A Different Formation of Earth

Posted on March 15, 2020 by swarnasakshi

 

Image result for creation of earth
Artist rendering of one of many collision that forms modern Earth. Source: Wikipedia

The creation of the universe and its components can sometimes be a rather contentious topic. Whether it is a story based in religion, folklore, or science, people have always looked to find and answer to the our beginnings. Recently, an article on Science Daily writes about a new theory about the formation of Earth. The traditional theory of about the creation of “proto-Earth” was that it was created by multiple collisions of planetary bodies over a period of tens of millions of years. The new theory is proposed by a study conducted at the University of Copenhagen. This study used the analysis of iron isotopes as evidence that proto-Earth was formed over a period of five million years via rapid accretion of cosmic dust and differentiation. There are many implications to this recent theory, including the increased possibility of life on other planets. Do you think this could mean we may find other in habitable planets or is it just wishful thinking?

 

 

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Quasars

Posted on March 15, 2020 by coreyxcas

In the mid 1900’s, scientists were pointing radio telescopes toward the sun, the milky way, and other starts. In doing this they found small and extremely bright objects called Quasars. Over the next few decades, scientists had issues figuring out exactly what these objects were.

It turns out that Quasars are caused by massive black holes at the center of various galaxies. When material gets too close to a black hole, an accretion disk is formed, heating up the material to millions of degrees and causing very large amounts of radiation to be emitted into space. The magnetism from the black hole causes jets of material to be sent throughout space for millions of light years. When we see this jet stream at an angle, we see what is called a Quasar. When seen perpendicularly it is called a “radio galaxy” and when we see its straight on we call it a “Blazar.”

this is an image of an accretion disc right next to a black hole at the center of a galaxy

Black_Holes_-_Monsters_in_Space

picture found here

my information was found from this video

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The Revolutionary James Webb Telescope

Posted on March 15, 2020 by sheagordon

In a previous post, I wrote about the Hubble telescopes revolutionary Hubble Legacy Field image. This ended the era of Hubble, which was the source of most of the discoveries of our solar system over the past decades. The new James Webb telescope is now set to be put into orbit in 2021, and it will set into motion a brand new era of galactic discovery. It will be able to study every phase of the known universe, ranging from the Big Bang to the depths of modern galaxies. Many new innovations have been created for this telescope, such as a mirror that folds into eighteen parts. This mirror will be 6.5 meters wide, and attached to it will be a sunshield that is the size of a telescope. James Webbs’ infrared capabilities will be able to capture images of more than 100 images simultaneously and can absorb heat one million times that of the sun. This revolutionary telescope will hopefully start a new wave of exploration that will lead to new thoeries regarding how the universe and solar system came to be and the depths to which they expand.

https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/index.html

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What Else is Out There?

Posted on March 15, 2020 by williamjturner

Ever since I was a child, I have enjoyed science-fiction movies and literature. As a subset of this genre, I truly enjoy when these movies incorporate aliens into the equation. The idea that there may be life outside of our own solar system is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying. The discovery of aliens would be the most monumental and world-changing event our planet had ever experienced. No, not the type of alien from Alien or Alien vs. Predator (cause they’d kill us all), but another sentient being capable of finding us or being found and communicating with us.

Not the type of Alien that I hope we would find

The discovery of aliens would change the entire way that we as humans view the world. Many humans hold the belief that we are a unique species and the only beings capable of true thought and maximizing sentient life. What questions would arise from the discovery of another species? Would we discover the aliens or would they discover us? Are they watching us as I type this post? Would they be peaceful and chill or would they harvest our planet and eat us all? As I stated, the discovery of aliens would lead us down a rabbit hole of questions and a potentially scary or amazing situation.

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It Does Matter If Your Grandchildren Can See Polar Bears

Posted on March 15, 2020 by williamjturner

One of the – quite literally – hottest topics in the world right now (at least prior to the outbreak of the Coronavirus) is the threat of climate change to our world. Climate change is undeniable as scientists have proven over and over that the composition of Earth’s atmosphere is changing (primarily due to pollution produced by humans) and that these changes are leading to higher temperatures around the world. Nonetheless, the primary discussion around climate change is not a conversation on whether it is occurring; the worldwide conversation that is being had revolves around whether or not we as humans should care and take action to stop the continued effects of climate change.

Polar bears are facing extinction as a result of global warming

When discussing climate change with a person who falls on the side of this argument that believes climate change is inevitable and irrelevant to the daily lives of those alive on planet Earth now, this person may say: “I honestly don’t care if my grandkids ever see a polar bear.” This exact quote has been said many times and echoed by the vocal percentage of people who do not empathize with those calling for action to fight climate change. The problem with this quote is that it does matter if your grandchildren can see polar bears in the wild — for if this species goes extinct (in the wild), it will be an indicator that climate change has effectively gone past the “point of no return” from which human action to reverse it will be rendered irrelevant.

Climate change is a reality — per the Environmental Defense Fund, the Earth’s temperature has risen by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the 19th century and this number is on pace to grow to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit by 2030. This rise in the Earth’s temperature has caused an increase in extreme weather events, higher sea levels and extended wildfire seasons — amongst a host of other issues. The time to act on climate change was yesterday and we, as humans, must take better care of the Earth. So the answer is yes, I hope your grandchildren do see polar bears in the wild.

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It’s Getting Hot in Here

Posted on March 15, 2020 by clairesspacejam

I thoroughly enjoyed our class discussion about the origins of the hot, molten core of Earth. It is cool to think about how the modern heat in our planet’s interior is a result of thousands of years of activity and energy transfer.

