Tag Archives: blog8

The Planet Vulcan

Posted on April 9, 2014 by dhbrett

After the discovery of Neptune, which was predicted by gravitational aberrations in the orbit of Uranus, an astronomer named Urbain Leverrier noticed aberrations in the orbit of Mercury. He hypothesized that there must be another planet between Mercury and the Sun, for which he proposed the name Vulcan. No such planet exists, and the aberrations … Continue reading The Planet Vulcan → Continue reading →

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The Origin of Comets

Posted on April 9, 2014 by paanvaannd

<Image from this post from here> Every 76 years, viewers from our little planet of Earth are treated to a spectacular show of Halley’s comet streaking across the sky. The comet was observed for centuries but ancient astronomers failed to identify this comet’s appearance as a recurring event, thinking that each comet was unique and … Continue reading The Origin of Comets → Continue reading →

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Enceladus For Life!

Posted on April 9, 2014 by blankster22

Just last week, researchers released findings that confirm an ocean on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, something that scientists had previously suspected, but could not validate. The moon, which is very small compared to our own (only 300 miles wide), has strange geological features around its South pole that initially led to the hypothesis of a sub-surface […] Continue reading →

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Metallic hydrogen

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

In learning about the interiors, we’ve heard a lot about metallic hydrogen. To me, it was a confusing idea, simply because I only really hear about hydrogen in the context of being a gas or being a compound such as water or methane. Furthermore, it was not clear what phase metallic hydrogen would be, since… Continue reading →

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What are we even looking for?

Posted on April 9, 2014 by juliamac17

So recently we’ve been looking at different planets. Some of the planets that we tend to find most interesting are those that we think could possibly support life. But instead of tackling the life question from an excited human standpoint, I’m looking at it in a slightly wary, totally suspicious one. What are we looking for? […] Continue reading →

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Unaccountable Freak: A Story of Halley’s Comet

Posted on April 9, 2014 by claremcdaniel

I’ve been interested in Halley’s comet for a long time. Something about the fact that it always come back, and the times when it will are so utterly predictable while being huge in terms of human conceptions of time, has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Avoiding Asteroids

Posted on April 9, 2014 by thomasridgway

We currently do not have any way of deflecting asteroids coming dangerously close to us. Although there aren’t any predicted …

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The Pleiades Myth

Posted on April 9, 2014 by haydenwalling

In Greek Mythology the pleiades are seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the nymph Pleione. They were said to be extremely beautiful and served as companions to the goddess Artemis. When their father was forced to carry the weight of the world for all eternity the great hunter Orion began to pursue them. Orion […] Continue reading →

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Could Titan hold life?

Posted on April 9, 2014 by kaswat

A joint mission with the NASA and ESA called Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) will explore Titan’s surface more in depth. It will allow us to see if the liquid-water features have allowed life to form on Titan. If there were life, it would obviously have to be adapted to the -180⁰C surface temperature and… Continue reading →

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Planetary System

Posted on April 9, 2014 by mariah0407

It amazes me how small Earth is.  I find it difficult to comprehend even the size of Earth alone.  Flying to other continents can take days.  Then I look at a scale model like the one below and I realize how small we are in comparison to the rest of the planets.  Jupiter and Saturn are […] Continue reading →

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