Tag Archives: blog5

Hubble and the TRAPPIST-1 System

An artist’s illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system  One thing from this unit I found interesting was learning about extrasolar planets. The Hubble Space Telescope was the first to detect an exoplanet’s atmospheric conditions and collect data about its makeup. In 2000, Hubble was used to study the exoplanet 209458 b which was the first […] Continue reading

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Geological Activity Far out in the Solar System

Based upon the formation and evolution of the rocky terrestrial planets, size of the planet results in whether the planet is geologically active or dead. However, the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune are smaller in size than Earth, yet are geologically active. How come? It turns out that the magma volcanic activity of the […] Continue reading

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A Messenger From Afar

 ‘Oumuamua, our first confirmed Extrasolar Object On October 19th, 2017, a telescope at the University of Hawaii, called Pan-STARRS1 detected an object unlike any before observed in our Solar System. It was highly elongated (by a ratio of at least 10:1), completely inert (no dust floating around or behind), and composed of rock and possibly […] Continue reading

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Europa

Alien life could very well be found in our own Solar System, and Europe is a prime candidate! Being one of Jupiter’s moons, Europe is one of the coolest moons of the giant planets in our solar system. It is about 90% the size of our Moon, with an equatorial diameter of 1,940 miles. However, […] Continue reading

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The Lesser Known Moon

Titan is a commonly forgotten about moon in our solar system. It is the second largest moon that orbits Saturn. There are a few interesting things about Titan. Titan is one of the most Earth-like worlds found to date. Titan’s atmosphere is comprised of mainly nitrogen (95%) and some methane (5%). However, why it is […] Continue reading

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Blog 5 – Pluto

Johns Hopkins University HUB As we learned in class/from Dr. Stern’s Pluto talk, we really did not know a whole lot about Pluto until the historic New Horizons flyby in 2015. However, that daring team of scientists allowed us to discover new things about Pluto that people had not even fathomed before. For example, Pluto […] Continue reading

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The Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt was foreign to me before this class. I had never heard of it and because of that it stuck out to me. The basics of the Kuiper Belt is that it is the large region beyond Neptune. It stretches from about 30au-50au from the Sun. So far NASA says that only 2000 […] Continue reading

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Comets – Blog Post #5 – Cameron Klein

After learning briefly about asteroids and comets during previous units, I became intrigued by them. I had known a little bit about comets and where they are located within our solar system, but as I was reading about this in our textbook, I realized just how much more there was to learn. Comets are extremely […] Continue reading

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Blog 5: Pluto and its Largest Moon

Pluto, situated 40 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, orbits the Sun every 248 years. Its path stands out due to its highly elliptical shape and inclination relative to the ecliptic plane, distinguishing it from the other planets. Pluto is orbited by five moons, with Charon being the largest and most notable. Charon orbits Pluto […] Continue reading

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Discovering Extrasolar Planets

Have you ever wondered if us humans are alone in the vast expanse of the universe? Do worlds similar to those in our solar system exist? Scientists are currently looking for answers to these questions by studying extrasolar planets, or planets that orbit around other stars. Three main methods allow scientists to analyze these questions […] Continue reading

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