Category Archives: General

Blog #3 Formation of the Solar System

The formation of the Solar System is truly a testament to our good fortune of life being possible on a planet located in the “Goldilocks Zone” near the Sun. The initial conditions allowed for not only Earth to be composed of rocky elements such as carbon but for the Earth to be protected from flying […] Continue reading

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Nuances of Thermal Energy

Today I learned about the nuances of thermal energy that answered a forgotten question from my childhood. When I was little I was always afraid to stick my hand inside a hot oven because I knew how badly my tongue gets burned whenever I drink something hot. However, when I finally did stick my hand […] Continue reading

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Blog #1: The Power of Ten

The Power of Ten video puts into perspective the miniscule size of not only individuals on Earth but of the Solar System entirely. At only 3 minutes into the video, we were already far beyond the Solar System with so much time remaining. Not only was I struck by the immense scale of the universe, […] Continue reading

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Eclipses & Wildlife

During our discussion of solar eclipses in last Thursday’s lecture, we focused mostly on the astronomical concepts behind how and why they occur. As well, there was a brief discussion on what one would experience inside the path of totality for those short 7 or so minutes during a total solar eclipse. Following this lecture, […] Continue reading

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For my 2023 class…

If you’re in my 2023 Solar System class, please put a comment here showing that you’ve found my blog and that you’re following it :)  Please include your first name.  Note that you MUST be logged in to your own WordPress blog when commenting or else you’re doing it wrong! Also make sure you have bookmarked […] Continue reading

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blog post 08

This class opened my eyes to some really cool astronomy subjects. Astronomy is a subject that I never really got the chance to study in grade school. Since coming to college, and learning more about our universe, my perspective on life has changed. Learning about how vast our universe is, how our solar system formed, […] Continue reading

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blog post 07

The Fermi Paradox is the conflict between the lack of evidence of extraterrestrial life and high estimates for its existence. The main explanation people have come up with for this paradox is that intelligent life is rare. Using this explanation, it makes sense why there would be many places with rudimentary life, but without intelligent […] Continue reading

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Blog 7:Fermi Paradox

The Fermi paradox is the conflict between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrials and the high estimates for their existence . The name came from the Italian-American Physicist Enrico Fermi. He was roughly quoted as saying “Where is everybody?” This paradox has been explained by saying that the number of intelligent civilizations is very low. […] Continue reading

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Wrapping Up

Looking back at my first post on this blog, it’s cool to see that my first and last posts touched on black holes. I accomplished exactly what I set out to do: answer questions that I wouldn’t otherwise set the time aside for. The most exciting part of the whole process is that I have […] Continue reading

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Blog 5: Eris

Eris is a trans-Neptunian object and is the second-largest dwarf planet in the solar system. It was discovered in 2005. It is .28 % the mass of Earth. Eris has one large moon, Dsymonia.It is about  96 AU away from the sun. Its orbital period is 559 Years. Its surface has methane ice. This shows […] Continue reading

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