Category Archives: SolarSystem

The 2017 Nashville Eclipse!

Posted on January 28, 2014 by drgrundstrom

In class yesterday we talked about eclipses and so here’s the post about it! The totally awesome (and very dedicated) Mr. Eclipse (i.e., The Ultimate Resource for Eclipse Photography) is a favorite of NASA so they use his diagrams on their eclipse website. The foremost resource for the 2017 eclipse is eclipse2017.org.  The Interactive Google […] Continue reading →

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The size of the Universe

Posted on January 27, 2014 by asadpabani

To say the Universe is big is a bit of an understatement. The monster truck parked outside is considered big, the girl sitting next to you in class is called big by some people in bated breath, the Big Mac is supposed to be big (says so in the very name). When we’re talking about […] Continue reading →

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Lunar Eclipses Explained

Posted on January 27, 2014 by joshkip

After reading chapter 2 of our textbook, one of things that surprised me was the distinction between solar and lunar eclipses, and how – on an everyday basis – we seem to use the term “eclipse” only when it refers … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Hybrid Solar Eclipse

Posted on January 27, 2014 by hughavanheesewijk

Eclipses can be very beautiful things. We can all go online and look up images of solar eclipses taken from Earth. You can either see a total solar eclipse, where the sun in completely covered by the moon, or an annular where the sun is only partially covered by the moon because the moon is […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post #2: Solstices and Equinoxes

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Lauren

As in the olden days, the sun was used to measure and chart the passing of time.  The sun is the life-source for all living things here on earth and is a vital part of the ecosystem.  The fact that the length, intensity, and the spot of the sun’s glow on earth determines the seasons, […] Continue reading →

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Impacts on Saturn and the Drake equation

Posted on April 29, 2013 by werdercj

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft recently observed meteors colliding with Saturn’s thin rings.  This marked the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn’s rings, although astronomers already expected this to be occurring regularly.  However, specific details of such impacts were merely speculation, much of which is cleared up via […] Continue reading →

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Astronomy201: Reflection and Take Away

Posted on April 29, 2013 by jacksonlangham

The best part about this class has been the breadth of knowledge I have accumulated. We tend not to go too far into any one subject, but we cover enough […] Continue reading →

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The Complex Chemistry of Titan

Posted on April 28, 2013 by jacob933

A recent experiment by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory simulating Titan’s atmosphere has shown that there is some exciting chemistry going on not only in it’s upper atmosphere, but in the lower atmosphere too! Before this, scientists had assumed that as you got closer to the surface, the air became “dull and inert.” However, this team […] Continue reading →

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A Changing Vision

Posted on April 19, 2013 by a2megal

In the news recently (back at the end of March), astronomers began to hypothesize (running simulations and doing extensive calculations) about what would happen if Comet 2013 A1 were to hit mars. Right now, this 1 to 3 km in diameter (the nucleus size) comet has a roughly 1 in 2000 chance of impacting Mars. […] Continue reading →

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New Way to Study Asteroids

Posted on April 11, 2013 by jacksonlangham

NASA and the White House just announced the space agency’s budget for the 2014 fiscal year. Included in that budget is a $100 million dollar project to retrieve and research […] Continue reading →

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