Category Archives: Class

Water on the Moon?

Posted on April 8, 2024 by liamoneill95

We first landed on the moon over 50 years ago, but despite the relative feasibility of going back to the moon, we have only conducted a few missions since then for people to travel to our closest celestial neighbor. Why is that? Going to the moon is incredibly expensive, and there’s always been little reason […] Continue reading →

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Earth’s Distant Twin

Posted on April 8, 2024 by liamoneill95

Kepler-186F is an exoplanet that exhibits strikingly similar characteristics to Earth. The planet is roughly the size of Earth, and is within the “habitable zone” of its red dwarf star, Kepler-186. The habitable zone implies that due to its distance from its star, it’s very possible that the exoplanet could have liquid water on its […] Continue reading →

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Brown Dwarfs

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Owen Purcell

One of the most interesting bodies in the universe is the brown dwarf, a small world a few times the size of Jupiter. These are interesting because they do not fit cleanly into our definitions of stars and planets. They are technically under the category of star, but this is due in most part to […] Continue reading →

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Astronomic Oddball, Triton

Posted on April 7, 2024 by obisesoa

Triton stands out amongst most moons. Usually a moon is made of the leftovers from when the solar system was being formed, ideally becoming large enough to force itself into a spherical shape. More ambitious moons are made directly from planet material cast off in an accident. Triton sticks out; it is theorized to have […] Continue reading →

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Hubble and the TRAPPIST-1 System

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Angela Harris

An artist’s illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system  One thing from this unit I found interesting was learning about extrasolar planets. The Hubble Space Telescope was the first to detect an exoplanet’s atmospheric conditions and collect data about its makeup. In 2000, Hubble was used to study the exoplanet 209458 b which was the first […] Continue reading →

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Geological Activity Far out in the Solar System

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Tejas Mahesh

Based upon the formation and evolution of the rocky terrestrial planets, size of the planet results in whether the planet is geologically active or dead. However, the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune are smaller in size than Earth, yet are geologically active. How come? It turns out that the magma volcanic activity of the […] Continue reading →

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A Messenger From Afar

Posted on April 7, 2024 by John Newell

 ‘Oumuamua, our first confirmed Extrasolar Object On October 19th, 2017, a telescope at the University of Hawaii, called Pan-STARRS1 detected an object unlike any before observed in our Solar System. It was highly elongated (by a ratio of at least 10:1), completely inert (no dust floating around or behind), and composed of rock and possibly […] Continue reading →

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The Lesser Known Moon

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Ayden Harris

Titan is a commonly forgotten about moon in our solar system. It is the second largest moon that orbits Saturn. There are a few interesting things about Titan. Titan is one of the most Earth-like worlds found to date. Titan’s atmosphere is comprised of mainly nitrogen (95%) and some methane (5%). However, why it is […] Continue reading →

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Upcoming Mission: Dragonfly

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Adriana Santos

Since our class is coming to a close, I have been curious about future astronomical missions. What will the students who take ASTR 2110 learn that we do not have access to yet? One of NASA’s upcoming missions in partnership with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, is called Dragonfly and it will be observing the […] Continue reading →

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The Kuiper Belt

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Ethan Jones

The Kuiper Belt was foreign to me before this class. I had never heard of it and because of that it stuck out to me. The basics of the Kuiper Belt is that it is the large region beyond Neptune. It stretches from about 30au-50au from the Sun. So far NASA says that only 2000 […] Continue reading →

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