Author Archives: danielsolarsystem

Fermi’s Great Filter

Posted on May 2, 2018 by danielsolarsystem

Many people think about our future of exploring the solar system and perhaps nearby star systems and imagine finding bacterial life or perhaps even fossils or ruins of life that has gone extinct. While this would imply that life exists much more plentifully than expected across our galaxy, it might not actually bode well for … Continue reading Fermi’s Great Filter → Continue reading →

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NASA Soon to Learn Much More about Nearby Planetary Systems

Posted on April 15, 2018 by danielsolarsystem

On April 16th, NASA is scheduled to launch a new satellite that will give us much more information about the planets that orbit the stars near ours. Since 2009, the Kepler mission has provided us with information about thousands of planets in our galaxy. While that data has been incredibly useful, this new satellite nicknamed … Continue reading NASA Soon to Learn Much More about Nearby Planetary Systems → Continue reading →

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Mystery in the Kuiper Belt

Posted on April 9, 2018 by danielsolarsystem

Though it unfortunately doesn’t come with a fun apocalyptic theory like Planet X of the 1980s, several groups of scientists are beginning to believe that there might be a ninth planet in the solar system. The pair of astronomers who proposed the existence of this mysterious planet were met with a great deal of skepticism … Continue reading Mystery in the Kuiper Belt → Continue reading →

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Nuclear Fusion Here on Earth

Posted on March 20, 2018 by danielsolarsystem

Though nuclear fusion is most often talked about as something that takes place in the cores of stars, many people don’t realize that nuclear fusion has been produced by people here on Earth since the 1940s. Unfortunately for the first several decades that fusion occurred on Earth, it only served the purpose of destruction. Although … Continue reading Nuclear Fusion Here on Earth → Continue reading →

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A New Age of Rocketry (Thanks Vandy!)

Posted on February 12, 2018 by danielsolarsystem

Last week, entrepreneurial genius/potential supervillain Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy. Immediately upon its successful launch, the Falcon Heavy became the world’s most powerful active rocket, capable of carrying heavy payloads such as government satellites to geosynchronous orbit and lighter payloads as far as Mars. (Cross-promotional superstar “Starman” is likely to make it almost … Continue reading A New Age of Rocketry (Thanks Vandy!) → Continue reading →

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Derivation of Kepler’s Second Law

Posted on February 12, 2018 by danielsolarsystem

Here is a detailed derivation of Kepler’s second law of planetary motion. I find this derivation of Kepler’s Second Law and similar derivations I have seen for other laws extremely interesting. This is actually the most straightforward of the derivations of Kepler’s three laws. The reason I am so intrigued by this derivation is because … Continue reading Derivation of Kepler’s Second Law → Continue reading →

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Contextualizing Historical Astronomers

Posted on February 12, 2018 by danielsolarsystem

Sir Isaac Newton- Born: 12/25/1642, Died: 3/20/1726       Isaac Newton is regarded by many as the father of modern science. Not only did he come up with his three laws of physics, but he also invented calculus as he was trying to understand the orbital paths of comets he was observing. The application … Continue reading Contextualizing Historical Astronomers → Continue reading →

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