Tag Archives: Solar System

ExploreSol

Posted on April 28, 2021 by kjackson1456

It might surprise you to know that the sun is over 90 million miles away from us! That’s right: something that far away is able to provide us with life-saving light and warmth. A process called nuclear fusion is responsible for the sun’s tremendous heat and brilliant shine. Though it may look different from otherContinue reading “ExploreSol” Continue reading →

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Comet Swift-Tuttle

Posted on April 21, 2021 by miichellewang

Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle (which is unfortunately not named after Taylor Swift) is just one of the several thousand comets that are known to astronomers. The “P” in its name stands for “periodic comet”, which means that it has an orbital period of less than 200 years. It was separately discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift andContinue reading “Comet Swift-Tuttle” Continue reading →

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How Moons Get Their Names

Posted on April 20, 2021 by solarcecily

With advancements being made in telescopy allowing astronomers to use the astrometric, Doppler, and transit methods to unparalleled accuracy, we can’t let ourselves get behind in naming these fascinating new worlds. Before we were discovering extrasolar planets, however, we were classifying small worlds and satellites within our own Solar System. Some of the more notableContinue reading “How Moons Get Their Names” Continue reading →

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The Heart of Pluto

Posted on April 18, 2021 by solarcecily

Pluto’s beloved carotid glacier, Tombaugh Regio, has been the apple of astronomers’ eyes ever since New Horizons made its fly-by in 2015. This fly-by gave us the highest resolution images of Pluto we’ve ever been able to capture, and in these new photos, a particular feature on the dwarf planet’s surface rose to a meteoricContinue reading “The Heart of Pluto” Continue reading →

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Types of Kuiper Belt Objects

Posted on April 18, 2021 by miichellewang

You have likely heard of the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter, but did you know we also have the Kuiper belt? It’s approximately 20 AU (astronomical units) wide and is located beyond Neptune. Several dwarf planets such as Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, and Eris are all located here. Unlike asteroids which are mostly composedContinue reading “Types of Kuiper Belt Objects” Continue reading →

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Blog 6: Huygens’s Descent to Titan

Posted on April 17, 2021 by mattj3

The Cassini orbiter, initially launched on October 15, 1997, traveled seven years with the objective to relay observations of Saturn and its satellites. Attached to this spacecraft was also the Huygens probe, designed to enter the atmosphere and land on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. On January 14, 2005, Huygens executed its mission;Continue reading “Blog 6: Huygens’s Descent to Titan” Continue reading →

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Blog 5: Is there life on Europa?

Posted on April 17, 2021 by mattj3

The moon Europa orbits Jupiter alongside three other unique satellites described as “Jupiter’s Galilean moons”; these moons although similar in size to our moon (especially Io and Europa) display geological activity very different from what is observed on our own. Europa in particular, after telescope observation and satellite missions such as Voyager 1 and 2,Continue reading “Blog 5: Is there life on Europa?” Continue reading →

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Europa, and the Possibility of Life

Posted on April 17, 2021 by weatherbysofferings

When we discussed the sub-surface oceans of some of the large moon-worlds, I was particularly excited about the idea that these places could potentially contain life, for what could be more exciting than the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe? As such, for my blog post, I wanted to dive into one potential homeContinue reading “Europa, and the Possibility of Life” Continue reading →

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What Is A Dwarf Planet, Anyway?

Posted on April 17, 2021 by alliefrymire

Given all our discussions of Pluto and the other “dwarf planets” of our solar system, you may be interested in just how astronomers differentiate a dwarf planet from a “regular” planet. According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia (not being sarcastic, Wikipedia is generally very trustworthy these days!), there are three characteristics that define a dwarf planet. … Continue reading What Is A Dwarf Planet, Anyway? → Continue reading →

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Han Solo Is Working Too Hard

Posted on April 17, 2021 by brandonlipper

While science-fiction flicks like Star Wars produce some exhilarating and high-stakes chase scenes with the help of treacherous asteroid fields/belts, in reality, you could probably navigate these asteroid belts blind-folded. With all due respect to Han Solo’s piloting skills and his less than twelve parsecs Kessel run, he would not actually have needed to utilizeContinue reading “Han Solo Is Working Too Hard” Continue reading →

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