Tag Archives: astro2110

NASA’s MAVEN mission

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Angela Harris

The MAVEN spacecraft NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (MAVEN) is studying Mars’s atmosphere. MAVEN was launched in November 2013 and arrived and arrived at Mars in September 2014. The MAVEN mission is helping scientists learn about how Mars loses its atmosphere and how/when the planet lost its water.  MAVEN is an orbiter spacecraft […] Continue reading →

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Blog 4: Interstellar Travel?

Posted on March 4, 2024 by liamoneill95

Whether you’re an astronomer, scientist, or in a completely unrelated field, the idea of interstellar travel probably intrigues you in some way. Why wouldn’t it? The universe is so grand and diverse that venturing outside of our solar system would likely yield fascinating results. There is only one problem: feasibility. With our current technologies, we […] Continue reading →

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Blog 3: Lander probes

Posted on March 4, 2024 by liamoneill95

Landing of Mars Perseverance Rover The lander probe is a fascinating feat of human engineering. These probes are designed to do a multitude of tasks in order to properly carry out their mission. Let’s work our way backwards. Lander probes, once on the surface of the targeted celestial body, are designed to gather a multitude […] Continue reading →

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THE SUN

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Thomas Shelton

OK K.O.! To put it simply, the Sun is fascinating. A simple symbol that all children put in the upper corner of their drawings is actually so much more. The Sun is what holds together our Solar System. Standing at a whopping size with a diameter of 865,000 miles (over 100 times bigger than that […] Continue reading →

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Blog 4: All Things Venus!

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Nicholas Fleisher

Venus is the second planet from the sun, as well as the second of the Terrestrial planets, meaning it is high density, low radius, and low radius compared to the Jovian planets. Some quick facts about Venus include the following: As described above, Venus’s atmosphere is incredibly thick, which makes circulation efficient in transporting heat […] Continue reading →

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Black Holes Emitting Light?

Posted on March 3, 2024 by Andres Becerra

Take a look at this picture of a black hole Photo by: Space.com This is actually called a quasar. A quasar is a supermassive black hole that is actively pulling in surrounding material due to its massive gravitational force. A black hole is an entity where the force of gravity is so intense that not […] Continue reading →

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From collapse to solar system

Posted on March 3, 2024 by abbieychen

Once upon a time, there was a huge interstellar cloud of cold, low-density gas called the solar nebula. This solar nebula came about from billions of years of galactic recycling, and consists of about 98% hydrogen and helium and 2% other random elements. The solar nebula collapsed under its own gravity, and BOOM! the Sun […] Continue reading →

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Blog 3: Nuclear Fusion

Posted on March 3, 2024 by Nicholas Fleisher

The sun is the greatest, most massive, hottest thing in our world. But how does it even work?? I’m gonna be totally honest, I’m not a big science guy so I’ve never really had the change to answer this question. But Chapter 14 gives us an in depth explanation of how the sun functions through […] Continue reading →

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The Sun

Posted on March 3, 2024 by Maddy Pollard

The Sun is arguably the most important thing in our solar system. It is the orbital center for each planet, and allows for life to be sustained on Earth. But what actually is the Sun? The Sun is a giant, glowing hot ball of gas that actually has many layers to it. The outermost layer […] Continue reading →

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Spacecraft

Posted on March 3, 2024 by Maddy Pollard

Our solar system is full of many mysteries, and spacecraft are one of the main ways we can gather information about it. There are four types of robotic spacecraft: flybys, orbiters, landers and probes, and sample return missions.  Flybys travel past a world only once, and then continue on their way into space. Because of […] Continue reading →

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