Tag Archives: astro2110

Climate Change and Cryptocurrency (Post 3)

Climate change is a pressing issue in that it has the capability to completely destroy the way humans live life on Earth. One of the main types of emissions is CO2 and it is causing our atmosphere to heat rapidly. Cryptocurrency is a new trend that is focused on decentralizing finance and allowing owners of […] Continue reading

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Where does the speed of light come from?

It might seem that the definition of the speed of light is simple–light can only physically go as fast as 300,000 km/s. This is true, but there is a lot more that goes into that number, and it doesn’t really have much to do with light. There is a lot more that goes into that […] Continue reading

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Many people have traveling to see the Northern Lights on their bucket lists. This unique phenomenon typically occurs near the Arctic Circle, with places like Finland advertising tourist expeditions to see them. The Northern Lights, otherwise known as aurora, occur when ions from solar winds collide with atoms of different elements (oxygen, nitrogen) in Earth’s […] Continue reading

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Jupiter’s Ganymede

Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system; it’s even larger than Mercury. It also has a thin oxygen atmosphere and a magnetosphere.  There’s recently been a discovery that Ganymede has a salty ocean that is greater than all of Earth’s water.  It’s extremely fascinating that Ganymede has a salty ocean that has more…Continue reading » Continue reading

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Nuclear fusion reactions power stars. In nuclear fusion, 2 atoms’ nuclei merge and form a heavier single nucleus. The leftover mass becomes energy. In stars like the Sun, this is generally the transformation of Hydrogen to Helium (proton-proton chain). Other, more massive stars, use the CNO cycle (uses more elements) to accomplish energy transformation. The […] Continue reading

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Kepler Supernova

The image above is of Kepler’s Supernova, which Johannes Kepler is credited with discovering with his description of the stellar object in his De Stella Nova. As stars progress through their main sequence lifetime and beyond and use up more of their hydrogen in nuclear fusion, they can fuse heavier and heavier elements. More massive […] Continue reading

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Legacy Survey of Space and Time: The future of astronomical observation is here…. almost!

Just two years from now, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will commence operations, beginning its mission to image nearly 40 billion celestial objects over 10 years! These observations will be made with the world’s largest digital camera and an enormous 8.4 meter (in diameter) telescope, ensuring that its images will be of the highest quality. […] Continue reading

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Origins of the Solar System

It’s interesting to think about the formation of the solar system and how the gasses that originally created it are still a part of our solar system. The origins of the solar system can be explained by the nebular theory. The nebular theory suggests that our solar system was formed from the gravitational collapse of…Continue reading » Continue reading

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The Martian: Scientifically Accurate?

The Martian is one of my favorite books, and the movie adaptation was fantastic as well (mild spoilers ahead). As someone who enjoys science and science fiction, I loved the realism and accurate technical problems that Mark Watney faces. The fundamentals of life on Mars—the time needed to travel there, delays and difficulties communicating withContinue reading “The Martian: Scientifically Accurate?” Continue reading

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Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion is a reaction between molecules where nuclei are combined to form different atomic nuclei and particles, releasing energy. This process powers main sequence stars through stellar nucleosynthesis. Stellar nucleosynthesis can only occur at extremely high temperatures in the cores of stars. Depending on the mass of the stars, i.e. the pressure and temperature […] Continue reading

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