Tag Archives: astro2110

Combining Forces: Nuclear Fusion in the Solar System

Business Insider Ignition Image Shown above is from the National Ignition Facility, where scientists successfully produced (and reproduced) a nuclear fusion reaction that had more energy output than input. The underlying math behind this lies in E=mc2, which shows that Mass (m) can be converted into a large amount of energy at the sacrifice of […] Continue reading

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Crazy Stars

Stars like our Sun are considered “ordinary” and quite common. They produce energy through hydrogen fusion. A weirder type of star is a white dwarf. These are stars that at one point produced energy through hydrogen fusion, but have run out of hydrogen, and do not have the mass to carry out fusion energy reactions […] Continue reading

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Crazy Stars

Stars like our Sun are considered “ordinary” and quite common. They produce energy through hydrogen fusion. A weirder type of star is a white dwarf. These are stars that at one point produced energy through hydrogen fusion, but have run out of hydrogen, and do not have the mass to carry out fusion energy reactions […] Continue reading

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So what is a Black Hole?

by me A black hole is an astronomical object in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape from it, including light. The “surface” of a black hole is known as the event horizon. Black holes are undetectable by telescopes because no light can escape from them; However, they can be […] Continue reading

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Far Out, Man

Telescopes laid the foundation for everything we know about space, but they can only get you so far. If you don’t particularly feel like removing the planet’s entire atmosphere to get a better view, spacecrafts do a pretty good job of getting a closer look. Flyby spacecraft are the simplest and least expensive; they can […] Continue reading

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Blog Post #3

The solar system began to form from a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust particles about 4.6 billion years ago. This cloud most likely experienced a shock wave from a nearby supernova, which could have made it collapse under its own gravity. It then began to spin and flatten into a disk shape due […] Continue reading

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Blog 3- The Sun and its Core!

As I was growing up, I never truly understood what the sun exactly was. I had understood that it emitted light and eventually I learned that it was basically a big ball of really really REALLY hot gasses. However I never understood the intricacies behind the Sun’s structure. The most interesting part of the sun’s […] Continue reading

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Understanding Auroras: The Physics of Earth’s Magnetic Light Shows

The Northern Lights The northern lights, or aurora borealis, is a display of natural light that occurs in the Earth’s sky. What you might not know is that there is another light show on Earth called aurora australis, which occurs in the southern hemisphere. So, what causes these natural and captivating lights? Solar winds are […] Continue reading

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Blog 3: Fusion

We hear it all the time: Fusion is the future; it’s how the sun creates energy. But, how does it work? At its core, fusion generates energy by converting four hydrogen atoms (protons) into 1 helium atom with two neutrons (Helium-4 ). On the surface, it is hard to see how any energy is created […] Continue reading

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Geology of Mars

Mars has a fascinating geology that is very comparable to Earth in many ways and also shows its very dynamic history. A well known geological feature on Mars is Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system, which stands at a height of approximately 16 miles and spans 374 miles in diameter. To compare, […] Continue reading

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