Tag Archives: blog6

Gas giants are a girl’s best friend

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Asad Pabani

Rappers these days seem to emphasize how they ‘make it rain’ with money, sex, and drugs. But the gas giants of our solar system seem to have one-upped these ‘young upstarts’ (as my grandparents would say) by making it rain diamonds. Yes, literally, diamonds. According to findings by Dr Kevin Baines, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison […] Continue reading →

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NASA’s Budget Problems

Posted on March 16, 2014 by paanvaannd

  Space should be made more accessible to the average person. That should be one of the main concerns for mankind as a whole in the next few decades. For years, interest in space has been dwindling, and it seems that all that is left are the last few dying embers of a once great … Continue reading NASA’s Budget Problems → Continue reading →

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Aurora

Posted on March 16, 2014 by eschellhase

The Earth has a magnetosphere that protects us from charged solar particles coming from the sun. However, some charged particles manage to penetrate the magnetosphere. These then follow the magnetic lines of our magnetosphere. If these gain enough energy they can travel down into Earth’s atmosphere. Here they hit atoms and molecules, causing them to […] Continue reading →

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The Future of Life On Earth

Posted on March 16, 2014 by katiew

The future of Earth and the future of life depends on multiple factors.  Disregarding human technology and the effects of global warming, Earth’s future depends on interactions with other objects in the solar system, the increase in the Sun’s luminosity, and the rate of cooling of the Earth’s interior. For example, scientists have predicted that […] Continue reading →

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If the Moon were only 1 pixel

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

Someone named Josh Worth made a to-scale model of our solar system wherein the Moon is only one pixel in diameter, and it’s totally awesome. The horizontally-scrollable webpage starts at the Sun, and moves right, with text interspersed into the vast distance between planets. What’s so cool about this particular model is that it represents… Continue reading →

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Asteroid Mining

Posted on March 15, 2014 by philipapelles

There are millions of asteroids in our solar system, and they are more valuable than most people think. When I thought of asteroids in the past, I thought of grey rocks that were uninteresting and dull. However, after learning about asteroid mining and the potential benefits asteroids could provide Earth, I re-evaluated my standpoint. It… Continue reading →

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What is a Quasar?

Posted on March 15, 2014 by gradytlynch

This brief video explains our current understanding of quasars, and how the generate so much energy and are able to be seen from so far away. As the video discusses, when quasars were first observed in the 1960’s, there was a great deal of interest generated about these distant yet incredibly bright objects. As we […] Continue reading →

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The Northern Lights

Posted on March 14, 2014 by mariah0407

  I have always wanted to see the Northern Lights, also known as the aurora borealis.  I never understood what cause the bright colors in the sky until this class.  Upon reading the book I understood that the lights are simply the result of “charged particles trapped in the magnetosphere.”  It is fascinating to me […] Continue reading →

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The “Mars One” Project has 200,000 Applicants

Posted on March 13, 2014 by waldentb

Over 200,000 people have applied for a one way trip to Mars to live out their lives. Does this say …

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Volcanoes on Venus

Posted on March 12, 2014 by hollyreichert

Venus is around the same size as Earth, and therefore has a similar interior makeup.  Earth has volcanoes and they are still erupting today.  On Venus, there are signs of volcanoes but a space probe has never seen a volcano erupt on the surface.  By measuring infrared levels on the surface, we can tell that […] Continue reading →

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