Author Archives: Justinc

Astro2110 Reflection

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Justinc

I learned many things about the solar system this semester. The topic I learned that was the most surprising to me was the composition of the Jovian planets. Despite being known as gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn are mostly composed of liquid and metallic hydrogen. Furthermore, although Uranus and Neptune is largely made from gaseous […] Continue reading →

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Is There Life Outside Earth?

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Justinc

A common question many people have asked is if there is life outside Earth and in the Milky Way Galaxy. Current observations and technology have not progressed enough to give a conclusive answer to this exciting and concerning question however people are still searching. One astrophysicist/astrobiologist named Frank Drake came up with an equation to […] Continue reading →

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Extrasolar Planets and How to Find Them

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Justinc

Extrasolar planets are planets that are found outside the Solar System. Stars are relatively easier to find than extrasolar planets as they are generally bigger and luminous (give off light). But planets, neither generate much light nor are they as big as stars so how do scientists find them? Well there are four main ways […] Continue reading →

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What Exactly is Pluto?

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Justinc

Did you know, Pluto isn’t considered to be a planet? Well you might’ve known that because of widespread media covering this information, but you may not know the reason why. There’s three qualifications of being officially considered a planet: it needs to orbit the sun; it needs to be big enough to be a spherical […] Continue reading →

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To Date Ancient Rocks and Artifacts

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Justinc

How do scientists know how old Earth and its rocks are? Modern humans have existed for “only” about 200,000 years, and modern science has existed for only a few hundred years (heck, how do we even know how long we as a species have existed?). So, how do scientists today know how old rocks are? […] Continue reading →

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What is Climate Change?

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Justinc

The words “climate change” and “global warming” are thrown around in politics and science, but what is “climate change” and what is causing it? There are actually four causes of climate change: solar brightening, changes in reflectivity, changes in axial tilt, and changes in greenhouse gas abundance. Solar Brightening is the change in energy the […] Continue reading →

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Reason for Tides

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Justinc

Tides rise and fall twice a day on Earth, and this is mostly due to the Moon’s gravitational pull on Earth. The Moon’s gravity pull on the Earth’s bodies of water squeezing it towards the Moon. The opposite side of the Earth is also receiving high tides due to this reason. I used the word […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Justinc

A portrait of Galileo Galilei

Importance to Astronomy – Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) contributed many findings related to astronomy, a few include: He took a spyglass and improved upon it so that… Continue reading →

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The Speed of Light In Respect to the Scale of the Universe

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Justinc

Distances in space is so great that it needs to be measured in how long it takes for light to travel to that location. Light travels around 299,792,458 m/s or about 671,000,000 mph. Compared to the speed of sound on Earth, which is about 373m/s or about 767 mph, the speed of light is more […] Continue reading →

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My First Blog Post

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Justinc

This is my high school graduation photo. https://www.google.com ^ This is a hyperlink to Google. Continue reading →

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