Category Archives: Class

Are There Planets Outside of Our Solar System?

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

The answer to this question is a resounding yes. Before the Copernican Revolution, back when many cultures still believed the Earth to be the center of the universe, the fact that these exoplanets exist would have been largely unthinkable. But today, well over 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered. When these distant bodies have eluded us […] Continue reading →

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All About Comets

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

In popular media, comets are often depicted as huge balls of fire streaking across the sky. See Sozin’s Comet from Avatar the Last Airbender as an example: It may then be surprising to learn that asteroids are small, ice-rich bodies that are completely frozen for the majority of their life cycles. Comets tend to have […] Continue reading →

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What Exactly is Pluto?

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Justinc

Did you know, Pluto isn’t considered to be a planet? Well you might’ve known that because of widespread media covering this information, but you may not know the reason why. There’s three qualifications of being officially considered a planet: it needs to orbit the sun; it needs to be big enough to be a spherical […] Continue reading →

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The Europa Clipper Mission

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Artist’s concept of Europa Clipper orbiting Europa. On October 14th, 2024 the Europa Clipper Mission was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy Rocket. It is now on a 6 year journey of 1.8 billion miles to circle the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The Europa Clipper blasts into space on a […] Continue reading →

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Halley’s Comet

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Halley’s Comet In 1705, Edmund Halley, an English astronomer, used Isaac Newton’s theories to chart the paths of 24 comets. In doing so he discovered that three comets that were seen in 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the exact same comet: Halley’s Comet. He then predicted that the same comet should appear again in the […] Continue reading →

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Space Weather and Technology

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Michael

The field of space physics is becoming extremely important due to society’s increasing reliance on technologies that can be affected by space weather. Aviation, GPS, internet, and the power grid are just a few examples of infrastructure that may be damaged or even destroyed in a large-scale space weather event. Posing potentially lethal hazards, this […] Continue reading →

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How Do Spacecraft Move?

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Henry Wang

We’ve all seen videos of spacecraft launching: 3, 2, 1, Blastoff! The main booster rocket burns a tremendous amount of energy to escape Earth’s gravity, reaching terminal velocity. Rocket Launch But when they enter space, this much force is wholly unnecessary, there is no gravitational field to escape, so how do spaceships move? The main […] Continue reading →

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Extrasolar(exo) Planets

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Henry Wang

Extrasolar planets, or as they are better known: exoplanets, refers to any planet that exists outside of our own solar system, which is quite a lot. Astronomers are naturally very interested in planets in other solar systems, learning about their properties, sizes, or age. This information helps us understand our own solar system but also […] Continue reading →

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Studying the Kuiper Belt

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Michael

The Kuiper Belt is a very important region of our solar system, and objects in the Kuiper Belt have been essential in helping scientists determine how the solar system formed. Most of these objects are small and icy, with some (relatively) large enough to be accepted as dwarf planets, such as Pluto. In this blog […] Continue reading →

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The ‘Grand Tack’ Hypothesis

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Alekzander Waller

The Grand Tack hypothesis theorizes that Jupiter formed much farther out from the sun than it currently is, migrated inwards quite a bit due to interactions with the early solar nebula, and then back out a little ways (imitating a tack, the maneuver where a sailboat changes direction). Of all of the fascinating facts and […] Continue reading →

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