life on Europa likely, but said life may include organisms with intelligence similar to thatContinue reading “Our Neighbor the Space Octopus” Continue reading →

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Han Solo Is Working Too Hard

Posted on April 17, 2021 by brandonlipper

While science-fiction flicks like Star Wars produce some exhilarating and high-stakes chase scenes with the help of treacherous asteroid fields/belts, in reality, you could probably navigate these asteroid belts blind-folded. With all due respect to Han Solo’s piloting skills and his less than twelve parsecs Kessel run, he would not actually have needed to utilizeContinue reading “Han Solo Is Working Too Hard” Continue reading →

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Which Exoplanet Could Be Planet B?

Posted on April 17, 2021 by brandonlipper

The transit method has already been used to discover a few thousand exoplanets and continues to discover more through both old observations and current missions. With this method, the brightness levels of stars in other solar systems are measured. When the brightness dims, this is a sign that an extrasolar planet may have passed inContinue reading “Which Exoplanet Could Be Planet B?” Continue reading →

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Martian Lakes

Posted on March 22, 2021 by brandonlipper

With the intimate connection between water and life, the discovery and understanding of water on Mars has been a crucial point of research that is continuing to be updated. Although there is no liquid water on the surface of Mars, there is water in the form of ice in polar caps and glaciers. If allContinue reading “Martian Lakes” Continue reading →

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Is the Moon actually made of cheese?

Posted on March 21, 2021 by brandonlipper

Unfortunately, the answer is no. However, the story of why the Moon’s surface looks the way it does it still an interesting one and one that helps us understand the solar system as a whole. The surface of the Moon most closely resembles that of Mercury (due to the lack of geological activity that comesContinue reading “Is the Moon actually made of cheese?” Continue reading →

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Tidal Friction: a 5 hour long day to a month long day

Posted on February 27, 2021 by brandonlipper

Due to the Universal law of gravitation, we know that objects of equal mass have a larger gravitation force between them when they are closer together. Because the near side of the Earth is closer to the Moon than the far side of the Earth, the force between the Moon and the near side ofContinue reading “Tidal Friction: a 5 hour long day to a month long day” Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 14, 2021 by brandonlipper

Nicholas Copernicus (February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543) was important to astronomy because, when he was studying astronomy, the Ptolemaic model for planetary motion was no longer accurate so he began studying Aristachus’ model from 1700 years before in which the planets orbit the sun. While working based on this idea, he was ableContinue reading “Historical Astronomers in Context” Continue reading →

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The Cosmic Calendar

Posted on February 7, 2021 by brandonlipper

Definition: a calendar in which the 14-billion-years of the universe’s existence, from the time of the Big Bang until this moment, are scaled to a period of one year. Origin: The idea of the Cosmic Calendar was first described by astronomer Carl Sagan on the original version of the television show Cosmos in 1980. KeyContinue reading “The Cosmic Calendar” Continue reading →

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Brandon Lipper Introduction

Posted on February 1, 2021 by brandonlipper

Hi! My name is Brandon and I’m from LA. I am a sophomore at Vanderbilt majoring in Medicine, Health, and Society. I’m excited to learn about the solar system! 🙂 I am hyperlinking the NY Jets page on ESPN because I’m a big fan. ESPN NY Jets page Continue reading →

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