Category Archives: Science

What Americans Think of Space

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Angela Harris

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s Crew-5 Dragon spacecraft In 2023, the Pew Research Center surveyed over 10,000 American adults to understand Americans’ views of space issues.  Here are a few of Pew’s findings :  Pew also asked respondents how they would rate priorities for NASA’s space efforts. The survey listed the nine priorities […] Continue reading →

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NASA’s MAVEN mission

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Angela Harris

The MAVEN spacecraft NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (MAVEN) is studying Mars’s atmosphere. MAVEN was launched in November 2013 and arrived and arrived at Mars in September 2014. The MAVEN mission is helping scientists learn about how Mars loses its atmosphere and how/when the planet lost its water.  MAVEN is an orbiter spacecraft […] Continue reading →

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The Universe’s Greatest Mystery That Threatens the Fabric of Physics

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Landon Peaden

Wikipedia The foundational aspect of science is that a scientific theory that explains something about the natural world must be repeatedly tested and confirmed. If it cannot apply to every situation that meets the requisite parameters, then it is not a theory. Some information or calibration is missing, and the theory will be refined. Dark […] Continue reading →

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Gravitational Mysteries

Posted on February 14, 2024 by The Cosmic Traveler

by me The idea of gravity, the fundamental force that controls how objects move in the universe, is both intriguing and mysterious. Gravity is a force that pulls objects toward each other; it controls everything from an apple falling from a tree to a planet’s orbit around a star. It’s a force that operates over […] Continue reading →

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The New Wave

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Ethan Popper

In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have found evidence of ripples in the fabric of the universe, caused by the movement of colossal black holes. Albert Einstein once hypothesized this phenomenon –  gravitational waves. Essentially, these are cosmic tremors that stretch and squeeze space itself. Imagine throwing a stone into a pond and watching the ripples […] Continue reading →

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Tides

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Andres Becerra

Most people (including my past self) think that tides are only caused by the moon. While the moon does have a big impact on the tides. The sun also plays a big role in the way the tides move. The moon and the sun both have gravitational forces that pull on the Earth and cause […] Continue reading →

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Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Tejas Mahesh

After meticulously calculating the data that Tycho Brahe collected, Kepler discovered three different laws that described how planets move. Kepler’s First Law – The planets orbit in ellipses, not circles nor epicycles. For majority of history, it was thought that planets orbit through epicycles because the orbit of the planets must be perfect. However, the […] Continue reading →

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The Banner of Heaven

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Owen Purcell

This term, originally coined in the late nineteenth century, at least with its current connotation, began to speak to me in a unique way in high school. I took a backpacking trip in Northern California, and experienced a dry, warm, cloudless night with no shelter but a mosquito net. The sky was brilliant, and it felt like […] Continue reading →

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Observational Limitation, Scientific Innovation

Posted on February 12, 2024 by John Newell

Our telescopes just keep impressing. There are just so many limitations, on a physics level, that prevent us from observing the Universe around us. Telescopes are hindered by light pollution and atmospheric disturbances on Earth, preventing them from peering into extreme distances. In space itself, obstructions such as gas clouds block our view of more […] Continue reading →

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A tidal bore worth traveling for

Posted on February 12, 2024 by Angela Harris

Mont Saint-Michel at high tide Chapter 4 of the textbook explained how the Moon and the Sun affect ocean tides. We learned that the timing and height of tides at a given location depends on its latitude, the orientation of the coastline, and the depth and shape of any channel the tide has to flow […] Continue reading →

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