Category Archives: Historical

Ancient History of Eclipses

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Justin Kim

Hello all! In honor of the partial solar eclipse we got to briefly see in Nashville on Monday, I wanted to explore some of the interesting history of eclipses. The first known recording of an eclipse was from November 30th in 3340 BCE in Ireland. This discovery was based on “overlapping circular rock carvings, called […] Continue reading →

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Blog 6: The Solar Eclipse Today

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Seth Creech

This is my picture of the solar eclipse from today. The fact that eclipses even happen is one of the craziest coincidences, as the difference in relative size of the Moon and the Sun is the same percentage-wise, meaning that when the Moon is exactly in front of the Sun, it completely blocks it. There […] Continue reading →

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Blog 5: The Controversy Behind Pluto’s Planethood

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Seth Creech

Pluto orbits our Sun far out past Neptune, and has been the source of controversy as we have learned more about it. The argument centers around whether this celestial object should be defined as a planet or a dwarf planet. This leads to an even bigger question: what separates a dwarf planet from a planet? […] Continue reading →

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Robert Navarro, Blog Post 05 FUN FACTS ON PLUTO

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Robert Navarro

Pluto’s as a planet is very intriguing. Despite being located far from the Sun; Pluto has seasonal changes due to its tilted axis (just like earth!) and highly elliptical orbit. When Pluto is closer to the Sun in its orbit, the frozen nitrogen, and methane on its surface can temporarily sublimate, creating a thin atmosphere. […] Continue reading →

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Blog 4: Systema Cosmicum

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Seth Creech

History Channel Portrait of Galileo Galileo was one of, if not the most revolutionary astronomer of all time. He lived at a point where the Catholic Church controlled a large section of public and private life, but they were also seeing their power wane through the Protestant Reformation, championed by Martin Luther (among others). The […] Continue reading →

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Blog #4

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Robert Navarro

Composition -The solar system is primarily composed of the Sun, which makes up about 99.8% of its total mass. The Sun is primarily composed of 74% hydrogen and about 24% helium with some amounts of heavier elements. Planets in our solar system are divided into two main groups based on their composition: the terrestrial planets […] Continue reading →

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Combining Forces: Nuclear Fusion in the Solar System

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Seth Creech

Business Insider Ignition Image Shown above is from the National Ignition Facility, where scientists successfully produced (and reproduced) a nuclear fusion reaction that had more energy output than input. The underlying math behind this lies in E=mc2, which shows that Mass (m) can be converted into a large amount of energy at the sacrifice of […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post #3

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Robert Navarro

The solar system began to form from a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust particles about 4.6 billion years ago. This cloud most likely experienced a shock wave from a nearby supernova, which could have made it collapse under its own gravity. It then began to spin and flatten into a disk shape due […] Continue reading →

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Why Stars?

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Tejas Mahesh

Throughout history, many civilizations have been fascinated by the stars in the night sky. But the question is why. Why have many civilizations been fascinated by stars? What makes the night sky so attractive to humans? Why did they ascribe meaning to tiny dots that shone brightly, and seemed so far away? I present the […] Continue reading →

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Blog on Chapters 1-2

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Alyssa Ballard

I always thought that the seasons were caused only because of where Earth is or isn’t closest to the sun. But other things go into it than just distance, since it is only a small part of the reason. The main reason for the seasons is because of Earth’s axis tilt. One of the common […] Continue reading →

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