Category Archives: Stars

A Tiny Black Hole?

Posted on April 10, 2023 by alicebyrnes

Black holes have always fascinated me, so here I am, writing a second blog post about them. I recently read a sci-fi novel that involved a man-made black hole. It was incredibly massive, but only the size of a pinprick. This led me to wondering, what are the smallest black holes we’ve discovered in real […] Continue reading →

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Blog #6: Detecting Extrasolar Planets

Posted on April 9, 2023 by Astro 2110

The photo above features the transit method of detecting extrasolar planets. Detecting extrasolar planets is a very delicate and challenging task for scientists. The distances between stars and relative sizes of stars compared to planets make it extremely hard to pick them out. Stars are also typically a billion times brighter than planets. There are […] Continue reading →

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Birth and Death of Stars

Posted on April 9, 2023 by Rocket Man

The birth and death of stars is a complex and intriguing process that occurs over millions or even billions of years. Understanding this process is important for gaining a deeper understanding of our universe and the conditions necessary for life to exist. The birth of a star begins with a cloud of gas and dust […] Continue reading →

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Strange Stars (Literally)

Posted on April 8, 2023 by Europa

Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of massive stars of 10-25 solar masses. They are formed when these supergiant stars collapse under their own gravity and undergo a supernova explosion, which compresses the star’s core to the extremely high density of atomic nuclei. In fact, they are called neutron stars because the extreme forces within […] Continue reading →

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The Other Side of a Black Hole

Posted on March 7, 2023 by alicebyrnes

Based on Einstein’s theory of relativity, black holes have a theoretical opposite know as “white holes”. Rather than it being impossible for matter to exit (as is the case with black holes), it would be impossible for matter to enter a white hole. Physically, it would look very similar to a black hole: the only […] Continue reading →

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Tycho’s Supernova Shifting World Views

Posted on March 7, 2023 by noahherrero

Tycho Brahe, quite a prominent astronomer in the 16th century, is one of the most well known individuals to have sighted a new light filling the night sky. This strange appearance is now known as SN-1572 or more colloquially Tycho’s Supernova, and is revolutionary towards how we view the night sky. Historically speaking, this change […] Continue reading →

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Keeping Stars Alive

Posted on March 7, 2023 by noahherrero

How exactly do stars live? Above is an image of the sun given by SOHO, which is an extraordinarily massive object, which due to that possesses a very large gravitational pull, not just on others but also on itself. Everything that has mass possesses this trait, however these bodies are either two light, or are […] Continue reading →

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M45 – The Seven Sisters

Posted on February 28, 2023 by 7smessier45

Hey, y’all, and welcome back!  Today, we’re taking a quick jaunt outside our solar system to visit the Pleiades. This grouping of stars–commonly referred to as Messier 45 (M45)–is one of my favorite observables and can be best viewed in January–but the cluster is easily visible from late fall through the winter. The cluster is […] Continue reading →

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Nuclear Fusion

Posted on February 27, 2023 by zws42

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers our sun, as well as all the other stars in the Universe. At the most basic level, nuclear fusion is the combination of two light atomic nuclei to form a heavier one along with a release of energy. This reaction is governed by Einstein’s E=mc^2 equation, where some […] Continue reading →

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Sextants – Then and Now

Posted on February 12, 2023 by 7smessier45

Humans have navigated the open ocean for thousands of years; among the first to do so were the aboriginal Australians and Polynesian seafarers about 50,000 years ago. More recently–but still a few hundred years ago–celestial navigation by Western cultures relied on a navigator’s understanding of the stars (and other heavenly bodies, including the sun), the […] Continue reading →

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