Category Archives: SolarSystem

Blog #3 Formation of the Solar System

Posted on March 6, 2023 by reidwalker87

The formation of the Solar System is truly a testament to our good fortune of life being possible on a planet located in the “Goldilocks Zone” near the Sun. The initial conditions allowed for not only Earth to be composed of rocky elements such as carbon but for the Earth to be protected from flying […] Continue reading →

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Earth and Us

Posted on March 5, 2023 by cuia2

I’ve always wondered how rare it is for Earth to exist and support life on it, and now I know that out of the billions of solar systems, Earth is the only planet we know of to support life on it currently. Earth had to be at just the right distance from the Sun for […] Continue reading →

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Chelyabinsk event

Posted on March 5, 2023 by andrewccascio

On the morning of February 15, 2013, an undetected meteor the size of a six-story building exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. At 20 meters long, it reached speeds of 60,000 km/h before detonating with the force of a 500-kiloton nuclear bomb. Witnesses saw a flash brighter than the Sun before hearing a delayed […] Continue reading →

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Olympus Mons

Posted on March 5, 2023 by andrewccascio

Currently the largest known volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons stands at a remarkable 25 km high, which is almost 3 times the height of Mount Everest, and is wide as Arizona. Compared to the largest active volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa, Olympus Mons is 100 times larger in volume, a seemingly odd feat […] Continue reading →

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Blog 3: composition of the Solar System

Posted on March 1, 2023 by lucasliu6

The Solar System is an extraordinary marvel of the universe, a collection of celestial objects that has captured the curiosity of scientists, and the imagination of people for generations. The composition of these objects holds vital clues to understanding the origins of the Solar System and the processes that have shaped it over billions of […] Continue reading →

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nuclear fusion

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Emma Williams

Have you ever wondered why the sun shines? It’s a question that has inspired centuries of astronomers to come up with a wide variety of explanations. It was once thought that the sun shone because of chemical combustion, but we now know that there is nowhere near enough oxygen for that process to have sustained […] Continue reading →

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Lack of Cratering: Io and Europa

Posted on February 28, 2023 by willems49

During class, we have discussed magnetospheres, tectonics, geological activity, and their relation to the cores of the “Big Five”: Earth, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, and Mars. Specifically the moon has very obvious cratering across its entire surface, and its craters remain intact for billions of years. This is due to it not having an atmosphere […] Continue reading →

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Comparing the Atmospheres of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Melanie Marszal

We may not think much about the presence of Earth’s atmosphere in our day-to-day lives, but it has an immense impact on us. Earth’s atmosphere contains the oxygen we need to breathe, protects us from many of the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays, helps stabilize the Earth’s temperature, and is responsible for weather patterns. If […] Continue reading →

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Solar Flares and the Carrington Event

Posted on February 26, 2023 by sydneyastr2110

We heard a little bit about the Carrington Event in class, and I wanted to know more about it. A solar flare is essentially a burst of energy on the Sun which sends electrified gas and subatomic particles toward Earth. In 1859, there was an abnormally large solar flare caused two geomagnetic storms known as […] Continue reading →

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Powered and Unpowered Gravity Assists

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Trevor Pillow

The farthest planets in the solar system are so distant, it is infeasible to reach them using only rockets. The delta-v, or change in velocity, required to propel a spacecraft to a gas giant like Saturn is far too impractical for today’s rockets to achieve. The main problem is that a spacecraft needs tons of […] Continue reading →

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