Category Archives: Class

The Unknown Planet

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Ayden Harris

Growing up we always heard about how our solar system had eight main planets orbiting the Sun; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. But, what if there was another planet? This is known as the ninth planet hypothesis, and no I don’t mean Pluto. It is estimated that it could have ten […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Unknown Planet

Protecting Our Home

Posted on April 8, 2024 by John Newell

History is doomed to repeat itself. Will we be ready? Around 66 million years ago, an object estimated to be around 10km wide struck Earth at incredibly high speeds. The energy released was equivalent to roughly 100 million megatons of TNT. The impact, then, released over 6.5 billion times more energy than the catastrophically powerful […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Physics, Science | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Protecting Our Home

Could Aliens See Us?

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Owen Purcell

One of the most inspiring ventures in the world of astronomy in the 21st century is the increasing discovery of exoplanets. They represent the most extensive effort to find life outside of Earth. So far, we have discovered thousands of planets surrounding other stars, but there is something of a selection bias. Astronomers use a […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Could Aliens See Us?

You Take the Moon and It Blocks the Sun

Posted on April 8, 2024 by obisesoa

An eclipse occurs whenever a celestial body passes in front of or behind another in a way that whoever is on the surface can notice such an obstruction. Lunar eclipses occur on average twice a year when the moon moves into the Earth’s shadow during the full moon phase, which happens to be the only […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Science, Sun | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on You Take the Moon and It Blocks the Sun

The Solar Eclipse

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Ethan Jones

Like many of you I was very excited to see the solar eclipse today. I thought about driving to see totality, but ended up choosing against it as I figured it would be too much, and I had a quiz the morning of. So, I decided to stick around campus and watch it from here. […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Solar Eclipse

The Most Famous Comet

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Garrett

The Bayeux tapestry For my blog post I wanted to focus on comets. I figured I would do some research on the only comet I knew by name before taking astronomy, Halley’s Comet. Halley is the most famous of its kind and its presence in our history goes back more than 1000 years. Halley was […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Most Famous Comet

Ancient History of Eclipses

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Justin Kim

Hello all! In honor of the partial solar eclipse we got to briefly see in Nashville on Monday, I wanted to explore some of the interesting history of eclipses. The first known recording of an eclipse was from November 30th in 3340 BCE in Ireland. This discovery was based on “overlapping circular rock carvings, called […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Ancient History of Eclipses

Blog 6: The Solar Eclipse Today

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Seth Creech

This is my picture of the solar eclipse from today. The fact that eclipses even happen is one of the craziest coincidences, as the difference in relative size of the Moon and the Sun is the same percentage-wise, meaning that when the Moon is exactly in front of the Sun, it completely blocks it. There […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Blog 6: The Solar Eclipse Today

Blog 5: The Controversy Behind Pluto’s Planethood

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Seth Creech

Pluto orbits our Sun far out past Neptune, and has been the source of controversy as we have learned more about it. The argument centers around whether this celestial object should be defined as a planet or a dwarf planet. This leads to an even bigger question: what separates a dwarf planet from a planet? […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Blog 5: The Controversy Behind Pluto’s Planethood

The Eclipse Almost Stole My Sight

Posted on April 8, 2024 by The Cosmic Traveler

by Marca On Monday, April 8, 2024, North America witnessed a solar eclipse, and it almost blinded me. But before I talk about that, what is a solar eclipse? A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, which blocks the Sun totally or partially and casts a shadow on […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Science, Sun | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Eclipse Almost Stole My Sight