ASTR330 Fall 2020 BLOG

Blog Post #56. Fri Dec 11 07:52:49 2020. Nancy Chen wrote:

I tried too many times to try to get a higher score, but hey I got iron. https://drive.google.com/file/d/15phs4jNlBC50ZuAoVaLh0vMdBkH9HQQO/view?usp=drivesdk

Blog Post #55. Thu Dec 10 23:43:36 2020. Samuel Wenner wrote:

My highschore:

Blog Post #54. Thu Dec 10 22:33:41 2020. Faisal Alamad wrote:

Faisal Highscore

Blog Post #53. Thu Dec 10 19:08:57 2020. Ayomide Omogoke wrote:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-t7bbqr9PXa3a6SNeKDQxyuzHq33VG26?usp=sharing

Included above is the link to the screenshots of my best Fe26 game

Blog Post #52. Thu Dec 10 18:51:29 2020. Joel Samuel wrote:

Here are my scores

Joel Score

Blog Post #51. Thu Dec 10 12:06:05 2020. Josue Sossou wrote:

Here is a link to my scores

Blog Post #50. Thu Dec 10 12:04:01 2020. Josue Sossou wrote:

Blog Post #49. Thu Dec 10 11:25:44 2020. Jake Agunzo wrote:

Jake Agunzo Score There we go

Blog Post #48. Thu Dec 10 11:21:48 2020. Jake Agunzo wrote:

oh no I messed up

Blog Post #47. Thu Dec 10 11:19:46 2020. Jake Agunzo wrote:

Jake Agunzo Score

Blog Post #46. Thu Dec 10 00:54:10 2020. Nathan Ellis wrote:

Trying to get image to work

astr

Blog Post #45. Thu Dec 10 00:51:51 2020. Nathan Ellis wrote:

w

Blog Post #44. Wed Dec 9 16:58:16 2020. Matthew Graber wrote:

Here is my high score:

Blog Post #43. Wed Dec 9 13:23:03 2020. Jack Blaes wrote:

Here is my high score (1997) ASTR101 Home Page

Blog Post #42. Wed Dec 9 13:20:05 2020. Jack Blaes wrote:

Blog Post #41. Tue Dec 8 17:22:10 2020. Kirstin Walz wrote:

Here is my high score (1991):

Blog Post #40. Tue Dec 8 15:19:54 2020. Brendan Reid wrote:

Brendan Reid Score

Blog Post #39. Sun Dec 6 21:51:30 2020. Fatima Younis wrote:

Here is my score! (my high score is 695 but here is when I was able to fuse the iron)

Blog Post #38. Sun Dec 6 17:21:24 2020. Matthew Vorsteg wrote:

I forgot to include the score in my first post, sorry

Blog Post #37. Sun Dec 6 17:19:10 2020. Matthew Vorsteg wrote:

Blog Post #36. Mon Nov 23 17:34:21 2020. Ethan Barr wrote:

Ethan Barr Score

Blog Post #35. Mon Nov 23 17:33:18 2020. Ethan Barr wrote:

https://ibb.co/0cFmtKg

Blog Post #34. Thu Oct 15 07:58:06 2020. Alexei Mozolin wrote:

In the solar formation theorem, scientists assume that all the matter present in the solar nebula was retained, after the planet formation. In 2012, scientists discovered a rogue planet. The existence of rogue planets challenges the theorem. A rogue planet is a planet that does not orbit the Star. The gravitational interaction between protoplanets and planets might have caused some planets to leave the solar system. A significant amount of material might have escaped the solar nebula. Rogue planets might be responsible for the depletion and enrichment of elements. To this day, there is no certain answer to how they originate. Here is a short video detailing what we know about rogue planets.

