Tag Archives: blog5

Exoplanet exploration: 700 light-years away

It might seem strange that we are currently exploring planets that are so far away from us, especially since we cannot travel to them. But, these planets, called exoplanets or extrasolar planets can teach us a lot about star-system formation. We can then take this information and apply it to our own solar system! One […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Exoplanet exploration: 700 light-years away

Blog 5: WHAT MAKES A METAL?

Jupiter’s magnetosphere is generated thanks to a “metallic” layer of hydrogen around its core that is electrically conductive. Saturn also has “metallic,” electrically conductive hydrogen around its core, which enables it to have a magnetosphere as well. But the quotation marks? The answer is that metallic hydrogen isn’t a metal, in the traditional sense. First, […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Physics, Universe | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Blog 5: WHAT MAKES A METAL?

Pluto – Common Misconceptions

Image Source Pluto has long been a very mysterious planets to both scientists and the general population. Because of this, many misconceptions have risen throughout the years. In this blog post, I will cover a few of the most popular myths, both scientific and fun. Continue reading

Posted in Dwarf Planets, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Pluto – Common Misconceptions

Titan’s Tremendous Atmosphere and its Striking Similarity to Earth

One of the most fascinating things that I have learned from this unit was the diversity that are the jovian moons. Originally, I believed moons to be rocky, non geologically active objects that orbited planets. Although this is the case for some moons, especially the smaller ones, some moons hold very unique characteristics, such as […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Moons | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Titan’s Tremendous Atmosphere and its Striking Similarity to Earth

Blog 5: Jovian Magnetospheres

For this blog post, I’m going to be talking about the relative magnetospheres of the Jovian planets. As we have learned with terrestrials, magnetic fields are generated by motions of charged particles deep in their planet’s interiors. These magnetic fields create magnetospheres, which are like huge bubble that surround the whole planet and shield it […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Blog 5: Jovian Magnetospheres

Put a ring on it!! 🪐

When I think of rings, the first planet that comes to mind is Saturn. Saturn has the most impressive rings out of all the Jovian planets in our solar system. (In fact, Saturn’s rings are so prominent that I sometimes forget that other Jovian planets also have rings!!) First, let’s talk about the properties of […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Put a ring on it!! 🪐

What do we know about the Oort Cloud?

Not much is known about the Oort Cloud, because it is simply so far away! Rather than being a disk like the asteroid and Kuiper belts, it is thought to be a spherical shell that surrounds the Solar system. The precise bounds of the cloud are not known, but it is thought to extend from […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on What do we know about the Oort Cloud?

Pluto: New Horizon

Pluto, a dwarf planet farther out than Neptune in the Kuiper Belt, was once thought to be the ninth planet of our solar system. However, the discovery of Pluto’s moon, Charon, led to the revision of calculations on Pluto’s mass, and the redefinition of planets finally “kicked” Pluto out of the solar system planets since […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Dwarf Planets | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Pluto: New Horizon

Pluto: If Size Doesn’t Matter, What Does?

Pluto is one of the most underestimated discoveries of our solar system. What we expected to be a simple ice ball comet-like object in the very outreaches of our solar system ended up becoming one of the most interesting planetesimals that tell us a complex geology category. Many will know Pluto for its classification as […] Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Pluto: If Size Doesn’t Matter, What Does?

Naming Extrasolar Planets

Ever since we learned about the naming themes with the Jovian planets’ moons in class two weeks ago, I have been interested about how astronomers have managed to not run out of naming themes for the vast universe as they discover more worlds. I thought that the Jovian planets took up most of the cooler […] Continue reading

Posted in Class, Exoplanets, Science | Tagged , | Comments Off on Naming Extrasolar Planets