Wormholes

Posted on April 17, 2022 by jadonroy
The Conversation. com

One of the many wonders of our cosmos that peaked my curiosity to the world of astrophysics was the concept of the wormhole. After seeing a wormhole being used in one of my favorite movies, Interstellar , I became even more fascinated with this topic as it I was given a cinematic and visual example of how one could theoretically be utilized by humans. In the film, humans from the future discovered a way to create and place wormholes and in turn placed one in the present world’s solar system so that they could escape their dying planet. This has always been an interesting debate amongst humans. In the event the Earth was no longer a viable option for humans, we then could turn to the stars to find a more suitable home. As shown in the movie, a wormhole could be a way for us to reach worlds far beyond our own solar system. To explain the concept behind wormholes in a very basic way, imagine two points on separate ends of a piece of paper represent two points in space. The distance all the way across is far too long in relation to space. But what if there was a way to reduce this distance. Now imagine folding the piece of paper and the two points on the pieces of paper are on top of each other. Then you can reach far distances in a shorter period of time. Despite being a very obvious over simplification, this is the main concept behind their benefits for us. Unfortunately for us though, wormholes are not possible for at the moment and only an interesting topic in science fiction. However, some scientists believe that we may soon be able to prove that wormholes are a real part of the universe. The scientific way of describing such phenomenon is known as the Einstein-Rosen bridge. An Einstein-Rosen bridge is rooted in Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, a work that caused us to change the way we viewed gravity. Fortunately for humans, there is no need to leave our planet at the moment, but it still is intriguing to know our possible options in the future. Ultimately, movies such as Interstellar teach us that instead of looking for new planets, we should be focused on protecting and preserving our own.

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The Moons of Jupiter

Posted on April 17, 2022 by AndreaS
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede

Jupiter has many moons, but the largest of them are the Galilean moon, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io. This post will explore the defining features of these Jovian moons.

The largest of Jupiter’s moons is Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System. In fact, Ganymede is larger than Mercury. This moon has a liquid core that produces the only known magnetic field in the moons of the Solar System. It is thought that there is a liquid water ocean beneath the surface of Ganymede, something that is thought to occur on other moons as well. The surface of Ganymede is heavily cratered and therefore very old. The moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io are in 1:2:4 resonance, which influences the level of tidal heating on each world.

Jupiter’s moon Io

Slightly larger than Earth’s moon, Io is the innermost of Jupiter’s moons and is extremely geologically active. There are over 400 active volcanoes on Io, a feat that is caused by friction due to tidal heating between Jupiter and the other large moons. The surface of Io is largely coated in Sulfur, which gives it a distinct yellowish color. Volcanism is a key feature of Io that also impact Jupiter as well. Emissions from Io’s atmosphere have inflated Jupiter’s magnetic field, making it much stronger than it would be without Io.

Jupiter’s moon Europa

Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon and has a smooth surface largely made out of water ice. The lack of cratering suggests geological activity on Europa such as plate tectonic-like activity that recycles water ice from the subsurface to the surface and back again. Another interesting feature of Europa is its internal ocean, which is likely heated by vents and sustained by tidal heating. The discovery of such conditions has opened the door to questions about the possibility of finding life on Europa.

Jupiter’s moon Callisto

Finally, there is Callisto, the second largest of Jupiter’s moons. The surface of Callisto is nearly all covered in craters and is therefore extremely old, aided by the fact that it does not experience much tidal heating. This moon is also thought to have an ocean deep below the surface.

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Neptune’s Triton’s Origins

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Sheila Chau

As compared to other moons, Neptune’s Triton was captured into Neptune’s orbit. This was found out due to its backward rotation and how it rotates at a high inclination to Neptune’s equator. Rather than being formed in the disk of gas around Neptune, Triton was most likely captured into Neptune’s orbit. 

There is one way as to how this happened: Triton could have been a member of a binary Kuiper belt object that passed close to Neptune and lost energy and was soon captured. Triton shares many similarities with Pluto, the most well known world of the Kuipter belt. They are both very cold worlds with similar sizes and proportions of ice and rock. 

Neptune and Triton

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Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Posted on April 17, 2022 by alexbawa

Growing up, I grew to recognize Jupiter’s distinctive birthmark, but I never attempted to understand it. I figured their were clever astronomers out there who knew what was going on and I’d end up absorbing what they know from a TED talk at 1.5x speed. After looking into it though, it turns out the Great Red Spot is largely a mystery.

It’s well established that the Great Red Spot is a weather system in Jupiter’s atmosphere. It is massive – spanning roughly three Earths across in the late 1970’s. It is fast – reaching up to 425 mph on the edges, nearly 200 mph faster than the fastest hurricane wind ever recorded on Earth. Past that, not much more is known. Experts guess at things like its composition and what makes it red, but there isn’t anything conclusive yet.

The Great Red Spot + Europa

There’s still much to be learned about what goes on in the vast storm that sits in Jupiter’s atmosphere. More missions to the outer solar system, better equipped to explore the red expanse, are essential to figuring out its mysteries.

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Blog 5: Eris

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Charles Littleton
Eris and Dysnomia

Eris is a trans-Neptunian object and is the second-largest dwarf planet in the solar system. It was discovered in 2005. It is .28 % the mass of Earth. Eris has one large moon, Dsymonia.It is about  96 AU away from the sun. Its orbital period is 559 Years. Its surface has methane ice. This shows that Eris has always been at the solar system’s edge.

