Tag Archives: NASA

Cumulating Final Post

Posted on December 6, 2024 by jasonljohnson465

After 7 choruses, back to the head out. Image from NASA Writing this blog has been an interesting experience, and I feel like I learned a lot. The most surprising things I learned about was retrograde motion and how it worked. Before this course I had the term tossed around, but I didn’t know what […] Continue reading →

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What are the Odds?

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Leo Silva

The Drake Equation is a formula proposed to estimate the number of technologically advanced civilizations within a given galaxy that may be capable of communicating with us. It doesn’t calculate anything with certainty but, instead, aims to stipulate that if we give X, Y, Z, criteria, what would we expect to see? How many civilizations […] Continue reading →

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The Europa Clipper Mission

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Artist’s concept of Europa Clipper orbiting Europa. On October 14th, 2024 the Europa Clipper Mission was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy Rocket. It is now on a 6 year journey of 1.8 billion miles to circle the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The Europa Clipper blasts into space on a […] Continue reading →

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Giant Planets

Posted on November 17, 2024 by jasonljohnson465

Image from NASA In our Solar System, the giant planets are the outer four of the eight planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In other words, they are the Jovian planets. However, these planets are split into two categories of giant planets: gas giant and ice giant. While all four of the planets are gaseous […] Continue reading →

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The ‘Grand Tack’ Hypothesis

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Alekzander Waller

The Grand Tack hypothesis theorizes that Jupiter formed much farther out from the sun than it currently is, migrated inwards quite a bit due to interactions with the early solar nebula, and then back out a little ways (imitating a tack, the maneuver where a sailboat changes direction). Of all of the fascinating facts and […] Continue reading →

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JWST’s Revolutionary Discoveries

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Leo Silva

Since its launch on December 25th, 2021 and arrival at its final “positioning” on July 11th, 2022 (Wikimedia, Timeline of James Webb Space Telescope), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made a myriad of revolutionary findings that challenge our previous understanding/theories of the Universe. Due to its intentional design aimed at helping us understand […] Continue reading →

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Some “Firsts” of Exoplanets

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Leo Silva

Before the discovery of any exoplanets (prior to 1992), scientists hypothesized that star systems will planets (planetary systems) similar to our own solar system might exist around other stars– even without having confirmed evidence of them in the same way we do today. In some ways, they expected that these other planetary systems would likely […] Continue reading →

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Culmination Blog

Posted on April 30, 2024 by The Cosmic Traveler

This will be my final blog for this course. I just want to say that I learned so much, and I am grateful for what I learned. My eyes have been opened up, and I learned so much information that I never knew. My favorite part of this course was the actual observing of celestial […] Continue reading →

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Immortal Water Bears?

Posted on April 30, 2024 by The Cosmic Traveler

by Science News So what is a water bear and how is it immortal? Water bears, also known as Tardigrades, are eight-legged micro animals that can survive extreme conditions. Their size is typically 0.05mm-1.2mm. Water bears can survive in space, radioactive environments, near volcanoes, and even at the bottom of the ocean. Animals that can […] Continue reading →

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NASA’s Astrobiology Program

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Angela Harris

Astrobiologists at NASA use data from many NASA missions to study the possibility of life on other worlds. Here are a few ways they use data from other missions to support the NASA Astrobiology Program:  Chandra X-ray Observatory   The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope that detects emission from extremely hot regions of space (exploded […] Continue reading →

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