Category Archives: Class

The Martian: Based in Science or Fiction?

The Martian originated as a book written by Andy Weir, then was adapted into a movie which was directed by Ridley Scott. The book and the movie prided themselves on being scientifically accurate. In fact, when Andy Weir was first writing the book, he published chapters on his blog, and adjusted them based on the […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Martian: Based in Science or Fiction?

The Formation of Nebulae

In discussing how planets and stars form, one will quickly find the nebular hypothesis — an idea that stars and the planets that orbit them were formed from clouds of gas called nebulae. But how was this nebula first formed, where did it come from, and what are the different types of nebulae? A nebula […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Formation of Nebulae

Findings of The Cassini Spacecraft

On October 15th, 1997, the rocket carrying the Cassini Spacecraft and its Huygens probe took off from Cape Canaveral. It was sent to the outer solar system to study Saturn, as well as its moons. The Huygens probe was deployed to one of these moons, Titan, recording images and data. In 2017, after running out […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Jovians, Moons | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Findings of The Cassini Spacecraft

Blog Post 3 Creation and Composition of the Solar System

The creation of our planet, the Earth, was achieved by the forces of gravity over millions of years, melding together different rocks into a sphere. This process, known as accretion, let the Earth grow into the size it is today, with the help of Thea, a large planet that turned into our moon. These rocks […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Terrestrials | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Blog Post 3 Creation and Composition of the Solar System

Let’s Talk About Super-Earths

Super-Earths refer to planets discovered that are more massive than earth, yet lighter than ice giants like Neptune or Uranus. These super-earths can be composed of rock, gas or both and they must be between can be between 2 and ten times the size of earth. Despite their category name, this type of planet is […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , | Comments Off on Let’s Talk About Super-Earths

History of our Solar System

Approx. 13.8 billion years ago, everything we know and love in the universe was formed with The Big Bang. Fast-forwarding 9.2 billion years, we can start to see the formation of our Solar System. 4.6 billion years ago, what we call the Solar System was nothing but a large cloud of debris, gas, and dust […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , | Comments Off on History of our Solar System

Persevering through the trials of landing on Mars

Space rovers can cost a space program billions of dollars to make; in fact, Perseverance cost NASA 2.7 billion dollars. (Planetary) With that much money, time, and effort being put into a project, it makes sense that those behind it, wish to actually see their hard work successfully operate. For this to happen, the rover […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Persevering through the trials of landing on Mars

The Different Atmospheres in our Solar System

An atmosphere consists of the gases surrounding a planet. Atmospheres are created by volcanism (outgassing of volcanoes involves eruptions that take gasses from the earth’s interior and put them into the atmosphere), evaporation (of compounds such as water), and life (outgassing of carbon dioxide and oxygen). Life is an interesting component of an atmosphere as […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Jovians, Terrestrials | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Different Atmospheres in our Solar System

Blog 4: Black Holes

Black holes have always been a topic that interests me, and this article gives some very cool insight to a possible cause for the formation of these black holes. Most black holes have been found to form as the result of stars collapsing, and then when matter in multiple black holes collides, these black holes […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Blog 4: Black Holes

Earth’s Atmosphere and Life

Earth’s atmosphere is conducive to life in a way other terrestrial worlds’ atmospheres are not.  This is because of the greenhouse effect, which keeps Earth warm and allows water to exist in its liquid form. Other planets such as Mercury which do not have an atmosphere or the greenhouse effect are extremely hot during the […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Light, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Earth’s Atmosphere and Life