Tag Archives: Solar System

All About Aurorae

Posted on March 5, 2023 by 7smessier45

As the title suggests, our topic for today is Earth’s aurorae (pronounced auh-ror-eye). These stunning displays generally occur in two symmetrical oval rings about the planet’s far northern and southern regions–Earth’s magnetic north and south poles. When they happen in the north, aurorae are often referred to as the northern lights or Aurora Borealis. Likewise, […] Continue reading →

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Blog 2 – Tides: my thoughts from the anime Avatar: the Last Airbender

Posted on February 13, 2023 by niqretnuh

One of my favorite poetic interpretations of tides comes from the anime “Avatar–the last airbender”. In the episode “The Siege of the North”, the root of the mysterious power of “water-bending” is explained to stem from the moon, and the power of tides. The goddesses “tui (推)” and “la (拉)” (“push” and “pull”) directs the […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post 2 – What was Stonehenge really for?

Posted on February 10, 2023 by Melanie Marszal

Most people have seen pictures or heard of Stonehenge, an ancient monument on the Salisbury Plain in England. Personally, while I had seen references to Stonehenge in the media, I never actually knew what it was for, or what people thought it was for. It has been difficult for historians to find a definitive answer, […] Continue reading →

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Blog 1 – Solstices/Equinoxes

Posted on January 22, 2023 by kevkoppa123

There are 2 solstices: the June and December Solstice. The June Solstice is the point on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic is farthest north of the celestial equator. Similarly, the December solstice is the point on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic is farthest south of the celestial equator. The June and December Solstice […] Continue reading →

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Identifying Jupiter and Mars

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Europa

Last night, I was looking up at the night sky while walking to dinner. I noticed a few constellations, as well as two brighter points of light that I was pretty sure were Mars and Jupiter. Normally, I can identify them, but for some reason Mars didn’t look as red to me as it normally […] Continue reading →

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Blog #1 – Observing the moon

Posted on January 20, 2023 by 02yrstu

As a part of one of the courses I took last semester, we observed the phenomenon of the phases of the moon. We were instructed to record what the moon looked like for one month, noting which area of the moon was illuminated at what time. When the data collection process was completed and we […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8 – Evidence for a Europan Ocean

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Jack Walton

Europa, Jupiter’s 4th largest and 2nd closest Galilean moon, is thought to have a large saltwater ocean covered by a layer of ice. An article from Nasa details the evidence for the existence of this ocean. The first piece of evidence is the matching zig-zagging cracks on the surface that indicate that the surface was […] Continue reading →

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When the Sun Dies

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

All good things must come to an end, including the ancient (at least relative to humanity), life-giving star we see each day. Even though the sun is considered a young star, it still has a finite lifetime, and it will eventually “die” in about 5 billion years. The image above shows a rough timeline of […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7:Fermi Paradox

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Charles Littleton

The Fermi paradox is the conflict between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrials and the high estimates for their existence . The name came from the Italian-American Physicist Enrico Fermi. He was roughly quoted as saying “Where is everybody?” This paradox has been explained by saying that the number of intelligent civilizations is very low. […] Continue reading →

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Astrobiology – Indicators of Life on Other Worlds

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

Astrobiology studies the past, present, and future of life in the universe. One facet of this interdisciplinary field is considering the possibility of life on other planets or worlds. Scientists utilize research in biology, chemistry, astronomy, and cosmology to help determine if life could exist elsewhere in the universe, and if so, how we can […] Continue reading →

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