Category Archives: Moons

The Mythology of Jupiter’s Moons

When I heard about the names of Jupiter’s moons, I immediately wanted to dive into the mythology behind them! The four largest moons of Jupiter, each interesting in their features, are also interesting in their mythological stories as people who were lovers of Zeus. In this post, I will briefly describe the story behind theseContinue reading “The Mythology of Jupiter’s Moons” Continue reading

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Europa, and the Possibility of Life

When we discussed the sub-surface oceans of some of the large moon-worlds, I was particularly excited about the idea that these places could potentially contain life, for what could be more exciting than the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe? As such, for my blog post, I wanted to dive into one potential homeContinue reading “Europa, and the Possibility of Life” Continue reading

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The Oddities of Titan

Titan is one of 62 moons revolving around Saturn. Before 2004, not much was known about Titan, other than the fact that it is Saturn’s largest moon. NASA sent the Cassini spacecraft to the outer to investigate and send back information about Titan. Cassini sent back pictures of a very planet-like moon with a denseContinue reading “The Oddities of Titan” Continue reading

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The Possibility of Life on Europa

Europa, taken during NASA’s Galileo Mission Life as we know it needs three major ingredients, at least according to NASA. Life needs water, the correct chemical makeup, and an energy source. Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, could have all three ingredients and is a candidate for sustaining life elsewhere in the Solar System. In termsContinue reading “The Possibility of Life on Europa” Continue reading

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Europa

Europa is one of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, however, it is much more than that. Scientists believe that out of everywhere in our solar system, Europa is the most likely place to have life besides on Earth! Scientists are pretty confident that under Europa’s ice water surface is an ocean that may have twice as much […] Continue reading

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Is the Moon actually made of cheese?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. However, the story of why the Moon’s surface looks the way it does it still an interesting one and one that helps us understand the solar system as a whole. The surface of the Moon most closely resembles that of Mercury (due to the lack of geological activity that comesContinue reading “Is the Moon actually made of cheese?” Continue reading

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earth’s rings?

Ever look at a picture of Saturn (or anything else with rings) and think “Wow, I wonder what those rings are made of?” Spoiler alert – they’re just very pretty rocks and ices and dusts. How about this one – Ever look up at the Moon (or any other moon) and think “Wow, I wonderContinue reading “earth’s rings?” Continue reading

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Europa and Possible Life

Europa is one of Jupiter’s 79 moons and is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon. It’s surface is covered in salty water that is almost twice the amount of water in all of Earth’s oceans combined. Covering all this water is a 10-15 mile thick sheet of ice. The inner part of the moon is thoughtContinue reading “Europa and Possible Life” Continue reading

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Geological Map of the Moon

The United States Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center and NASA worked together to create a complete geological map of the Moon in early 2020. The map shows the immense amount of impact craters on the moon’s surface. It was made with information from six maps from the Apollo-era in conjunction with modern data. Specifically, dataContinue reading “Geological Map of the Moon” Continue reading

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Tidal Friction: a 5 hour long day to a month long day

Due to the Universal law of gravitation, we know that objects of equal mass have a larger gravitation force between them when they are closer together. Because the near side of the Earth is closer to the Moon than the far side of the Earth, the force between the Moon and the near side ofContinue reading “Tidal Friction: a 5 hour long day to a month long day” Continue reading

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