Tag Archives: astronomy

The Imaginary Planet

Posted on March 7, 2023 by dromalley

While the five planets visible to the naked eye have been known for almost all of astronomy’s history, it was not until the discovery of Uranus in 1781 by Sir William Herschel that astronomers began searching for other planets in our Solar System. After Neptune was discovered in 1846, astronomers began turning their telescopes towards […] Continue reading →

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Where Did We Get Our Water?

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Trevor Pillow

We know that Earth is the only planet in the solar system currently capable of housing liquid water. The other planets are too low pressure or too hot for water to exist as it does on Earth. However, other bodies in the solar system do have solid water, also known as ice! The moon and […] Continue reading →

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Could We Give Mars a Better Atmosphere?

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Trevor Pillow

Is it possible to give Mars a livable atmosphere? In theory, yes! However, it would be infeasible to do it in our lifetimes. Or within the next couple hundred years. This video from Kurzgesagt (fantastic channel, by the way) details how we might be able to give Mars an atmosphere and biosphere using our current […] Continue reading →

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The Tools of Discovery

Posted on February 13, 2023 by dromalley

For my second blog post, I’ve decided to provide an overview of a few of the most advanced telescopes both on and around the world which have allowed astronomers to peer into the distant mysteries of our universe and uncover more about its nature. First, we will examine some of the most advance ground based […] 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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The Slingshot Maneuver

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Alex Diefenbach

For any of you who have seen the movie adaption of, “A Wrinkle In Time” may remember the scene where two of the protagonists hide in a tree stump in order to be thrown over a wall. Meg, one of these protagonists, has parents who work in quantum theory, so she has picked up knowledge […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context: Kepler

Posted on February 2, 2023 by dromalley

Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer who was born on December 27 1571 and died 15th of November 1630. During Kepler’s lifetime, one major event was the Bohemian Revolt in 1618, kickstarted by the Third Defenestration of Prague, which launched the Holy Roman Empire into chaos and began the thirty years war. This war caused […] Continue reading →

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Scale and Travel Times

Posted on January 23, 2023 by dromalley

At this very moment, the Voyager 1 spacecraft is hurtling through space at about 61,500 km/h each and every hour, carrying it ever further from our Solar system which it left 18 years ago. But despite this staggering speed, it would still take Voyager more than 75,000 years to reach the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. […] Continue reading →

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We Were the Closest To the Moon than We Have Ever Been

Posted on January 23, 2023 by thisisntzenon

As a child, I spent a considerable time looking at the Moon, and at one point, I may have even believed it was my friend. From the backseat of many late-night car rides, it “followed me”. In fact, during this period, my mornings consisted of watching Bear in the Big Blue House and the character […] Continue reading →

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Happy New Year!

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Trevor Pillow

Today marks the start of a new lunar year! There are several key differences between a solar new year and a lunar new year. The most common calendar system in the West, the Gregorian calendar, is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Every New Year, the Earth is more or less in the […] Continue reading →

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