Category Archives: SolarSystem

The Cassini Spacecraft and Huygens Probe

Posted on April 13, 2021 by thestarstudent

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft, launched in 1997, flew by Venus and Earth’s Moon, through the Asteroid belt, and near Jupiter until it settled in the Saturn Planetary System for thirteen years. This was a historical mission for multiple reasons. Not only was it the first to orbit Saturn, but the Huygens Probe it carried was theContinue reading “The Cassini Spacecraft and Huygens Probe” Continue reading →

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Kuiper Belt Objects (woah)

Posted on April 12, 2021 by dayanel123

Was I the only one who thought that only the 8 main planets that everyone knows about + Pluto and a couple other dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets here or there were the only things that orbited our sun? Yeah well, I am very wrong, and if you thought that too, so are you :0.Continue reading “Kuiper Belt Objects (woah)” Continue reading →

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Cassini-Huygens Mission

Posted on April 12, 2021 by ben141414

Cassini-Huygens was a solar system mission that explored Saturn and its surroundings, such as its rings, satellites, and moons. The spacecraft was launched from Earth on October 15, 1997. On the way to Saturn, the spacecraft flew by Venus, Earth, the asteroid belt, and Jupiter. Cassini was active for 20 years and spent 13 yearsContinue reading “Cassini-Huygens Mission” Continue reading →

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Asteroid Mining

Posted on April 11, 2021 by gracelearnsspace

Asteroids are failed planetesimals made up of rock and metals, some of which may be valuable such as platinum, silver, and gold. Around 8% of the asteroids in the asteroid belt are ones full of precious metals. Some platinum heavy asteroids may contain 175 times the amount of platinum mined yearly on Earth. For this […] Continue reading →

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Europa

Posted on April 10, 2021 by gracelearnsspace

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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Meteorites

Posted on April 8, 2021 by ben141414

Meteorites are fascinating. As we learned in class, a meteor is a flash of light caused by a particle of dust or rock entering Earth’s atmosphere at a high speed. But, a meteorite is a meteor that survives its drop through the atmosphere and reaches Earth’s surface. In terms of discovering meteorites, there is aContinue reading “Meteorites” Continue reading →

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Voyager Mission

Posted on March 27, 2021 by miichellewang

You may have heard of the twin Voyager spacecraft as the two longest-flying spacecraft ever and the only mission to travel to all four outer planets. However, the original purpose of the Voyager mission was to only study Jupiter and Saturn. The two spacecraft were launched over forty years ago in late 1977. Their launchContinue reading “Voyager Mission” Continue reading →

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Blog 3 Falling into Jupiter

Posted on March 27, 2021 by zvrec

Once I got to know about the names of gaseous giants in the outer part of our solar system, I became extremely curious about what the world would look like under their thick atmosphere. The video I shared in this blog provides a perfect fulfillment to my desire of knowing the biggest planet in ourContinue reading “Blog 3 Falling into Jupiter” Continue reading →

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Mercury’s Shrinkage

Posted on March 25, 2021 by solarcecily

It’s been long thought that of the Fab (Terrestrial) Five, only Earth remains geologically active. However, recent evidence shows that little Mercury, long thought to be tectonically dead, is actually shrinking! The evidence comes in the form of small troughs (upper arrows in the picture below) and scarps (lower arrows) astronomers were able to photographContinue reading “Mercury’s Shrinkage” Continue reading →

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What’s in Charge of Earth’s Long-Term Climate Change?

Posted on March 25, 2021 by solarcecily

Climate change has been worsening, so much so that when news outlets report on it the term sounds like just another buzzword. Current projections of the United States’ future coastlines don’t look at all forgiving. Where did this catastrophe start? Well, to answer that question we have to examine four key factors: solar brightening, changesContinue reading “What’s in Charge of Earth’s Long-Term Climate Change?” Continue reading →

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