Category Archives: SolarSystem

The Dark Side of the Moon

Posted on January 20, 2019 by josiahgray12

Besides a popular Pink Floyd album, what is “the dark side of the Moon”? Most people have not given much though to what it means or how it got its infamous name. For me the first image I get is of the moon I know and love turning over to the dark side of the … Continue reading The Dark Side of the Moon → Continue reading →

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The Size of Our Solar System

Posted on January 20, 2019 by haivilo

The actual size of the universe is basically immeasurable as it is constantly expanding. But even if we could measure it, our human brains wouldn’t actually be able to understand how big it really is. Our solar system is roughly 122 AU, an AU being the distance between the Earth and the sun. This is … Continue reading The Size of Our Solar System → Continue reading →

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Grasping the Scale of the Solar System (with help from Josh Worth)

Posted on January 20, 2019 by jpeilbert

Have you ever wondered just how big the Solar System is? One helpful website to answer that question is Josh Worth’s “If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel” site. This beautiful website allows you to scroll through the Solar System, to-scale, as if the Moon were only 1 pixel (that is, teeny-tiny and barely visible … Continue reading Grasping the Scale of the Solar System (with help from Josh Worth) → Continue reading →

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The OORT CLOUD and You

Posted on January 20, 2019 by chiefkeith7

You might find yourself looking at a (to-scale) diagram of the planets of the solar system (and Pluto), such as the following: and think to yourself “Wow, Pluto is so much farther out from the sun than the Earth is. The solar system is so massive!”. And while you would be correct in your statement, … Continue reading The OORT CLOUD and You → Continue reading →

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How Much Does Light Weigh?

Posted on January 20, 2019 by Josh

Photons are massless particles. They move at the speed of light and do not have an intrinsic mass. And since light is made of photons, we can say that light has no mass. Story over, right? Did you know that light can exerts a force on objects? This force can cause them to weigh more. … Continue reading How Much Does Light Weigh? → Continue reading →

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Where the Zodiac Signs Come From

Posted on January 20, 2019 by richardtli

What’s your sign? This is a common question you may have encountered in your life. While most people aren’t too deep into astrology, chances are that most of us have looked into our daily horoscope at least once for fun. However, a lot of people don’t really know where these signs come from, or why … Continue reading Where the Zodiac Signs Come From → Continue reading →

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The Total Lunar Eclipse of January 2019!

Posted on January 15, 2019 by drgrundstrom

This total lunar eclipse will be the last non-partial one Earthlings can observe until 2021. There will be several partial lunar eclipses, but no totals :-/ Total lunar eclipses are the neat ones because the Moon turns yellow-y, then orange-y, then copper-y, then red! Note that this eclipse is going to be LONG – FIVE […] Continue reading →

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Farewell, InSight Lander!

Posted on May 2, 2018 by terranojm

On Saturday, May 5, NASA is launching its newest Mars lander. The Mars InSight lander is set to arrive at Mars in November. This spacecraft is a first of its kind because it will be launched from the West Coast unlike other launches to Mars. More importantly, however, this lander is unique because it will … Continue reading “Farewell, InSight Lander!” Continue reading →

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The Fate of Our Solar System

Posted on May 1, 2018 by interplanetira

With this being the final blog of the semester, I thought it would be fitting to write about the eventual fate of our Solar System – In approximately 5 billion years, as our Sun’s lifetime on the Main Sequence comes to end, the Sun (through the process of converting  gravitational potential energy to thermal energy) […] Continue reading →

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White Holes

Posted on April 28, 2018 by haleytopper04

You’ve heard of black holes, right? Well, how about white holes? White holes are theoretically the exact opposite of black hole, and scientists think that they could make up a large portion of the dark matter in the universe. Where nothing can escape a black hole’s event horizon, nothing can enter a white hole’s. It … Continue reading White Holes Continue reading →

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