Author Archives: sissichen17

My Journey toward Astronomy

Posted on April 29, 2022 by sissichen17

As the course ASTR 2110 – Solar System calls to the end, I would like to write something about myself. I applied to Vanderbilt University in biomedical engineering, which was a very different subject from physics & astronomy. I started to be enthusiastic about physics and astronomy in childhood when staring into the infinite space […] Continue reading →

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Arecibo Message

Posted on April 29, 2022 by sissichen17

Arecibo message is a radio message that carries information about humans to globular star cluster M13. It was famous for the coding of the message. The message included 1679 binaries, and two prime factors — 23 & 73. When aliens receive the message, they will easily put the signal to the 23 x 73 matrix […] Continue reading →

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Magnetar — A Fascinating Neutron Star

Posted on April 17, 2022 by sissichen17

Neutron stars are the collapsed core of the massive stars (our Sun cannot qualify that). Neutron star was the smallest and densest stellar object in the universe. A city-sized neutron star can obtain the mass of the Sun. There are two types of neutron stars — magnetars and pulsars. Pulsars are neutron stars with fast […] Continue reading →

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My Favourite Planet in Solar System — Uranus

Posted on April 15, 2022 by sissichen17

Uranus was my favorite planet in the solar system. From childhood, I was first attracted by its fabulous faint blue color. After learning astronomy, I recognized more fascinating facts about this mysterious planet which made me love it more! Uranus was famous for its large tilting angle, and this was probably due to a collision […] Continue reading →

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Binary Star Collision

Posted on March 22, 2022 by sissichen17

Binary stars were stars orbiting each other, and they might eventually collide due to the stellar mass loss or gravitational radiation which caused the decay of orbits. Stellar collisions could be amazing and rare, which happened once every 10000 years in our globular clusters. It was very likely, from scientists’ approximation, that a binary star […] Continue reading →

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Composition of Planets within the Solar System

Posted on March 22, 2022 by sissichen17

Different elements were occupied in different planets within the solar system. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars were terrestrial planets made of rocks, which were composed of diverse metal elements including magnesium and aluminum. Specifically, mercury obtained a thin exosphere of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium, and potassium. Venus consisted of an iron core and a carbon-dioxide […] Continue reading →

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Gravity in Solar System

Posted on February 17, 2022 by sissichen17

Acceleration due to gravity (g) is different for different planets due to their diverse masses and radii. Physicists usually figure out the by the formula g = GM/r**2, where G is the Universal Constant of Gravitation (6.67 * 10**(-11)), M is the mass of the planet, and r is the radius of the planet. By […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 8, 2022 by sissichen17

Nicholas Copernicus Birth Data: 19 February 1473  Death Data: 24 May 1543 Events During Copernicus’s Lifetime: 1494: Italian Renaissance marked its end when the austere monk Girolamo Savonarola rose power in Florence. 1519: Magellan started to sail around the world and proved that Earth was a circle. He travelled west across Atlantic, and he made […] Continue reading →

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Blog 1: Chinese Zodiac

Posted on January 28, 2022 by sissichen17

Zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. In astronomy, the zodiac is divided into 12 signs, each occupying 30° of celestial longitude and corresponding to one constellation.  In Chinese culture, it is similar that the zodiac […] Continue reading →

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Blog 0: Introduction

Posted on January 24, 2022 by sissichen17

Hi~~ I am Siyuan(Sissi) Chen, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering and physics with astronomy/astrophysics track. I like playing sports, especially soccer in my free time. As coming for Nashville, I also enjoy observing an infinite number of stars at night, which are really spectacular!!! Here are my ins & please follow me~ Continue reading →

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