Blog Post #33. Tue Oct 13 21:28:27 2020. Gabriela Rodriguez-Velez wrote:

Hey friends! I was reading an article on Pluto and I came across this sentence, "...scientists detected frosted peaks strikingly resembling snowcapped mountain chains seen on Earth,..., such a landscape had never been observed elsewhere in the solar system". Honestly, if this isn't a good enough reason to reinstate Pluto as a planet, I don't know what is. The article goes on to talk about how the scientists have been using data they collected from New Horizons that shows that the "snowcapped mountains" may have formed from the top-down, unlike here on Earth. Check it out!

https://www.space.com/pluto-mountains-methane-snowcaps-form-reverse.html

Blog Post #32. Thu Oct 8 11:53:50 2020. Brian Tran wrote:

I couldn't figure out what to use as src in the HTML so I just uploaded to Imgur and shared the link.

Blog Post #31. Thu Oct 8 11:46:11 2020. Alexei Mozolin wrote:

Blog Post #30. Thu Oct 8 11:24:48 2020. Alexei Mozolin wrote:

Blog Post #29. Fri Oct 2 16:36:52 2020. Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Hey Guys,

Do you wonder why Iron is such a common element, making a core 1/2 the size of the Earth and fully 1/3 of the Earth's mass? It is because Iron is the end state of fusion in giant stars. Fusing Hydrogen to Helium and then to Carbon, Oxygen, and Neon etc. all generate energy. Energy is released all the way up to Iron. Heavier elements cost energy to create which leads to a catastrophe in giant stars known as a supernova. All that Iron from the star's core is spread into space by the explosion, where it seeds the gas clouds that make future stars and planetary systems, including our Earth.

To explore these fusion reactions more deeply, let's have a little contest. Check out Fe 26 game. First person to create an Fe26 nucleus and posts a screenshot here gets an extra credit point. First person to create four Fe26 nuclei also gets a point (must be a different person). Anyone who can beat Dr. Hamilton's high score (which I will post eventually) gets 4 points.

Blog Post #28. Wed Sep 30 21:44:01 2020. Zachary Rabin wrote:

In astr340 we are going over relativity and found a cool pbs spacetime video about the luminiferous ether and relativity! https://youtu.be/M3GQM7tuq2w

Blog Post #27. Wed Sep 30 21:37:32 2020. Sean Douglas wrote:

Hey everyone, this video was uploaded about a week ago and I thought it gave a really interesting perspective on our solar system. Great channel if you don't already know about it btw.

Blog Post #26. Wed Sep 30 20:39:00 2020. Francisco Morales wrote:

Did you guys know that if, hypothetically, you fell in a black hole, time and space would flip roles? I also don't know what that means but it is very interesting.

Blog Post #25. Wed Sep 30 15:38:54 2020. Samuel Wenner wrote:

Hi y'all! Here is a cool Vsauce video about about how the Earth moves around the Sun. It totally relates to our class about the Solar System! I would definitely recommend you go down a rabbit hole and watch all of his other videos if you haven't already seen them!

Cheers, Sam

Blog Post #24. Wed Sep 30 11:20:13 2020. Alexei Mozolin wrote:

The first two chapters talk about solar system formation. While I was reading them, I felt that the explanation is lacking details. In past decades, astronomers discovered many exoplanets. The most interesting part is that most exoplanets are gas giants that orbit relatively close to the star. This poses a question of why our solar system does not have a gas giant close by the sun. One of the theories is planetary migration. Here is a video that explains how the planetary migration might have happened in our solar system.

Blog Post #23. Wed Sep 30 08:55:20 2020. Christian Yi wrote:

I looked up if there were any clearer images of Nereid (Neptune's moon) after the Voyager 2 space probe took pictures of it in 1989. I wasn't able to find any clearer images, but there are artistic impressions of what it could look like on Google Images. I think it's interesting that despite how low resolution the images were, the "Voyager 2 was able to measure the size of Nereid and found that it was grey in colour and had a higher albedo than Neptune's other small satellites." Source: https://www.astronomylovers.com/nereid/ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/neptune-moons/nereid/in-depth/

Blog Post #22. Tue Sep 29 23:24:22 2020. Ayomide Omogoke wrote:

Hey Everyone! Included below I attached a link to NASA's Parker Probe that was launched recently. Parker Probe was constructed to explore the Sun much closer than ever before! It's been making observations of a lot of solar phenomena.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasas-parker-solar-probe-sheds-new-light-on-the-sun/

