Tag Archives: Solar System

Human Expansion

The future is a terrifying, exhilarating venture regardless of the scope. As the human population on Earth grows, it is quite possible that we begin to set hungry eyes on extraterrestrial real estate (assuming technological advances that make it possible/profitable). The moon, being only a short hop away, would likely be the first extraterrestrial human […] Continue reading

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Blog Post #8: Mike Brown and Eris

We did blog posts on historical astronomers, so why not take a look at recent history, too? Mike Brown was briefly mentioned …

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Blog Post #7: Comets Can Be Artists Too

bbc.com A new study shows that Mercury may have been “painted” black by passing comets. In class, we have learned to compare …

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Ganymede’s Ocean Confirmed?

Recent observations of Ganymede by Hubble appear to suggest that it may truly have an ocean far beneath its crust. Aurorae on the planet, caused by Ganymede’s magnetic field (the only moon in the solar system to have one), and their behavior seem to be suggestive of this high possibility. Ganymede’s distance from Jupiter allows […] Continue reading

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Could our Solar System have once had Super Earths?

New research appears to suggest that the early solar system might have been home to several “Super Earths,” terrestrial planets which are between 1 to 10 times the mass of Earth. One of the lingering questions about the formation of the solar system involves exactly how is it that the terrestrial planets of our solar system are so […] Continue reading

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Colliding with Jupiter

The Shoemaker–Levy 9 collision with Jupiter was the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of Solar System objects. Shoemaker–Levy 9 disintegrated in to 21 fragments during a close encounter with Jupiter in July 1992 and finally collided with Jupiter two years later in July 1994. The remarkable collision lasted a week and left large, … Continue reading Colliding with Jupiter Continue reading

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Colliding with Jupiter

The Shoemaker–Levy 9 collision with Jupiter was the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of Solar System objects. Shoemaker–Levy 9 disintegrated in to 21 fragments during a close encounter with Jupiter in July 1992 and finally collided with Jupiter two years later in July 1994. The remarkable collision lasted a week and left large, … Continue reading Colliding with Jupiter Continue reading

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What would life be like on Pluto for humans?

photo from space.com Above is an artist’s conception of what Pluto would look like if one could stand on one of the dwarf planet’s moons and stare back at Pluto.  But this article goes on to tell us what our experiences would be if we were to actually step foot on the surface of Pluto […] Continue reading

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The Galilean Moons

When I went out observing on the 24th Avenue Parking Garage the other night, every astronomical object that I saw through the telescope amazed me, but Jupiter especially captured my attention. I had never viewed Jupiter through a telescope before, and on this beautiful and mostly clear night, I was able to clearly see not […] Continue reading

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Voyager 2

Almost all of the information and pictures scientists have today from the outer planets is due to flyby missions such as NASA’s Voyager 2. As we learned in the last unit, flyby space probes are especially helpful because they can pass by and gather information on multiple planets within one single mission, and that is… Continue reading Voyager 2 Continue reading

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