What color is the Sun? (not yellow)

Posted on March 5, 2024 by The Cosmic Traveler

by me

The Sun is the brightest and biggest celestial body in our solar system. Its diameter is 865,000 miles, which is about 110 Earths long. Without the Sun’s light, there would be no life on Earth. The Sun is so important to us humans, yet some people don’t take the time to appreciate its beauty. The Sun gives off many colors and rays; it truly is something to awe at. Speaking of colors, many people have common misconceptions about the the color of our Sun. Many people believe that the Sun is orange, red or yellow; But, the Sun is actually white!

Yes, the Sun is white. The reason for this is because the Sun emits all colors, which appear to the naked eye as white. Here is a picture below:

by Stanford Solar Center

As you can see from space, the Sun is white. The reason why many people believe that the Sun is orange or yellow is because they are observing the Sun from Earth. When someone is observing the Sun from Earth, the atmosphere provides a ton of interference. This inference absorbs most of the energy and scatter’s most of the visible light from the Sun; Except yellowish light. Which is the reason why the Sun may appear yellow, orange, or even red.

The more we learn about the Sun, the better we are able to appreciate it and the services that it provides us. Even though it may seem like a dot that we’re not allowed to look at unless you want to be blind, it does a lot for us. Instead of taking things for granted, take the time to properly appreciate.

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Our Voyage

Posted on March 5, 2024 by John Newell

We have an innate desire to explore. If we look at our history as a species, that seems to be consistently true from the very beginning. But the frontier of space presents a distinct challenge from previous frontiers — it is simply SO large. Large enough, in fact, that for the first time in the history of exploration, we cannot be the pioneers ourselves. Instead, we must send machines in our place, like Voyagers 1 and 2. These probes have flown by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. But, even more than that, they kept going. Voyager 1 is now over 15 billion miles from Earth. It is, in fact, the most distant human made object from our planet ever achieved. The funny part is, this truly incredible distance is just so small. Scientists believe that Voyager 1 will reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud, how we might define the outer edge of just our solar system, in 300 years. Just let that sink in.

NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Our Universe is huge. But with human ingenuity, and stubborn determination, we just might be able to make a dent. Let’s keep exploring.

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The Cosmic Spin-off That Created Our Solar System

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Ethan Popper

Alright, let’s dive into how our solar system came to be, and trust me, it’s quite the cosmic tale. Picture this: over 4.5 billion years ago, the universe decides it’s time for a little creation project. So, in a neighborhood of our Milky Way galaxy, a giant cloud of gas and dust, known as a solar nebula, starts feeling a pull. Gravity pulls this cloud closer and tighter together, and it starts spinning, kind of like water going down a drain.

As it spins faster, the center of the cloud gets hot and dense, eventually sparking up to form the sun. But the story doesn’t end there. The leftover bits and pieces from this cosmic whirlwind start sticking together, forming everything from our favorite blue marble, Earth, to the far-flung icy worlds and all the other planets and moons in our solar system. So, next time you look up at the night sky, remember, it’s all there because of a cosmic mix and match that started billions of years ago.

The Cosmic Spin-off That Created Our Solar System

The Cosmic Spin-off That Created Our Solar System

The Cosmic Spin-off That Created Our Solar System

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Nature’s Closely Guarded Secret – Nuclear Fusion

Posted on March 5, 2024 by John Newell

We are, quite literally, made of stardust. Stars are the birthplace of many of the elements that make up our physical reality as we know it. Heavier elements (heavier than Iron, specifically) were created in a Supernova — a violent explosion of epic proportions at the end of a massive stars life. Inside of every star, however, exists the process of nuclear fusion. Under incredible amounts of gravitational pressure, two atoms collide, literally fusing together. The resulting atom is ever so slightly less massive than the sum of its parts. According to Einstein’s equation E=Mc^2, this “missing mass” is converted into energy, which ultimately prevents the star from collapsing in on itself, and provides us with heat and light.

Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Fusion Diagram

The question is, could humanity possibly harness such seemingly limitless amounts of energy? Perhaps, but the process has proved itself to be incredibly difficult and expensive. As it turns out, creating the conditions of the core of a star, and resulting in an interaction of energetic gain is a little complicated. Some of the reactors we have built are truly beautiful things though!

The Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research Experiment

This reactor in South Korea achieved a reaction at temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius for 30 seconds! While we haven’t solved the problem yet, humanity and its conquest of understanding and harnessing the power of the universe is truly incredible.

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Blog 3 – Uranus

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Leni Ertel
NASA

Uranus is the 7th planet from the Sun, at approximately 19.2 AU away. It is primarily composed of hydrogen, helium, and hydrogen compounds. It is an ice giant, and its iconic pale blue-green color comes from methane. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere, and is then reflected by Uranus’ clouds. Methane absorbs the red within the light spectrum, leading to the recognizable blue-green color. It has over 24 moons, 13 faint rings, and does not have a solid surface. Uranus is distinct from the other planets in the solar system due to its extreme axial tilt. This tilt means that Uranus has the most drastic seasonal variations out of any other planet within our solar system. The only spacecraft that has visited Uranus is Voyager 2 (Bennett et al., pg. 201).

Uranus is named after the Greek god of the sky and father of Kronos. NASA plans to send another ship to Uranus, and a new mission has been deemed as one of the highest priorities of the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. I find Uranus’ moons to be very interesting, not only because there are so many of them, but also because they are named for literary characters (I am an English major myself). These moons are named for Shakespeare and Alexander Pope characters.