Blog Post #21. Tue Sep 29 18:24:18 2020. Daniel Cutaneo wrote:

Hey guys! I've been obsessing over Venus lately ever since the latest news says there might potentially be life in the clouds. I thought this article was pretty cool, as it looks like more attention is beginning to turn towards Venus!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2020/09/28/low-cost-privately-funded-balloon-mission-could-scope-out-venus-life-by-2022/#1d5560a81706

Blog Post #20. Tue Sep 29 15:11:58 2020. Wyatt Wisnosky wrote:

I recently started listening to StarTalk, Neil deGrasse Tyson's Podcast. I love listening to him because he introduces many topics of astrophysics in a way that is understandable for someone who doesn't have a Ph. D in it and makes me wonder what else is out there. He talks about many current scientific topics and more! I would recommend listening to one here (not sure how to include the direct link-not too computer savvy):

https://www.startalkradio.net

Blog Post #19. Tue Sep 29 14:21:00 2020. Eric Lin wrote:

Hi guys! So I thought that 79 moons on Jupiter is a lot, then I found this article suggesting that Jupiter might have around 600 moons if its hundreds of smaller satellites are included.

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/jupiter-could-have-600-moons/

Blog Post #18. Tue Sep 29 12:38:15 2020. Matthew Graber wrote:

Somehow I've never seen anything about this until this week, but I thought it was pretty cool that the Perseverance rover has a smaller version of the retroreflectors the Apollo astronauts left on the moon to be used by future Mars orbiters for precise positioning. Apparently InSight has this as well and the Rosalind Franklin rover will too. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7754

Blog Post #17. Tue Sep 29 12:36:08 2020. Josue Sossou wrote:

Hello everyone!

I stumbled on a video that explained how we might be blocking ourselves from exploring space. Where do you think the broken satellites and pieces of rockets go? Apparently, most of those junks are orbiting just above Earth's atmosphere at a high speed! These junks are able to cause damage to other satellites and creating more junks around the planet. If we don't find a solution soon to clean up these junks, Elon Musk may never go on Mars. :( Here is the link of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS1ibDImAYU

Blog Post #16. Tue Sep 29 11:47:47 2020. Tyler Pavay wrote:

This isn't 100% related to this class but it's definitely related to astronomy in general. The other day I was on YouTube and I stumbled upon this "What If" video about the Tipler Cylinder. I had no idea what it was but I learned during the video that if we could build it we COULD indeed TIME TRAVEL!! I'll leave it up to you to watch the video to find out if we can build it. I found the video interesting because it discusses relativity which is one of the most bizarre concepts in astronomy to me.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdV2agMRl1w&ab_channel=WhatIf

Blog Post #15. Tue Sep 29 11:29:41 2020. Xiaorong Yan wrote:

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13693 Potential life in our universe.

Blog Post #14. Tue Sep 29 11:03:11 2020. Fatima Younis wrote:

https://news.mit.edu/2020/earth-sized-pi-planet-0921

I thought this article about finding this pi-planet was really interesting! It makes me wonder how much is out there that we haven't discovered yet. There could be a planet exactly like Earth with humanoid life but we just don't know since we don't have the capability to see them yet. That's why space is so fascinating to me– there's so much out there we still have to discover.

Blog Post #13. Tue Sep 29 10:50:36 2020. Madeline Raith wrote:

Hi everyone,

I know the news about finding phosphine gas on Venus is a few weeks old now, but I thought it may be interesting to revisit since many astronomers in the community have had a chance to take a look at the article. It has faced a good bit of scrutiny due to the somewhat unbelievable potential of it. Many scientist feel like the team maybe should have looked further into potential chemical processes rather than push the concept of life.

Some people feel like it may be a bit of a media grab but, on the flip side, I cannot imagine the excitement this team must have felt when they found phosphine and were writing the paper. Whether the phosphine was a biosignature or a potentially new chemical process, these findings are very exciting.

Here is a link to the original paper (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1174-4) as well as a link to the original press briefing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1u-jlf_Olo&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=RoyalAstronomicalSociety) which I found very interesting. I would definitely recommend even just skimming the original paper for a more unbiased perspective than what may have presented in the media.

