Tag Archives: Solar System

Geology of the Moon and Mercury – Blog 4

After writing my last blog post about atmospheres and the greenhouse effect, when learning that the atmospheres of the Moon and Mercury cause them to be considered practically airless and have no weather, I became heavily intrigued. What makes the Moon and Mercury so different from the other planets in our solar system? Thus, I […] Continue reading

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Walking on the Giant Planets

In class, we have been learning a lot about the different kinds of planets and what makes them have their unique characteristics. But did you know that if possible to send people to the Giant Planets, you would not be able to walk on them? One of the characteristics of the Giant Planets is that […] Continue reading

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Intelligent Life Isn’t About Blind Luck. It’s About Probability.

ARS Technia The thought of other sentient life existing in the universe is one that comes up often. Among the religious crowd, many will argue that Earth’s existence is a perfect result of divine influence, that if just a few things were a bit different, we wouldn’t have evolved as we have done. Yes, we […] Continue reading

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Life on Europa??

One of humanity’s greatest wonders is if life could exist outside of Earth. Surely humans are not the only living creatures to exist in the entire universe, but where could other organisms flourish? Scientists have identified three key criteria that make life possible: liquid water, chemistry, and energy. Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons and the […] Continue reading

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The Birth of The Solar System

Have you ever been curious as to where the Solar System got its start? Determining the birth of the Solar System is one of the trickiest tasks astronomers have looked at. Afterall, the formation of the solar system must determine why comets and asteroids reside where they do, predict why we have terrestrial and jovian […] Continue reading

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Retrograde Motion

Retrograde motion is a fascinating celestial phenomenon that has puzzled astronomers and stargazers for thousands of years. Imagine you were stargazing across multiple nights and traced the planets as they danced across the sky, but suddenly, one of the planets stops, reverses direction, and then after a while, resumes its original motion with the stars. […] Continue reading

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Astronomical Discoveries in Context

Nicolas Copernicus was both a mathematician and an astronomer, born on February 19th 1473 and passed on May 24th, 1543. He studied astronomy and astrology at the University of Cracow, leaving before completing his degree. His most important work was establishing the heliocentric model of the solar system. He challenged the geocentric model that stated […] Continue reading

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The farmers’almanac

In elementary school, my library teacher always had the Farmers’ Almanac for the year on her desk. The Farmers’ Almanac has a forecaster who works under the pseudonym Caleb Weatherbee. Weatherbee’s predictions are based on a formula that takes many things into account including the Moon phases. Every fall, my classmates and I looked forward […] Continue reading

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Blog 1: Asymmetry of the Moon

By looking at the image above, it’s clear to see that the dark splotches we’ve come to associate with our closest cosmic neighbor, the Moon, are only seen on one side! The farside of the moon is much more uniform with a lot more craters than the side we see. This stark difference has puzzled […] Continue reading

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Blog 1 – Solstices, Equinoxes, and Seasons

Traditionally, the Solstices mark the beginning of the most treacherous seasons. Being from Miami, when the summer solstice came around everyone always knew that the days would only get hotter. Once the winter solstice hit, we always prayed that there would be some form of respite (news flash, rarely was). Arguably, this is the worst […] Continue reading

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