Author Archives: Matthew Marcus

Why Two Types of Planets?

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

FIGURE 8.5 from The Cosmic Perspective (taken from Quizlet) When looking at a diagram of our solar system, one likely notices that there are two visually distinct categories of planets. The smaller, rocky planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars—are known as the terrestrial (Earth-like) planets, and the larger, more gaseous planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—are known […] Continue reading →

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The Nebula Theory

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

Image from Formation of the Solar System on by Sydney Garrett One of the greatest questions of our solar system is how it came to be. A theory worthy of consideration has many criteria it must be able to fulfill: it should explain the motion of our celestial bodies, the two different types of planets, […] Continue reading →

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Spectroscopy

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

Blog #2 While the role of light in our everyday lives is to make color and form visible, by studying light with spectroscopy, we can learn a surprising amount about the object that produces a certain spectrum of wavelengths. In order to understand spectroscopy, first, we must understand what light physically is. Light is composed […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) Johannes Kepler’s most recognized contribution to astronomy are his three laws of planetary motion, published in 1609. First, planets’ orbital paths are elliptical, with the sun positioned at one focus. Second, during a planet’s orbit, equally sized sectors are swept out from the planet to the […] Continue reading →

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The Cosmic Calendar

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

For me, one of the biggest challenges in studying astronomy is truly understanding the scale of space and time. When humans have walked the earth for hundreds of thousands of years, it is hard to recognize that our collective existence is a mere flash in the grand scheme of the universe’s 14-billion year life. Every […] Continue reading →

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Hello!

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

photo by Josh Rehders My name is Matthew, and I’m a student at Vanderbilt University. I love singing, and you can find a video of a Barbershop Harmony Performance I was in at the hyperlink below at 19:42. Continue reading →

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