Category Archives: General

The Diversity of The Solar System

Posted on April 30, 2021 by thestarstudent

After being in ASTR 2110, my biggest takeaway is probably the intense diversity that exists in our own solar system. Everything here is all made from the same protoplanetary disk, yet we have small terrestrial dwarf planets, medium sized terrestrial planets, and gas giants. How can the same material that made Venus’ thick atmosphere alsoContinue reading “The Diversity of The Solar System” Continue reading →

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Pivoting from Principle

Posted on March 22, 2021 by rightascensionanddeclinolan

Astronomy is awesome.  It lets us make cool observations (e.g., things that inform our understanding of the foundations of the universe, like the Cosmic Microwave Background), helps us ask big questions (e.g., why does the universe exist?), and reminds us that not all questions have answers (e.g., we can’t really expect an answer to theContinue reading “Pivoting from Principle” Continue reading →

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Celebrating the Vernal Equinox

Posted on February 8, 2021 by wslopes

Spring is a season that is characteristically associated with birth and life. It symbolizes an end to Winter and the transition to the (personally) much more favorable, Summer. While I probably enjoy Summer more than Spring overall, there is something about the feeling I get seeing all the plants grow, the leaves come back, tonsContinue reading “Celebrating the Vernal Equinox” Continue reading →

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The Earth, the Moon, and the Space In Between

Posted on February 4, 2021 by brianknapp

Since space seems so far away to most of us humans, we can forget how truly massive the emptiness of space is. Space really is appropriately named, because so much of it is just that – empty space, nothing there. For example, let’s look at the distance between the Earth and the Moon. While theContinue reading “The Earth, the Moon, and the Space In Between” Continue reading →

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What’s up with the tropics?

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Avery Bradley

Latitude and longitude coordinates are seen everywhere; they’re immensely useful for marking geographic location and helping with navigation. The system is simple enough: latitude is distance north or south from the equator and longitude is distance east or west from the Prime Meridian. But what are the Tropics of Cancer and of Capricorn that areContinue reading “What’s up with the tropics?” Continue reading →

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The Beginning: A Little More of Me

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Jonah

Welcome to the inaugural post to Jonah’s Astronomy Interests! Just to start, here are some things about me because why not: I’m from St. Louis, Missouri (if you couldn’t tell from the picture above) and I wish I could’ve minored in astronomy but physics wasn’t the move. Another thing to share: I love when I’mContinue reading “The Beginning: A Little More of Me” Continue reading →

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Finale – Culminate Post

Posted on April 27, 2019 by luanaisaac1125

I learned much more than I thought I would in this course. Before taking this class, all I really knew about our solar system was that there are 8 planets (and Earth is the third one), the asteroid belt is a thing, Jupiter is big, and Saturn is the planet with pretty rings. I didn’t … Continue reading Finale – Culminate Post → Continue reading →

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I See the Light

Posted on April 24, 2019 by reallyroyalqueen

An amazing part of the class this semester was the ability to understand and correct some of the misconceptions that I have held about the Solar System for years. Whether it was about the ‘dark’ side of the moon, the brightness of the North Star, tides, the asteroid belt being hard to navigate through, or … Continue reading I See the Light → Continue reading →

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A Whole New World!

Posted on April 24, 2019 by reallyroyalqueen

Because the caves, mines, and crevasses on Earth are filled with extremophiles, NASA uses those lifeforms as a guide to its exploration of the universe. The hidden parts of the planet have to make their own way of survival. Surface life has photosynthesis, but subsurface only a tiny fraction of that energy trickles down so … Continue reading A Whole New World! → Continue reading →

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Eight Planets or Nine?

Posted on April 7, 2019 by epiphany9

Most of us probably remember a time when the Solar System had nine planets, with Pluto as the ninth and (usually) farthest from the Sun. In 2006, following the discovery of Eris, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to reclassify Pluto as a “dwarf planet” (don’t forget the quotation marks!). However, there might one day […] Continue reading →

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