Tag Archives: blog7

Exoplanets in the Habitable Zone

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Will K

  According to recent astronomical discoveries, there are much more Earth sized exoplanets in the habitable zone than scientists previously thought. In a study of cool stars, called M-dwarfs, researchers found that rocky, medium sized exoplanets could be relatively common. The possibility of a moderate climate and liquid water is greater for these planets when […] Continue reading →

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Finding Exoplanets – Gravitational Microlensing

Posted on April 8, 2013 by charlesbcochran

The search for exoplanets is difficult. Even more so when the method of gravitational microlensing is used. Back in the day, Einstein proved the existence of gravitational lensing. Basically what happens is when a distant and close star are aligned … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Why Pluto is Not a Planet

Posted on April 8, 2013 by indianwm

This informative video talks about Pluto, from discovery to why it is no longer considered a planet, but a dwarf planet. The discovery of Pluto was in 1930 by a man named Clyde Tombaugh in Arizona. Since this time Pluto has been classified as a Dwarf Planet. It lays in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune […] Continue reading →

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A Black Hole’s Diet

Posted on April 7, 2013 by wherrysg

Source Incredible! While studying a distant galaxy, astronomers noticed a bright flare of X-rays coming from another galaxy that happened to be in their field of view. Upon closer look, they discovered that it was actually a black hole ‘eating up’ what they believe to be either an extremely large planet or a smaller brown […] Continue reading →

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Triton: The Unexpected Volcanic World

Posted on April 7, 2013 by hannahladendorf13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eXac1DGcjM When we think of volcanic activity, we expect molten lava to come out.  However, this video from the Science Channel explains that instead of lava, Triton actually produces nitrogen gas to the atmospheric as well as “moon dust.”   As … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Why is Europa so Awesome?

Posted on April 7, 2013 by fathomingthestars

A lot of the science community is excited about the possibility of life of Mars.  But, as we know, the vast majority of Mars’s atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide and what water it does have is frozen in its polar ice caps.  An arguably much more exciting destination in our own Solar System is […] Continue reading →

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New Saturn Discoveries

Posted on April 1, 2013 by juliettealper

As we’ve learned in class, Saturn is an interesting planet mostly for its “rings” made of many small rocks and particles.  Because Saturn is a Jovian planet and so far away, we are still trying to learn as much as we can about it. In fact, scientists have discovered new information about Saturn’s rings and […] Continue reading →

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