Category Archives: Class

What is up with Io?

Today I wanted to talk about one of the most fascinating moons in the Solar System, Io is one of the four Galilean moons that orbits Jupiter, which are each large enough to be counted as planets or dwarf planets if they orbited the Sun. Io is covered in snow, and yet is by far […] Continue reading

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Saturn V

Saturn V the moon, also known as Rhea, is the second largest moon of Saturn. But Saturn V, the rocket used in the Apollo missions, is one of the largest rockets ever built by mankind. NASA’s Saturn V is the largest rocket in the Saturn family and was used in 9 Apollo missions to carry […] Continue reading

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Touching the Sun

Many space missions are aimed outwards, away from the center of our solar system into the deep unknown. Fewer are aimed inwards, because what else is there to explore? The Sun is a fiery ball of extraordinary mass that we likely have no hope of making contact with soon, but how close can we get? […] Continue reading

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Miranda

Uranus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates on its side, with an axis tilt of 97.77 degrees. This is most likely the result of a large collision not long after the planet formed. Among Uranus’ moons, there is one in particular that has drawn my attention, one that is also likely […] Continue reading

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Callisto, The Ugly Duckling

When it comes to Jupiter’s Galilean moons, Callisto is the odd one out. Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System, Io is the most volcanically active world in the Solar System, Europa has incredible, potentially life-bearing subsurface liquid oceans, and Callisto… looks as dead as Mercury. It does not take part in the […] Continue reading

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The Principal Investigator of the New Horizons Mission

I like to write my blog posts about a specific topic we discussed in class or used in a homework assignment. The most recent homework assignment concerning the speech given by Alan Stern was especially fascinating to me. Stern did a great job in discussing the New Horizons mission, he covered everything from the team […] Continue reading

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Birth and Death of Stars

The birth and death of stars is a complex and intriguing process that occurs over millions or even billions of years. Understanding this process is important for gaining a deeper understanding of our universe and the conditions necessary for life to exist. The birth of a star begins with a cloud of gas and dust […] Continue reading

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Dwarf Planet Eris

Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, was discovered in 2005 by a team of astronomers led by Mike Brown. With a diameter of approximately 2,326 kilometers, Eris is located in the outer Solar System and has an elliptical orbit that takes it from as close as 38.2 astronomical units (AU) to […] Continue reading

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Neptune

In the outermost layer of the solar system, there is a […] Continue reading

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Pluto

Pluto is a particularly interesting dwarf planet, which […] Continue reading

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