Tag Archives: blog7

A Lonely Planet Wandering Through Space

Posted on April 10, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Astronomers have recently announced the discovery of a planet without a sun.  Known as PSO J318.5-22, the planet is a gas giant six times the mass of Jupiter, nowhere near large enough to be a Brown Dwarf.  In the past rouge planets or “planetary-mass objects” have been discovered but their size was large enough that […] Continue reading →

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Blog #7 (Pluto)

Posted on April 10, 2016 by astronomer0110

It’s a well-publicized fact by now that Pluto has been downgraded from planet to dwarf planet. Many people felt betrayed that one of the 9 planets they learned from childhood was no longer considered a planet. In reality, it was a logical decision because Pluto’s orbit is more elliptical, icier, and smaller than the rest […] Continue reading →

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The Darkest Planet in the Universe

Posted on April 10, 2016 by nickwtheastronomer

The planet sullenly staring back at you is TrES-2b and no it is not just going through a phase, this exoplanet is indeed the universe’s ultimate goth. TrES-2b is a gas giant which was first detected in 2006 by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES) employing the transit method of exoplanet discovery. In the transit method […] Continue reading →

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Europa, a Galilean Moon of Jupiter

Posted on April 10, 2016 by solarsystemjoe

As the title suggests, Europa was discovered by Galileo in 1610.  Although Galileo’s instruments for investigating the cosmos weren’t as sophisticated as ours are today, the relatively large size of Europa, a size comparable to the moon’s size, made it possible for it to be discovered in 1610.  And since then, Europa has been investigated […] Continue reading →

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A Giant spider on Pluto?

Posted on April 10, 2016 by segalastronomyblog

Launched in 2006, the New Horizons Space Probe set out with the mission to get the best view of Pluto that we humans have ever seen. And it just so happens that we succeeded! We are now seeing the absolute best images that we have ever seen of the famed dwarf planet. Recently, Pluto has […] Continue reading →

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Doppler vs. Astrometric: Find the Planet

Posted on April 10, 2016 by samihahplanet

Currently, it’s quite difficult to discover new planets simply by direct observation. This is because the high interference of light caused by the planets’ respective stars makes it almost impossible to detect the light reflected off of planets. However, there are two indirect planet detection methods: Doppler and astrometric. The astrometric method relies on measuring […] Continue reading →

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Exoplanet HD 189733b

Posted on April 10, 2016 by chasejaeger

Around 63 light years away form Earth sits the exoplanet HD 189733b. The planet has a mass of 1.13 Jupiter masses and orbits its star closer than Mercury orbits the Sun. Seen from afar, this planet is blue in color and has bands of white haze in its atmosphere that resemble clouds. Though HD 189733b […] Continue reading →

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Pluto’s Kind Heart

Posted on April 10, 2016 by nedastro2110

  Pluto has been a topic of fascination for astronomers for a long time now. With the recent flyby of the New Horizons Spacecraft, a new image of Pluto has captivated the world. Pluto has a heart. Well not actually a heart but a region that looks like a heart! I guess Pluto is really […] Continue reading →

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Uranus

Posted on April 10, 2016 by imanig625

Uranus the most mysterious of the gas giants, in its form, orbit, and rotation. It is a widely known fact that Uranus rotates on its side, but its strange tilt also means that its magnetic field is skewed, so that its magnetic north and south are vastly different than its polar. In addition, the storms… Continue reading →

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Comets and stuff

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Alex Pratte

For blog 7 I’ve decided to write about comets. Comets, according to space.com is “an icy body that releases gas or dust”(space.com) Astronomers believe that comets are leftovers of the gas, dust, ice, and rocks that originally formed our solar system. It is believed that comets carried some of the water and organic molecules that […] Continue reading →

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