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Tag Archives: planet
Second Planet to the Sun
The planet Venus is named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the second largest terrestrial planet. It is also the second brightest natural object in the sky. Venus’ apparent magnitude of -3.8 to -4.6 makes it visible on a clear day. Venus’ atmosphere can be divided into two layers: the cloud … Continue reading Second Planet to the Sun → Continue reading
Posted in Class, General, Sun
Tagged astro2110, Atmosphere, blog3, planet, Solar System, venus
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Final Post (Reflection)
The Observable Universe (Thus Far) I learned quite a bit this semester and it definitely changes the way in which I look at the universe. Coming into the course I could name the planets of our Solar System and that is about it, so I basically had no previous astronomical knowledge. For the most part … Continue reading Final Post (Reflection) → Continue reading
Extrasolar Planets and the Search for Life
Kepler 22-b Extrasolar planets are planets that orbit a star other than our own. Being in another star system, these worlds are very hard to observe since they are so far away and the light they produce pales in comparison to that of the stars they orbit. Because of this, although their existence had already … Continue reading Extrasolar Planets and the Search for Life → Continue reading
Exploration of Pluto and the Worlds Beyond by New Horizons
The New Horizons spacecraft launched from Earth in 2006 with the goal of reaching Pluto is set to break records of how far human-made machines can travel. It achieved its first goal of reaching Pluto in July of 2015 and is the only spacecraft in history to do so. Last month, NASA released this incredible image of […] Continue reading
Posted in Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog5, newhorizons, planet, pluto, space
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Exploration of Pluto and the Worlds Beyond by New Horizons
The New Horizons spacecraft launched from Earth in 2006 with the goal of reaching Pluto is set to break records of how far human-made machines can travel. It achieved its first goal of reaching Pluto in July of 2015 and is the only spacecraft in history to do so. Last month, NASA released this incredible image of […] Continue reading
Posted in Space Travel
Tagged astro2110, blog5, newhorizons, planet, pluto, space
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Rogue Planets
All of the planets that we know and love in our solar system follow a pretty regular life. They spin about an axis, revolve around the central Sun, and go about their business in the small, but vast, family of the solar system. We are most familiar with “planets” as being what is similar to our […] Continue reading
Pluto: Planet or Dwarf Planet?
This is the excerpt for your very first post. Continue reading
Posted in Dwarf Planets
Tagged astro2110, blog5, dwarf planet, planet, pluto, Solar System
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The definition of “planet”
Ever since the IAU gathered in Prague in 2006 and published a new scientific definition of “planet”, there has been debate on how well they did, and whether they were right to “demote” Pluto from planet to the new “dwarf planet” classification. I aim here to critique the IAU’s definition of a planet. First, here… Continue reading
Posted in Class, Historical, Physics, Science, Universe
Tagged astro201, blog7, dwarf planet, IAU, planet, pluto, Solar System
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Much Stars So Wow 2014-04-06 17:17:05
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
And Then There were 8
Bye pluto We all learned the acronym back in elementary school: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Now the joke going around is that we have to learn My Very Evil Mother Just Served Us Nothing. Not only is Pluto killing our childhood knowledge, it’s also being mean to moms! So the … Continue reading » Continue reading