Tag Archives: Solar System

Barophiles

Posted on April 30, 2022 by solarelizabeth

The barophiles we have found are tiny organisms, usually bacteria, living in areas with intense pressure. They are found on ocean floors where pressure can reach about 400 atm. For reference, the atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1 atm. Some barophiles known as obligate barophiles cannot survive in low pressures. The barophile Halomonas salaria […] Continue reading →

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Bracewellvon Neumann Probes

Posted on April 30, 2022 by solarelizabeth

Human space travel is slow and each mission must be meticulously planned. What if there were a way we could learn more about the universe more efficiently? John Von Neumann, in charge of computing the design of a bomb, wondered how else he could use his computing skills. He developed the idea of self-reproducing automation. […] Continue reading →

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Blog #7: Sara Seager Ted Talk

Posted on April 29, 2022 by nadiamcglynn

I watched the 2015 Ted Talk from Sara Seager (of the Seager Equation) called The Search for Planets Beyond our Solar System. She sets out to introduce what we currently know about our solar galaxy and extra solar planets. She presents a few interesting artist conceptions of the various exoplanets we know of (mainly from […] Continue reading →

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Where Are the Aliens?

Posted on April 28, 2022 by Lindsey

Based on various calculations and estimations made by scientists all over the world, there is a very high probability that aliens (i.e. life elsewhere in the universe) exist. However, we have never encountered any tangible or irrefutable evidence of aliens. This contradiction is called the Fermi Paradox. One possible explanation for this paradox is that […] Continue reading →

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Extremophiles

Posted on April 28, 2022 by Lindsey

The word extremophile comes from the Latin words extremus (meaning extreme) and philia (meaning love). An extremophile is an organism with the ability to survive, or even thrive, in an environment that we as humans would consider extreme. These organisms are some of the oldest species to exist on Earth. Some of them date back […] Continue reading →

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The Double Ridges of Europa: An Opportunity For Life

Posted on April 26, 2022 by gcomartin

While looking into climate change related developments on the surface of Greenland, associate professor of geophysics at Stanford University’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences Dustin Schroeder noticed small double-ridge formations developing, similar to those observed on the surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The double ridges form when pressurized water from below pushes up […] Continue reading →

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How the Moons Got Their Names

Posted on April 18, 2022 by McKenzieKing

I think one of the most interesting things about the moons of our Solar System is their names. We have named planets after the Greek Roman gods, and most of their moons after characters from myths that relate to those…

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The Moons of the Jovian Planets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by McKenzieKing

Some of the most well known moons in our Solar System, aside from our own, are Jupiter’s Moons. They are known as Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. However, there are over 170 known moons that orbit all of the Jovian…

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Exoplanets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

The words in the above picture are hard to make out, but I really liked the visual of some of the known exoplanets graphed on a plot. The color and appearances of these planets are not truly known since we have not directly seen them, but they are inferred based on density, temperature, metal content, […] Continue reading →

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Blog 5: Comets

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Kaitlyn Lane

Comets are relatively small bodies in our solar system comprised of dust, rock, gases, and ice. They are remnants from the formation of the solar system, and their solid bodies, or nuclei, can range from a few miles to dozens of miles wide. When its orbit gets close to the sun, this nucleus heats up […] Continue reading →

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