Jupiter

Mercury's rare passage across the face of the sun on Monday, May 9, should be an exciting event for skywatchers and scientists alike. The planet's pass across Earth's nearest star may provide information about its thin atmosphere, assist in the hunt for worlds around other stars, and help NASA hone some of its instruments. As seen from Earth, Mercury appears to cross the disk of the sun — an event known as a transit — only about 13 times per century. Currently, transits of Mercury always occur…

Pluto, the most puzzling world in the solar system, is the second largest dwarf planet made of ice and rock. It is 5.9 billion km from the Sun; it has the width of North America. It is a very cold place with minimum temperature of -370 degree Fahrenheit on the surface. One year on Pluto is equal to 248 Earth’s years; it takes a very long time to orbit the Sun. In addition, a day in Pluto lasts 6 Earth’s day. Pluto is a world that stands with light and shade, what causes this contrast may be that…

The Northern Lights are collisions of gaseous particles in Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere. Variation color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common color is a pale yellowish-green is produced by the oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the Earth. All red auroras are very rare, they are produced by high altitude oxygen at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora. In the 17th…

Giant Impact Theory The moons formation isn't clear to this day, although it does have many theories on its formation. The moons biggest theory is the Giant Impact Theory, which states that a mars sized object strikes earth breaking pieces off, and the gravitational force combines the broken pieces of earth into one, which is known as the Earths moon. The Earths and moons mantle are exactly identical, supporting the impact theory ("Origin of the Moon"). The moon doesn't have any identical…

After watching Cosmos: When Knowledge Conquers Fear, tons of informative information were shown, which included history about two well-known astronomers / scientists. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, introduced us to comets and gravity, the work of Edmund Halley and Isaac Newton. Learning about the Halley comet on its 76-year trip around the Sun, getting a closer look of Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley’s friendship and how they changed the understanding of the world. While watching, I could understand some…

The Sun has been known to be an important aspect of life for every living organism on Earth. The Sun is made out of multiple layers and contains a core like Earth. It is classified as a Yellow Dwarf Star and has a surface temperature of 5,000 to 5,700 degrees celsius. But despite of this, there are many other stars in space that dwarf our Sun. The Sun also has an interesting history, from when it has been formed to the present time. The Sun is not the only star in the Milky Way. Another star…

After watching the "What You Aren't Being Told About Astronomy DVD" I choose to talk about Venus and the Moon. Venus, the hottest planet and scientifically the most similar to earth. Science used to call Venus "The Sister Planet" because it's made about the same stuff earth. The Evolutionary Model tells that Venus was formed by the same natural processes as the earth, at the same times, same place and from same materials. (Psarris, 2017) But in fact, Venus is very different from earth. Being in…

Exoplanets - what are they? Exoplanets, short for 'Extra solar planets', are planets that orbit around stars other than our sun. Nearly 2000 exoplanets have been discovered (1969 planets in 1249 planetary systems including 490 multiple planetary systems as of 1 October 2015). Why can't we detect exoplanets by direct observation - even with telescopes? The stars exoplanets orbit are much bigger and much brighter than the exoplanets, which are too near and are blurred out by the star's light. We…

The Cassini mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the orbiter was designed and assembled. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. Development of the Huygens Titan probe was managed by the European Space Technology and Research Center, whose prime contractor for the probe is Alcatel in France. Equipment and instruments for the probe were supplied from many countries, including the United States. The Cassini program is a 19-year…

Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun. As such, it circles around the sun faster than all the other planets that’s why Romans named it after their swift-footed messenger god. The Sumerians also knew about Mercury since at least 5,000 years ago. It was often……………….(akin, related, connect , joint) with Nabu, the god of writing. Mercury was also given separate names for its looks as both are morning star and as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names…