Tag Archives: blog7

Is Pluto a planet?

Posted on April 8, 2014 by colepospisil

Recently, Pluto was demoted to being called a “dwarf planet”. This has caused an uproar among many people who suddenly discovered that their favorite planet was Pluto. The idea that we change how we refer to a desolate rock is apparently unbelievable to a large portion of the population. The question of whether Pluto is a […] Continue reading →

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Ceres, the Inner Solar System Dwarf Planet

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Chad F

Ceres was discovered in 1801 and is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  It was originally classified as a planet, but has since been demoted to a dwarf planet.  It is thought to have an icy mantle and a rocky core with the possibility of a subsurface ocean and thin atmosphere. […] Continue reading →

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Halley’s Comet

Posted on April 8, 2014 by katiew

Halley’s Comet is the most well known comet because it is the only short-term comet that is visible from Earth with the naked eye. Halley’s Comet was seen multiple times throughout history. The first known observation of Halley’s Comet was in 239 B.C. by Chinese astronomers. When it returned in 164 B.C. and 87 B.C. […] Continue reading →

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Interiors of Jovian Planets

Posted on April 8, 2014 by eschellhase

Jovian planets also go by the name of giant planets. In our solar system we have Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Their interiors look much different than the interiors of the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus, the Moon). Earth contains a metallic, solid core. As a kid I grew up hearing that the gas […] Continue reading →

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Is Pluto a Planet?

Posted on April 7, 2014 by hindsolar

  I can recall sitting and listening to an astronomy presentation during my eighth grade year. The man who presented told us that Pluto was no longer a planet. For some reason this bothered me because all my life I had been told that Pluto was in fact a planet. I can also recall taking […] Continue reading →

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Weird Life on Titan?

Posted on April 7, 2014 by joshkphilips

Image Source People are fascinated by the Universe for a variety of reasons. Some are intrigued by black holes, while others may be obsessed with the formation of stars and planets. But one thing is for sure, the possibility of life elsewhere is definitely an exciting topic no matter what you’re interested in. When we […] Continue reading →

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Jupiter: Magnetosphere Explained

Posted on April 7, 2014 by joshkip

One feature of Jupiter that may come as a surprise is that it contains a magnetic field more than 20,000 times as strong as that of Earth’s. But, how is this possible if the Gas Giant is comprised of only … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The Tunguska Asteroid

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Leigh

On June 30, 1908 an asteroid about 120 feet across entered Earth’s atmosphere and exploded above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia. At an elevation of about 28,000 feet, the combination of pressure and heat made the space rock explode … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Much Stars So Wow 2014-04-06 17:17:05

Posted on April 6, 2014 by gradytlynch

This charismatic account of the first rogue planet discovered touches on many interesting points. The video discusses our ever-changing definition of what constitutes a planet. At first, we simply defined a planet as anything we observed that was similar to our 8 local planets. However, after incredibly massive planets (around ten times the mass of […] Continue reading →

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Largest Solid Known Object in Solar System Found in Kuiper Belt

Posted on April 6, 2014 by waldentb

Californian Institute of Technology astronomers have recently found a new object floating in an outer region of our solar system …

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