Tag Archives: earth

A Moving Sky

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Stars in Yellowstone National Park Have you ever heard of horoscopes, zodiac signs, or noticed you can see different constellations in the sky during different times of the year? This is all due to the shifting of our perspective on Earth throughout the year. No, the stars are not rotating around us out there. They […] Continue reading →

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Blog Blog 8: Culminating Blog!

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Jonas Kobza

Overall, this class has greatly improved my knowledge of space and the solar system.  I learned some useful (and fun) skills such as finding the north star, and the increased perspective I now have on both the solar system and the universe will be invaluable as we explore and travel more into space. I have […] Continue reading →

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Would humans survive without Jupiter?

Posted on April 28, 2024 by katie shapiro

“Our solar system is a cosmic dance of planets, moving together in perfect harmony.”-Unknown At the beginning of this course I understood that the solar system had planets and other objects, such as asteroids and comets, but I believed that they all acted independently of each other, with the exception of gravity. In other words, […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7: The Fermi Paradox

Posted on April 27, 2024 by matthewastro

Many scientists have theorized that we are not alone in the universe. Indeed, there are many scenarios that should lend themselves to the existence of life. The conditions inherent in theoretical models that have been developed to explain Earth’s formation and subsequent development of life exist elsewhere. Not only do they exist, but they appear […] Continue reading →

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Understanding Auroras: The Physics of Earth’s Magnetic Light Shows

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Garrett

The Northern Lights The northern lights, or aurora borealis, is a display of natural light that occurs in the Earth’s sky. What you might not know is that there is another light show on Earth called aurora australis, which occurs in the southern hemisphere. So, what causes these natural and captivating lights? Solar winds are […] Continue reading →

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The Role of Radioactive Decay in Earth’s Internal Heat

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Garrett

Image: Cross Section of Earth As we have learned, the cause of seasons is the directness of sunlight a particular region of the Earth receives. What you may not know is that the sun is not the only source that heats up the Earth. The Earth actually internally generates its own heat through radioactive decay. […] Continue reading →

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Blog 3: Equilibrium and the stability of earth

Posted on March 2, 2024 by matthewastro

The formation of Earth and its current sustainability as they only known life-sustaining body in the universe have been caused by a number of extremely specific conditions which combine to make our planet the only one on which life is known to thrive. In this post, I will survey two of the specific conditions on […] Continue reading →

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Farewell, for now

Posted on April 28, 2023 by 7smessier45

I have always loved the stars, nebulae, planets, and all the space in between, but I never had a chance to seriously study them until this year. I am incredibly grateful that I was able to devote two classes (and a lab!) to learning more about the processes that govern solar system formation and how […] Continue reading →

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Extremophiles: life finds a way

Posted on April 28, 2023 by 7smessier45

I remember first learning about extremophiles back in the sixth grade. Back then, I was fascinated by life’s ability to find a way to survive even in the ‘worst’ conditions. Now that I’m older, I am no less fascinated by these amazing organisms, their ability to thrive, and their connection to astronomy. (I only recently […] Continue reading →

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Down the Rabbit Hole Again…

Posted on April 14, 2023 by drgrundstrom

Researching stuff can be so fun! Though it sometimes takes longer than planned ;) As I talked about it class briefly, there’s a drone in the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park and it was a TOTALLY big deal, especially right away. I found a good article that was from 11 months after the […] Continue reading →

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