Category Archives: Class

 New Horizons: Exploring Pluto and Beyond

Posted on April 9, 2023 by 7smessier45

Hello (again), and welcome (back) to my Astronomy Blog! Today we’re picking up where we left off with Pluto and the New Horizons mission.  The New Horizons Mission Although NASA approved the mission in 2001, the New Horizons mission officially entered the public conscience when the craft was launched on January 19th, 2006. The speedy […] Continue reading →

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Solar Eclipse

Posted on April 9, 2023 by niqretnuh

The Sun provides us the most necessary elements for life, and is the reason why we can see whatever surrounds us. The objects reflect sunlight and as those light reaches our eyes, we pick up the signals and “see” the objects. What would the world look like if the sun were to magically disappear? Solar […] Continue reading →

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James Webb Space Telescope and the Carina Nebula

Posted on April 9, 2023 by lightwyrs

The James Webb Space Telescope is by far the most intricate piece of technology we have ever sent into space. The engineering process for the JWST took nearly 30 years to build with Randy Kimble (who had worked on its predecessor – the Hubble Space Telescope) and had a cost of $10 billion. The components […] Continue reading →

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Pluto: New Horizon

Posted on April 9, 2023 by niqretnuh

Pluto, a dwarf planet farther out than Neptune in the Kuiper Belt, was once thought to be the ninth planet of our solar system. However, the discovery of Pluto’s moon, Charon, led to the revision of calculations on Pluto’s mass, and the redefinition of planets finally “kicked” Pluto out of the solar system planets since […] Continue reading →

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The Cosmic Microwave Background

Posted on April 9, 2023 by constellationsarentreal

One of the pillars that the Big Bang Theory Model rests on is the existence and characteristics of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The CMB is an observed cosmic glow of radiation seen everywhere, filling the universe like a sea. Roughly 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled enough (~3,000K) for free-roaming electrons […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post 6: Gravitational Slingshot

Posted on April 9, 2023 by Myles7235

Have you ever played with a slingshot to shoot small items such as pebbles as a kid? Astronomers can also tap into their inner child by using a gravitational slingshot in space. A gravitational slingshot happens when a small object uses the gravitational pull of a larger object to speed itself up. Take a spacecraft […] Continue reading →

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Pluto: If Size Doesn’t Matter, What Does?

Posted on April 9, 2023 by dougkyles422111

Pluto is one of the most underestimated discoveries of our solar system. What we expected to be a simple ice ball comet-like object in the very outreaches of our solar system ended up becoming one of the most interesting planetesimals that tell us a complex geology category. Many will know Pluto for its classification as […] Continue reading →

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The Loneliness of Rovers

Posted on April 9, 2023 by 88bw

Throughout this semester in ASTR2110, I have been reminded about how small we are compared to the universe. While this can be both a deflating and motivating perspective on our approach to astronomical study, I think it is undeniable that the rovers on Mars are unimaginably lonely during their stints on the red planet. I […] Continue reading →

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Halley’s Comet

Posted on April 9, 2023 by sahilreddy2

Giotto Spacecraft Approaching Halley’s Comet Halley’s Comet has the ability to completely destroy a city. Until learning about this comet in a previous homework assignment I never realized the true devastation even a comet of this size could cause on the earth. Halley’s Comet most famous observation occurred in 1066 where it was said that […] Continue reading →

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The Outer Solar System

Posted on April 9, 2023 by dromalley

For this blog post, I’m going to be taking you on a journey through the outer solar system, beginning with what’s usually the last stop on the tour: Pluto. Pluto, formerly a planet, is now classified as a dwarf planet, orbiting at a distant 39 AU from the Sun in the dim outer reaches of […] Continue reading →

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