Category Archives: SolarSystem

Mars, Water trapped in Rocks

Posted on March 21, 2021 by lorenzchen14

An Artist’s Rendition of what Mars may have looked like 4 billion years ago As we have discussed in class, Mars looks very different today than it did billions of years ago. One notable difference is that Mars may have liquid water, as we see evidence of this in canyons and dried river beds inContinue reading “Mars, Water trapped in Rocks” Continue reading →

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solar system superlatives: Mars

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Peter Taylor

Welcome to solar system superlatives – a blog series where we’ll learn about some of the craziest phenomena found in our solar system. First up, Mars. Mars is home to some of our solar system’s most impressive geological formations. Olympus Mons, for instance is the largest mountain in the solar system, and, as I amContinue reading “solar system superlatives: Mars” Continue reading →

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Europa and Possible Life

Posted on March 20, 2021 by thestarstudent

Europa is one of Jupiter’s 79 moons and is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon. It’s surface is covered in salty water that is almost twice the amount of water in all of Earth’s oceans combined. Covering all this water is a 10-15 mile thick sheet of ice. The inner part of the moon is thoughtContinue reading “Europa and Possible Life” Continue reading →

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Geological Map of the Moon

Posted on March 20, 2021 by thestarstudent

The United States Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center and NASA worked together to create a complete geological map of the Moon in early 2020. The map shows the immense amount of impact craters on the moon’s surface. It was made with information from six maps from the Apollo-era in conjunction with modern data. Specifically, dataContinue reading “Geological Map of the Moon” Continue reading →

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The Danger of a Coronal Mass Ejection

Posted on March 19, 2021 by brianknapp

A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is essentially a powerful expulsion of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the solar corona, or the sort of aura of plasma that surrounds our Sun. While they have an extremely cool name, and seem pretty neat, they could actually have a pretty significant impact on humanity. The Sun has an incrediblyContinue reading “The Danger of a Coronal Mass Ejection” Continue reading →

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Surface Features of Mercury

Posted on March 19, 2021 by lauryn28

Mercury is a terrestrial planet, though it is quite different in appearance than Earth. It’s grey rocky surface more resembles that of the moon, however unlike the moon Mercury has a liquid iron core and is much denser. Moreover, Mercury’s surface features paint an interesting story of past geological occurrences. Mercury formed around 4.6 billionContinue reading “Surface Features of Mercury” Continue reading →

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Middle Man Mars

Posted on March 17, 2021 by dayanel123

The terrestrial worlds are known to be Mercury, Venus, Earth, the moon, and Mars. While they all have some similarities to one another, like rocky surfaces and much smaller sizes than relative to the remaining planets in the solar system, they also have many differences. Venus and Earth are alike in ways that the otherContinue reading “Middle Man Mars” Continue reading →

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The Sun

Posted on March 17, 2021 by ben141414

It is fascinating to think about the Sun. As we all know, it is our solar system’s star. The Sun’s energy, in the form of heat and light, is absolutely essential to all life on Earth. Plants need the Sun in order to go through photosynthesis and live, animals need the Sun for its foodContinue reading “The Sun” Continue reading →

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What if the Carrington Event Occurred Today?

Posted on March 16, 2021 by olivesobservatory

Are we ready for a Carrington-level event today? The short answer- not really. In 1859, Richard Carrington observed “two patches of intensely bright and white light” (a solar flare followed by a coronal mass ejection) on the surface of the Sun. The next morning, brilliant red, green, and purple auroral displays appeared as far as… Continue reading →

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Newgrange

Posted on February 27, 2021 by bellagoodnight

When reading up on archaeoastronomy, I was immediately fascinated by Newgrange, a structure located in Ireland. This fascination was not only due to my slight obsession with Ireland, but also because of its age. It was built roughly around 3200 BC, meaning it is actually older than the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge! On the outside,Continue reading “Newgrange” Continue reading →

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