The Earth’s core layers

As we learned in class, a planet derives internal heat from three sources during its lifetime. Accretion is one form of heat collection and happens in early formation. Collisions of planetesimals converts kinetic energy to thermal energy which is stored in the interior. Next, the process of differentiation adds heat to the planet due to more dense materials settling towards the gravitational center of the body. As mass falls, it converts potential energy to thermal energy therefore heating the core. Finally, heat from radioactive decay occurs throughout a planet’s lifetime. Overtime, the nuclei of elements lose subatomic particles which creates energy generating collisions.

Accretion and differentiation happen very early in a planet’s life while radioactive decay can occur consistently. It was interesting to me to learn that most of our planet’s heat is due to processes so long ago. It illustrates the sheer magnitude of the thermal energy in our planet’s core.

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detecting exoplanets

Posted on March 15, 2020 by mcknia1

Extrasolar planets, aka exoplanets are planets that orbit stars other than our own. Astronomers employ several methods to detect these planets. One such method that fascinates me is the transit method, which is used by looking for a drop in brightness in a small world caused when they pass in front of their parent star. This alignment is known as a transit. The transit method is interesting because it only detects very large and gaseous planets from the ground, and necessitates going into outer space to detect smaller ones. Scientists are starting to identify potential habitable exoplanets using this method and have found potentially 16 candidates that are similar to Earth. This is exciting because as Earth seems like its coming to its doom for a myriad of environmental reasons, we can still be optimistic that one day, maybe not in our lifetime, but eventually, we’ll be able to set up life on another planet and hopefully care for it better than we did this one.

Possible habitable exoplanets.
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How Does the Sun Create Enough Energy to Reach the Entire Solar System?

Posted on March 15, 2020 by sheagordon

The heat and light energy, that which allows for life on Earth and provides energy for the entire solar systems, comes from a powerful yet simply process from deep within the core of the sun. This process is called nuclear fusion. Essentially, single protons, which can also be defined as singular hydrogen molecules, fuse together to create helium molecules. This process repeats multiple times, creating helium3 and helium4 molecules deep within the sun. As these molecules bond together, the resulting nuclei have less mass than the initial protons, so excess energy must be released in some form. This excess energy exists in the form of light and energy as we know it, including gamma rays that exit the sun as the light that we see from Earth. This process only exists within the very center of the sun, however it occurs so rapidly that there is an enormous number of joules of. energy released from the sun every second. Only about 0.7% of the mass is actually turned into energy, but the total amount of mass is so incomprehensibly huge that the 0.7% is actually an incredibly large amount. So, in reality, all of the light we see and heat we feel originates from miniscule proton molecules, the tiniest in existence, colliding at the very center of the sun.

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Nuclear_fusion_in_the_Sun

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Atmospheres of the Terrestrial Worlds

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Reece Boggs

The difference in surface conditions of the first four terrestrial planets can be explained almost solely by their atmospheres rather than their proximity to the Sun. Mercury has very little atmosphere to where it does not really play a factor in this, but the stark differences between Venus, Earth and Mars can be explained through the greenhouse effect in each of their atmospheres. The composition of Venus’s atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide, which it has a lot of, making its atmosphere around 100 times greater than Earth’s atmosphere. The greenhouse effect on Venus is therefore greater, which is why the average surface temperature across the entire planet is around 850 degrees Fahrenheit, which is much higher than Earth’s even though the difference in distances from the planet to the Sun is not as great as the difference of the surface temperatures. Earth’s atmosphere is composed of primarily oxygen and nitrogen, which means the greenhouse effect on Earth is not nearly as great as it is on Venus. This causes the average temperature on Earth to be 60 degrees Fahrenheit across the entire planet. Mars’s atmosphere, which is composed primarily of carbon dioxide, but is around 100 times more diffuse than the Earth’s atmosphere makes the average temperature across the planet negative 60 degrees Fahrenheit and the greenhouse effect on it much less than that on Earth and especially Venus. For a more in depth explanation of this topic, watch this video.

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Why We Opted for Mars, not Venus

Posted on March 15, 2020 by avighitterman
The surface of Venus

For years, the idea of colonizing another planet has fascinated the world (and with our climate crisis, become a very topical issue). After the moon, there are two obvious options, Mars and Venus. Obviously, we have directed our efforts towards Mars, but why not Venus? Venus is more comparable to the Earth in size and internal makeup, and the two are nearly the same distance from the Earth at their closest points. The problem is that Venus is nowhere close to inhabitable. Even machines can’t make it, as the few spacecrafts that have landed on its surface survive a few hours at most. So how long would humans last?The first threat would be Venus’ atmosphere. Comprised of 96% carbon dioxide, and only trace amounts of oxygen, we wouldn’t be able to breathe without assistance. Coupled with that, the air pressure on Venus is roughly 1352 psi, something far beyond what human bodies are built to withstand (as a reference, this is 92 times stronger than the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere, and the world record deepest scuba dive without a pressure suit experienced roughly 450 psi). Finally, there is the temperature. Due to its high level of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, the atmosphere of Venus traps heat, making it the hottest planet, even surpassing Mercury. Venus’s average daily temperature is an astounding 870° Fahrenheit. Without even touching on the long term challenges of colonizing Venus (such as volcanic activity), we would not have enough time to die from hunger or thirst which would make up the next couple challenges in colonizing the planet. Its current properties make Venus a deadly venture for any person or object foolish enough to land on its surface.

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