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☆Born to shine, forced to fuse☆

Posted on March 5, 2024 by abbieychen

Stars, like us, have an exciting life journey. Stars are born when gas and dust in cold molecular clouds collapse from gravity. Just like our solar system, the formation of a star involves the gas cloud spinning, heating, and flattening until the star is formed. Something I thought was cool was that stars tend to form in groups!! These star-forming molecular clouds don’t just pop out one star at a time, but rather many.

But what determines which path the star will go down in its life? The most important characteristic of a star is its mass, because from that we can learn about its temperature, luminosity, and life journey. Depending on how massive the star is, their lives can be vastly different.

For low-mass stars, such as our Sun (crazy, right? our Sun is one of the smaller ones!), they live a slow and steady life of generating light to shine by fusing hydrogen atoms to helium. But when they run out of hydrogen to fuse, the star isn’t strong enough to resist gravity, and it will start shrinking. This is when the star transitions into a red giant, which is much larger and more luminous! In this stage, the star will fuse helium atoms until it runs out, and then the star will finally collapse. It will become bigger and more luminous as before, but eventually it will scatter into a beautiful planetary nebula.

Star ashes!! (Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage)

High-mass stars have a similar childhood to low-mass stars in that they convert hydrogen and then helium to get energy, but they do that much faster and are able to fuse heavier elements. This is because these high-mass stars have much higher temperatures that allow them to fuse heavier nuclei! That is, until we get to iron. The star will then run out of energy and start dying. When a high-mass star dies, it explodes into a supernova!! It might leave behind a neutron star (a very massive ball of neutrons) or even a black hole!

The death of stars is what allows more stars to be born. The material that a star produces during its lifetime will be able to birth new stars and planets! And the elements that were created from high-mass stars are what we are made of! So if you learn anything from this blog, remember that you are made of star stuff. ☆

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Blog 4: Telescope Industry

Posted on March 4, 2024 by James Bamshad

Telescope Industry Size Projection

The astronomical telescope industry is experiencing a gradual yet significant rise, with a projected market size of USD 1,298.71 million by 2031. This growth is driven by several key drivers, including technological advancements, increased interest in astronomy, and applications in education and research. Technological integration, such as the incorporation of digital features and extremely precise tracking systems, is attracting both amateurs and seasoned astronomers to purchase new products.

As the fascination with the universe continues to captivate people from all corners of the globe and with many new endeavors in the world of astronomy, the telescope industry is poised to see significant growth in the future. The industry is set to play a pivotal role in revealing mysteries and inspiring future generations of astronomers.

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Blog 3: Climate Change Startups!

Posted on March 4, 2024 by James Bamshad

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity today. With each passing year, the evidence of its devastating impacts becomes more apparent, from extreme weather events to biodiversity loss. Addressing this crisis requires urgent efforts across various sectors. In recent years, startups have emerged, helping fight against climate change, leveraging innovation and technology to develop solutions that mitigate carbon emissions and promote sustainability. In this blog post, I will discuss two startups: Circulor and Heirloom.

Circulor Logo

Founded in 2007, Circulor is on a mission to revolutionize supply chain transparency using blockchain, IoT, and AI technologies. Circulor enables real-time tracking of raw material composition changes, allowing professionals to monitor emissions and support a circular economy. This innovative approach not only enhances sustainability but also promotes accountability across supply chains, empowering companies to make informed decisions that reduce their carbon footprint.

Heirloom Logo

Heirloom takes a different approach to carbon emission reduction by focusing on enhancing naturally occurring minerals’ ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Through carbon mineralization, Heirloom accelerates the absorption of CO2, turning minerals into highly effective carbon sinks. By combining engineering expertise with nature’s mechanisms, Heirloom offers a scalable and cost-effective solution for Direct Air Capture, helping to remove CO2 from the atmosphere extremely quickly.

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Tectonics, plate tectonics, and Pangea

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Ayden Harris

Something that is interesting is the difference between plate tectonics and tectonics. Tectonics is the faulting or folding or other deformation of the outer layer of a planet. This goes hand in hand with volcanism because of the required internal heat. A good example of this in our solar is mars having the Tharsis region volcano, the largest in our solar system. Plate tectonics is something that may just be unique to Earth. It is a scientific theory in Earth’s lithosphere where a number of large tectonic plates have been slowly moving for the past 3.4 billion years. These plates move at approximately the same rate as your fingernails grow. So, it will take many thousands of years for us to notice any type of change. This is where the theory of Pangea, or supercontinent, gets its basis. The continents look like they connect like puzzle pieces. About 300 to 335 million years ago, Pangea formed due to platonic shifting, and began to break apart about 200 million years ago. This was about 194 million years before the first ancestors were on Earth.

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Carbon Dating

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Ethan Jones
Carbon Dating

Ever wonder how we know how old dinosaurs were? Or how long humans have been on the Earth? Well, it all comes down to a technique that scientists use called carbon dating. The process starts with the Sun’s radiation colliding with a N-14 causing a proton to fall off and creating C-14. This C-14 reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere to create CO2, which then follows the food chain. The interesting part is that when an animal dies, it stops consuming C-14. C-14 is an unstable isotope meaning that it will eventually go through radioactive beta decay to become N-14 with a half-life of 5,730 years.

This means that by looking at the ratio of the amount of C-14 to C-12 left in the remains of organic life, you can tell roughly how old long ago that specimen lived. C-12 is notably stable meaning its concentration will remain and will not decay any further. Carbon dating does have a limit as beyond a certain half-life the concentration of C-14 becomes too small. However, if you want to date much older things the same principle of carbon dating applies to other radioactive isotopes with much longer half-lives.

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