Category Archives: Class

Put a ring on it!! 🪐

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Abbie!!

When I think of rings, the first planet that comes to mind is Saturn. Saturn has the most impressive rings out of all the Jovian planets in our solar system. (In fact, Saturn’s rings are so prominent that I sometimes forget that other Jovian planets also have rings!!) First, let’s talk about the properties of […] Continue reading →

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Blog 4: Systema Cosmicum

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Seth Creech

History Channel Portrait of Galileo Galileo was one of, if not the most revolutionary astronomer of all time. He lived at a point where the Catholic Church controlled a large section of public and private life, but they were also seeing their power wane through the Protestant Reformation, championed by Martin Luther (among others). The […] Continue reading →

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Kepler-452b

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Owen Purcell

Kepler-452b is an exoplanet about 15 light-years away from us.  It is notable because it is the most Earth-like planet that has been discovered so far.  It is 60% larger than Earth, which is certainly significant, but it has an orbit that lasts 385 Earth-days, and it orbits only 5% further from its star than […] Continue reading →

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Sideways Wonder, Uranus

Posted on March 6, 2024 by obisesoa

Aside from being named after Jupiter’s progenitors rather than his offspring or contemporaries, Uranus has the obvious distinction from having its axis be almost horizontal, meaning it rotates on its side like a wheel rather than like a top, possibly due to a drastic collision it suffered while forming that it never bothered to correct. […] Continue reading →

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Combining Forces: Nuclear Fusion in the Solar System

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Seth Creech

Business Insider Ignition Image Shown above is from the National Ignition Facility, where scientists successfully produced (and reproduced) a nuclear fusion reaction that had more energy output than input. The underlying math behind this lies in E=mc2, which shows that Mass (m) can be converted into a large amount of energy at the sacrifice of […] Continue reading →

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So what is a Black Hole?

Posted on March 5, 2024 by The Cosmic Traveler

by me A black hole is an astronomical object in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape from it, including light. The “surface” of a black hole is known as the event horizon. Black holes are undetectable by telescopes because no light can escape from them; However, they can be […] Continue reading →

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Far Out, Man

Posted on March 5, 2024 by obisesoa

Telescopes laid the foundation for everything we know about space, but they can only get you so far. If you don’t particularly feel like removing the planet’s entire atmosphere to get a better view, spacecrafts do a pretty good job of getting a closer look. Flyby spacecraft are the simplest and least expensive; they can […] Continue reading →

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Understanding Auroras: The Physics of Earth’s Magnetic Light Shows

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Garrett

The Northern Lights The northern lights, or aurora borealis, is a display of natural light that occurs in the Earth’s sky. What you might not know is that there is another light show on Earth called aurora australis, which occurs in the southern hemisphere. So, what causes these natural and captivating lights? Solar winds are […] Continue reading →

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Natural Ozone Formation

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Owen Purcell

In the history of life on Earth, ozone has played an incredibly important role. For much of the early history of life, the atmosphere contained little oxygen, slowly being replaced by carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. It wasn’t until a critical mass of this CO2 was replaced that animal life could venture onto land. This is […] Continue reading →

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The Role of Radioactive Decay in Earth’s Internal Heat

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Garrett

Image: Cross Section of Earth As we have learned, the cause of seasons is the directness of sunlight a particular region of the Earth receives. What you may not know is that the sun is not the only source that heats up the Earth. The Earth actually internally generates its own heat through radioactive decay. […] Continue reading →

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