Author Archives: luanaisaac1125

Finale – Culminate Post

Posted on April 27, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

I learned much more than I thought I would in this course. Before taking this class, all I really knew about our solar system was that there are 8 planets (and Earth is the third one), the asteroid belt is a thing, Jupiter is big, and Saturn is the planet with pretty rings. I didn’t … Continue reading Finale – Culminate Post → Continue reading →

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The Fermi Paradox and The Great Filter

Posted on April 26, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

Simply stated, the Fermi Paradox asks the question, “Where Are All The Aliens?” The life-projecting equations we’ve discussed in class, such as the Drake and Seager Equations, all seem to suggest that thousands, millions, or billions of other forms of life should be out there in the universe. But if that’s the case, why haven’t … Continue reading The Fermi Paradox and The Great Filter → Continue reading →

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Enceladus

Posted on April 7, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

Enceladus is a medium-size moon of Saturn, with a diameter of about 500 km. Its surface temperature is quite chilly, ranging between 32.9 K (-240 degrees Celsius) and 145 K (-128 degrees Celsius); this is partially because of its distance from the Sun, and also because of its highly reflective surface. The entire moon is … Continue reading Enceladus → Continue reading →

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Solar Flare vs Solar Prominence

Posted on March 12, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

I obviously can’t speak for anyone else, but I whole-heartedly believed that the beautiful loops of material that we sometimes see images and videos of on the Sun were included in the term ‘solar flare.’ As I looked into it, I came to find that solar flares and solar prominences (the ‘loops’) are in fact … Continue reading Solar Flare vs Solar Prominence → Continue reading →

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The Atmosphere of Venus

Posted on March 12, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

Venus’s atmosphere is very, very dense. It is composed of about 96% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen, and trace amounts of other gases, including sulfur dioxide. Although Earth’s atmosphere is composed of over 75% nitrogen, Venus’s atmosphere is so dense that the 3.5% of its atmosphere that is composed of nitrogen has around 4 times the … Continue reading The Atmosphere of Venus → Continue reading →

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Apparent Retrograde Motion: what it is, and what it isn’t

Posted on February 10, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

One thing that must be said right away: retrograde motion is not the same thing as apparent retrograde motion. Retrograde motion generally denotes ‘backwards’ motion, and the specifics depend on how the term is being used. A retrograde orbit refers to an object orbiting in the opposite direction that the thing it orbits around is … Continue reading Apparent Retrograde Motion: what it is, and what it isn’t → Continue reading →

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Galileo in Context

Posted on January 29, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

Galileo Galilei, born February 15, 1564, died January 8, 1642. Galileo essentially solidified Copernicus’s, Brahe’s, and Kepler’s work that showed that Earth is not the center of the universe. His observations of the sun, moon, Venus, and Jupiter’s moons were important in proving that celestial bodies are not perfect and that most things in the … Continue reading Galileo in Context → Continue reading →

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The Size of the Universe, Relative to the Size of a Picnicker

Posted on January 20, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

The video begins with a man and a woman out on a picnic, then begins zooming out farther and farther. They start with a focus image 1 x 1 meter wide, then zoom out to a field of vision 10 times larger every ten seconds. So, the first zoom out brings the image to 10m … Continue reading The Size of the Universe, Relative to the Size of a Picnicker → Continue reading →

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Introductory Post

Posted on January 15, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

Photo of my dog, Max. Taken by me.
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