Mars Science Laboratory

For years, astronomers have debated if Pluto is a planet or not. Pluto has been taken off the list of planets, and has now been classified as a Dwarf Planet. According to IAU.org, “A dwarf planet is classified as an object in orbit around the Sun that is large enough to have its own gravity pull itself into a round shape... A dwarf planet may also orbit in a zone that has many other objects in it.” Pluto now falls into the dwarf planet category because of its size and because it is in a zone of…

Pluto is known as “dwarf planet” in the planetary system. Also, it’s called the “Dwarf Planet” because of its size. It could be called a “plutoid” because it’s farther out into space. Pluto is occasionally closer to the sun than other times because of the oval orbit. Pluto has five moons, which are Kerberos, Styx, Nix, Hydra, and Charon. Because of the New Horizons information and pictures this data has helped scientists learn more about Pluto. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by an astronomer…

In Ray Bradbury’s short science-fiction story, Dark They Were and Golden Eyed, Mr. Bittering and his family move to Mars in order to escape a war-torn Earth. At first, Mars is simply scary, but slowly Mr. Bittering, his family and all the Earth product they brought with them are changed. Over the course of a few months the empty martian villa is filled with a fresh, new generation of Martians, with no recollection of their past life. Ray Bradbury paints an eerie picture in this short story…

Primack (2013) led a study that shows the effects of warming temperatures on winning times in the Boston Marathon. He and his three co-authors, Dr. Abe Miller Rushing, Dr. Nathan Phillips and Dr. Robert Kaufmann, examined the timing of the Boston Marathon runners from the years 1933 to 2004. They found that when warmer temperatures and headwinds occurred the day of the race, the runners were indeed slowed down. The reasoning for this research was to further their focus on climate change from…

diameter telescope we were lucky enough to have a mostly clear sky to view in this order: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon. Viewing these celestial bodies in person is truly one of the most exciting and core tenets of astronomy. With our telescope we were able to see firsthand and notice some of the distinct characteristics of the different objects. First we looked at our nearby neighbor planet, Mars. Mars is named after the Roman god of war and has a nickname of the “Red Planet” due to…

Mercury's surface is similar in appearance to the appearance of the Moon, showing plains and heavy cratering, indicating that it has been inactive for billions of years. Knowledge of Mercury's geology has been based only on the 1975 Mariner flyby and terrestrial observations, it is the least understood of the terrestrial planets. As data from messenger orbiter is processed, this knowledge will increase. For example, an unusual crater with radiating troughs has been discovered that scientists…

Lesson is for 2nd or 3rd graders Engage: The teacher will present the class with a fish tank full of water, and will begin to tilt it back and forth to make waves inside the tank. Students will be asked what is causing waves to form inside the tank? After the teacher has listened and responded to each student’s answer, the teacher will then ask multiple questions for class discussion before the lesson, such as what makes water tides? What is gravity? Does the moon or the sun affect the…

red planet. Felsic rocks that thought to not exist on Mars are now identified. Overall, these findings alter the understanding of the geologic complexity and magmatic activity of Mars. Prior knowledge of Mars’s geology was rather simple; consisting of one type of rock formation in contrast to Earth’s diverse and complex geology. Felsic rocks such as granite, are common in subduction zones on Earth (Wray et al., 2013, 1013). However, in Mars, felsic rocks are nonexistent and only contain mafic…

Mud Cracks on Mars: A Sign of Possible Ancient Alien Life? If you asked a scientist what the basic building block of life is, the answer would be water. Therefore, when NASA’s Curiosity Rover recently found evidence suggesting that the Red Planet (Mars) was not always completely dry, thoughts of previous life forms come to mind. According to Nathan Stein, who is a member of NASA’s Curiosity science team, the most likely scenario for the cracks on Mars’ surface is mud. Evidence of Ancient Lakes…

We researched Pluto’s orbit, physical properties, and history to give us a broad understanding of what Pluto is like and to see if a mission to Pluto would be feasible and beneficial to NASA. We found that Pluto has a unique orbit compared to other planets — it is both extremely elliptical and sometimes crosses Neptune's orbit. Pluto is also incredibly small and cold. It contains ice on it’s surface and was only discovered about 100 years ago. Because of what I learned, I believe that It would…