There may be a hypothetical Neptune-sized planet lurking out in the far reaches of our solar system past Pluto. There is mathematical evidence found by Caltech researchers in 2015 suggesting that we may have an undiscovered 9th planet. This planet, called “Planet X” or “Planet 9” could be 10 times as massive as the Earth,…
Continuing our exploration of the solar system we have made it back home, Earth. Our third planet from the Sun is currently the only place we know of that can host life. Earth is the fifth largest planet in the solar system and the largest planet inside of the asteroid belt. While all the other…
We have already explored our Sun, now Mercury is the next stop on our journey through our solar system. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and is the smallest planet in our solar system, coming in at only slightly larger than our Moon. On average, Mercury is only 36 million miles (58 million…
1. We won’t see Halley’s Comet again until 2061 Comets can be thought of as dirty space snowballs. They were formed millions of years ago during the formation of our solar system. Like planets, comets orbit the Sun, however their orbits are very large, often reaching out past the orbits of many planets. This is…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the premier telescope of the next decade. The James Webb will study every phase in the Universe’s history from the first glows after the Big Bang to the formation of solar systems. JWST is a large infrared telescope with a primary mirror of approximately 6.5-meter diameter. This massive…
As you begin to understand more about our Universe and learn of the millions of stars that are brighter than our Sun, you may begin to wonder, if stars are so bright and there are so many, why is space and our night sky dark? This contradiction is known as Olbers’ paradox. Olbers’ Paradox: if…
What is Collimated Light? The rays of a collimated beam of light are parallel to each other. This means that there is minimal spread in the light beam as it travels. Non collimated light travels more in the shape of a cone, because its rays are not parallel to each other causing it to spread…
It might seem like a weird question, how far is a light-year? Isn’t a ‘year’ a unit of time, and ‘far’ refers to a unit of distance? While that is correct, a ‘light-year’ is actually a measure of distance. A light-year is the distance light can travel in one year. Light is the fastest thing…
Many movies have explored the innate human fear of an asteroid crashing into Earth and wiping out humanity. While these movies often have creative solutions to divert the asteroid, such as having oil miners drill into the asteroid and plant nuclear bombs to split it in two; in reality, protecting the planet is much simpler,…
What Are Exoplanets? An exoplanet is any planet that is not in our solar system. The majority of exoplanets orbit stars in their own solar system. But there are a few free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, that are not gravitationally tied to a star and instead orbit the galactic center. While the first evidence of…