Author Archives: jasonljohnson465

Cumulating Final Post

After 7 choruses, back to the head out. Image from NASA Writing this blog has been an interesting experience, and I feel like I learned a lot. The most surprising things I learned about was retrograde motion and how it worked. Before this course I had the term tossed around, but I didn’t know what […] Continue reading

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Extremophiles

Image from Cosmos Magazine Extremophiles are organisms capable of living under extreme conditions. This includes but is not limited to extreme temperature, radiation, pressure, and pH level. Given the extremely resilient nature of these organisms, they are some of the most abundant life forms. These creatures are fascinating as they have helped to stretch our […] Continue reading

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Giant Planets

Image from NASA In our Solar System, the giant planets are the outer four of the eight planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In other words, they are the Jovian planets. However, these planets are split into two categories of giant planets: gas giant and ice giant. While all four of the planets are gaseous […] Continue reading

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Pluto

Image from NASA Pluto was once the 9th planet of our Solar System. However, it has since been rebranded as a “dwarf planet.” Pluto is located in a distant region of the Solar System called the Kuiper Belt, found beyond the location of Neptune. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by an astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh […] Continue reading

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The Sun

The most important object in our Solar System. Image from NASA According to NASA, our Sun is a 4.5 billion year old yellow dwarf star composed of Helium and Hydrogen. It is the largest object in the Solar System with a diameter of about 1.4 million kilometers. The hottest part of the Sun is its […] Continue reading

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Retrograde Motion

Diagram of Retrograde Motion Retrograde motion is when the motion of a planet seems to reverse direction in the sky. The name of this phenomenon is derived from the Latin word retrogradus, which means “going backward.” This motion, however, is purely an illusion as the planet’s motion does not actually change and start moving backward […] Continue reading

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Historical Astronomers in Context

I chose the Astronomer Isaac Newton. Photo of Sir Isaac Newton Historical Events: The End of the English Civil War: It ended on September 3rd, 1651 with Oliver Cornwall’s victory at Worcester. It was a war that occurred in the British Isles between the supporters of Charles I and opposing groups in each of Charle’s […] Continue reading

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Solstices and Equinoxes

Diagram of the Equinoxes and Solstices from Article from The Conversation about what a Solstice is What are the Solstices and Equinoxes? As stated in The Cosmic Perspective by Jeffrey O. Bennett, they are terms used to define one of four specific moment in the year that mark the changing seasons—as depicted above in the […] Continue reading

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Hello, this is my blog

This is my blog for my astronomy class about the solar system. While there aren’t any black holes in our galaxy, I used to be obsessed with them back in elementary school.

Here is a hyperlink to a website that kind of freaked me out when I was… Continue reading

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