Category Archives: SolarSystem

The Great Red Spot

If you look for an image of Jupiter in any article or textbook, you’ll likely see the famous Great Red Spot in that picture. This immense storm on Jupiter’s surface is more than double the size of Earth, and has raged on for centuries. The incredible size and duration of the Great Red Spot begs […] Continue reading

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Blog #6: Detecting Extrasolar Planets

The photo above features the transit method of detecting extrasolar planets. Detecting extrasolar planets is a very delicate and challenging task for scientists. The distances between stars and relative sizes of stars compared to planets make it extremely hard to pick them out. Stars are also typically a billion times brighter than planets. There are […] Continue reading

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Solar Eclipse

The Sun provides us the most necessary elements for life, and is the reason why we can see whatever surrounds us. The objects reflect sunlight and as those light reaches our eyes, we pick up the signals and “see” the objects. What would the world look like if the sun were to magically disappear? Solar […] Continue reading

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Pluto: New Horizon

Pluto, a dwarf planet farther out than Neptune in the Kuiper Belt, was once thought to be the ninth planet of our solar system. However, the discovery of Pluto’s moon, Charon, led to the revision of calculations on Pluto’s mass, and the redefinition of planets finally “kicked” Pluto out of the solar system planets since […] Continue reading

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Ganymede, Aurorae, and the Potential for Life Outside of Earth

Artist’s conception of Ganymede and Jupiter. Image by NASA Although by visible light and upon first glance Ganymede might seem like an unassuming satellite, further inspection and deeper exploration demonstrates that this view is both tired and untrue. Simply by size alone, Ganymede is a headliner. As the largest moon in our solar system, it […] Continue reading

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The Loneliness of Rovers

Throughout this semester in ASTR2110, I have been reminded about how small we are compared to the universe. While this can be both a deflating and motivating perspective on our approach to astronomical study, I think it is undeniable that the rovers on Mars are unimaginably lonely during their stints on the red planet. I […] Continue reading

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Halley’s Comet

Giotto Spacecraft Approaching Halley’s Comet Halley’s Comet has the ability to completely destroy a city. Until learning about this comet in a previous homework assignment I never realized the true devastation even a comet of this size could cause on the earth. Halley’s Comet most famous observation occurred in 1066 where it was said that […] Continue reading

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Space Potatoes!

(Diagram showing various asteroids, very potato shaped, you may notice) As Dr. G says, “When I say Asteroids, you say Space Potatoes!” But what exactly does that mean? The reason we liken asteroids to potatoes is because of their shape (unfortunately, they do not taste as good as those beautiful starchy tubers) (Side note: in […] Continue reading

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Bog 5 – Chelyabinsk Meteor

A relatively recent and frightening meteoric event occurred in the quaint city of Chelyabinsk in Russia on February 15, 2013. This incident is rather interesting since damage caused by the meteor was not due to impact, but rather violent shockwaves produced by the airborne-meteor’s explosion over the city. The explosion occurred when the meteor, roughly […] Continue reading

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Lightning on Jupiter

How fitting that mysterious lightning has been observed on the planet named after the god of sky and storms! Lightning on Jupiter has been reported multiple times over the years during multiple space missions: the 1979 Voyager mission, 1990s Galileo Jupiter mission, and again during the 2007 New Horizons mission. Now that we’ve got Juno […] Continue reading

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