Tag Archives: Solar System

The Outer Solar System

Posted on April 9, 2023 by dromalley

For this blog post, I’m going to be taking you on a journey through the outer solar system, beginning with what’s usually the last stop on the tour: Pluto. Pluto, formerly a planet, is now classified as a dwarf planet, orbiting at a distant 39 AU from the Sun in the dim outer reaches of […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post 5: Ultima Thule

Posted on April 9, 2023 by Myles7235

Most people have New Years goals of going to the gym more or spending more time with their family. The New Horizons team had a New Years goal to capture a clear image of Ultima Thule, the furthest known Kuiper belt object at that time, on a New Years flyby. Most people will look at […] Continue reading →

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Why is Jupiter the way it is?

Posted on April 9, 2023 by cuia2

Have you ever wondered why Jupiter looks so colorful? Well look no further than Jupiter’s atmosphere, where you’ll find similar and yet different features from Earth’s own atmosphere. Jupiter’s atmosphere consists of the thermosphere, stratosphere, and the troposphere, much like Earth’s atmosphere, yet where they differ is what each layer consists of. Jupiter’s thermosphere is […] Continue reading →

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What is up with Io?

Posted on April 9, 2023 by cuia2

Today I wanted to talk about one of the most fascinating moons in the Solar System, Io is one of the four Galilean moons that orbits Jupiter, which are each large enough to be counted as planets or dwarf planets if they orbited the Sun. Io is covered in snow, and yet is by far […] Continue reading →

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Titan

Posted on April 8, 2023 by zws42

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest moon in the solar system behind Ganymede. It is shrouded in a thick, yellow atmosphere and has standing bodies of liquid on its surface. It is the only place besides Earth(that we know of) that has an atmospheric cycle of precipitation and evaporation. One day on […] Continue reading →

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Comets

Posted on April 8, 2023 by zws42

Comets are Kuiper Belt objects composed of chunks of rock and various ices. For the majority of their orbits they are a long way away from the Sun and don’t have the characteristic tail that we are used to seeing. However, as the comet dives back into the inner solar system, the radiation from the […] Continue reading →

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Nuclear Fusion

Posted on March 8, 2023 by niqretnuh

At noon on a hot summer’s day, have you ever wondered how the Sun acquires so much energy that the light coming from it, 150 million kilometers away, can bring so much heat that it even burns your eyes and skin? The answer lies in hydrogen fusion happening in the Sun’s core. In its initial […] Continue reading →

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The (Possible) Oceans of Europa

Posted on March 7, 2023 by jackdoyle25

Among all of Earth’s unique aspects and characteristics, the presence of water may be the most significant. Water is necessary to life as we know it; from humans ourselves down to microscopic organisms, all living things need water to survive. It is no wonder, then, that life in the Solar System is exclusive to Earth; […] Continue reading →

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The Imaginary Planet

Posted on March 7, 2023 by dromalley

While the five planets visible to the naked eye have been known for almost all of astronomy’s history, it was not until the discovery of Uranus in 1781 by Sir William Herschel that astronomers began searching for other planets in our Solar System. After Neptune was discovered in 1846, astronomers began turning their telescopes towards […] Continue reading →

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The Atmosphere as we know it

Posted on March 7, 2023 by cuia2

The atmosphere is split into four different layers: the troposphere, the stratosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer and is where greenhouse gasses absorb the infrared light and where storms occur. The stratosphere absorbs solar ultraviolet light by ozone, Earth is the only planet to have this layer. The thermosphere […] Continue reading →

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