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Interesting facts about Pluto and our path to exploring it

Posted on April 17, 2022 by jadonroy
Nasa

Dr. Alan Stern is most known for his role as the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Recently, Dr. Stern spoke at Purdue University on October 10, 2019, discussing and examining the topic of “What If We Return to Pluto?” During this discussion, he detailed many interesting facts about Pluto. For example, he mentions how before we had obtained clearer images of the outer planets, they had not realized how many of the rocks similar to the size of Pluto orbited the sun. We also discovered that Pluto is just one of many dwarf planets that are all very small in comparison to the rest of the planets. For reference, he compares Pluto to being only as large as North America. To some, this may seem notable, however he refutes this by showing how this may seem large but in the context and scale of planets, being as large as a continent is very small. He also explained the reasons why it was important to visit something so far away in our solar system. He discusses how before New Horizons, the best picture of Pluto ever taken was a blurry blob in space. Due to its distance, this is the best that could have been taken of Pluto and was even regarded as being revolutionary at the time. In contrast, pictures of Earth were incredibly clear and we were capable of depicting what was occurring on planets because of such pictures. Since Pluto was so far away, it was needed to explore further out to get a more accurate depiction of it. Scientific pioneers and explorers such as Dr. Stern are why our exploration of the solar system has reached these levels. Because of people like him, I am now eagerly waiting to see or even one day be a part of our world’s future chapter in space exploration.

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Detecting Extrasolar Planets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by solarelizabeth
Doppler Shifting!

Extrasolar planets can be difficult to detect because they are tiny, far away, and dim, but the Doppler Method provides an indirect way to find them. This method involves looking for alternating blueshifts and redshifts in the star’s spectrum, which reveal a star’s motion around its center of mass. This motion could reveal the presence of planets orbiting the star.  

We can then look at how the star’s orbital velocity changes over its orbit. The slight changes in the star’s orbital velocity can tell us if it is orbitted by a planet. The planet’s gravitational tug on the star would cause these velocity changes. 

The Doppler Method is effective because of its sensitivity. It can measure very slight doppler shifts, which can tell us about the presence of very small planets orbiting stars. However, because more massive planets have larger gravitational tugs on their stars, they are easier to detect. These stars have greater velocities as a result, which makes the shifts due to their planet’s tug easier to see. Also, planets closer to their star are easier to detect. These planets have shorter orbital periods, so we can analyze their orbits in less time. 

Do you think the Doppler Method or the Astrometric Method is more effective? For which types of planets?

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Kepler-16b – The Existence of Tatooine

Posted on April 17, 2022 by jordanekstein

Kepler-16b was discovered when looking for exoplanets using the transit method from the Kepler mission of 2011. While looking at this data two stars were discovered to be in orbiting each other due to the dip in brightness of the system when they eclipsed. What was strange was even when they were not eclipsing each other the brightness of the system still dipped at irregular intervals, which indicated that they were at different points in their orbital periods when this happened and strongly suggested the existence of a third body. This ultimately led to the discovery that this exoplanet, Kepler-16b, was orbiting both stars and was the first discovery of a circumbinary orbit. Similar to the depiction to the planet Tatooine, home of Skywalker in Star Wars, but thought to be cold and gaseous without the ability to be inhabited. Additionally, it is thought to be about the size of Saturn and made up of half rock and half gas. Astronomers believe this discovery opens the door for a whole new opportunity to find life with a new type of system to look for.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler-16b.html
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Jupiter’s Magnetosphere

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Sheila Chau

Jupiter’s magnetosphere is by far the strongest. This is because of how thick its layer of metallic hydrogen is and its high-speed rotation rate. Its strength is 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s. It’s so large that it begins to avert the solar wind almost 3 million kilometers before it even reaches Jupiter. Jupiter’s magnetosphere in the sky would be larger than our full moon. Jupiter’s magnetosphere catches many more charged particles than Earth’s because it has another source of particles: Io, its volcanically active moon. This helps to create auroras on Jupiter, but these particles also generate intense radiation around Jupiter. These belts of radiation can be damaging to spacecraft.

Jupiter’s Magnetic Field
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Jovian Layers

Posted on April 17, 2022 by solarelizabeth
Jupiter’s Layers!

The formation of our solar system helps explain the composition of the Jovian planets. Past the frost line, hydrogen compounds condensed into ices. The four jovian planets started as icy planetismals, but Jupiter and Saturn captured much more hydrogen and helium gas than Uranus and Neptune during solar system formation. This is probably because Jupiter and Saturn are closer to the sun, so the gases were less spread out at this distance and easier to capture. The planets capturing more of this gas became more compressed. Jupiter is very compressed, with extremely high internal pressure. 

Jupiter’s interior layers are gaseous hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, metallic hydrogen, and then the core. The layers are named after the phase of hydrogen, which varies with temperature and pressure, but it is important to note that the layers also have helium in them. Saturn’s layers are similar to Jupiter’s except Saturn has a much thinner layer of metallic hydrogen because of its lower internal pressure. Saturn is less compressed because of its lower mass and gravity. Uranus and Neptune just have layers of gaseous hydrogen around their cores because their internal pressure is not high enough for liquid or metallic hydrogen to exist. However, the four jovian planets have cores of similar masses and compositions but different sizes because Jupiter and Saturn are more compressed. 

It’s interesting how distance from the sun during solar system formation can have such an impact on the type and amount of material planetismals accrete. Jupiter and Neptune may be quite different, but they are pretty similar compared to terrestrial worlds like Earth. 

***I have hyperlinks but for some reason they don’t show up unless you move the mouse over them.

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