Blog Post #12. Tue Sep 29 10:22:11 2020. Joel Samuel wrote:

Hey all, I also found this article on the biggest black hole collision astronomers have detected. I always liked black holes and thought this article was cool. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02524-w

Blog Post #11. Tue Sep 29 10:19:22 2020. Joel Samuel wrote:

Hey all, As of yesterday, 9/28/2020, researchers have finally confirmed that there were salt lakes under the ice. There was an assumption that it was there but was confirmed yesterday and 3 more lakes were found!!

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02751-1

Blog Post #10. Tue Sep 29 10:16:17 2020. Amanuel Awoke wrote:

Hi everybody

The other day I found a video of 2020 4K Mars' surface footage, the open dunes look amazing!

Amanuel

Blog Post #9. Mon Sep 28 20:21:44 2020. Brian Tran wrote:

Hey everyone! In terms of recent astronomy news in our solar system, the people that found a subsurface lake on Mars in 2018 just published their paper on it! Instead of just 1 large lake, they think it is a series of smaller lakes. Their research is evidence for potential life on Mars. Do you think there's life on Mars? I think there is but it's probably not advanced life.

Here's the article.

Here's the paper.

Blog Post #8. Sun Sep 27 23:43:03 2020. Ramsay Hafer wrote:

Hi everyone,

In doing the homework I became curious about the research on the location of potassium in the Earth and came across this (https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/12/10_heat.shtml) It proposes the idea that potassium was able to fuse with iron under the immense heat and pressure and sink to the core early on in Earth's journey to be the planet we know and love. It claims that theoretically, this could account for the "missing potassium" in the Earth.

hope everyone's studying goes well for our exam this thursday!

Blog Post #7. Tue Sep 22 09:45:18 2020. Kirstin Walz wrote:

Hi all! I saw this headline of a new planet discovery and thought it was interesting in a nerdy way. MIT researchers confirmed that some data taken in 2017 through NASA's Kepler Space Telescope's K2 mission is actually signals for a planet. It is and EArth twin in size, but it has an orbit of 3.14 days. They call it "pi-Earth"! Here is the link if you want to read more https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200921111713.htm.

Blog Post #6. Wed Sep 16 09:57:30 2020. Fatima Younis wrote:

I thought the article about phosphine was interesting! Thanks for posting it, Brendan. I think it's amazing how we always think of Mars as "having life" and assume that it is most likely to, but the fact that we haven't explored other planets for life as much doesn't mean they don't have any! Although phosphine isn't necessarily an indicator for life, I think it would be fascinating if there was more evidence of microscopic life on Venus and maybe even on Mercury!

Blog Post #5. Mon Sep 14 20:34:25 2020. Gabriela Rodriguez-Velez wrote:

Awesome thanks, Brendan!!

Blog Post #4. Mon Sep 14 16:00:08 2020. Brendan Cron wrote:

Hi all, here is the link to the scientific paper that was published this morning regarding the Phosphine found on Venus. Just because this gas was found does not necessarily mean that there exists life but as far as we currently know, the only way for this gas to exist in measurable quantities is through existence of life. I am not a chemist so please correct me if I am incorrect. However, this opens the gateways and will lead to much more research into Venus and possibly locating these speculated organisms.

Blog Post #3. Mon Sep 14 11:11:24 2020. Gabriela Rodriguez-Velez wrote:

Hello friends, I have some exciting news! Someone in one of my other classes sent to us in GroupMe a screenshot of a tweet that said Phosphine gas was found in the atmosphere of Venus by the Royal Astronomical Society. Apparently this gas is known to be produced by life unless artificially made in a lab. Scientists used the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. Hopefully, this is accurate reporting. How exciting would it be to find even microbial life on another planet in our solar system?? Especially when we have decades left of exploration on Earth. My fingers are crossed for further information and even more discoveries on our neighbor planets. Life of Venus must be interesting though (as a day is longer than a year if I'm remembering correctly). Let me know what you guys think. Have a good Monday!

Blog Post #2. Fri Sep 11 14:18:19 2020. Gabriela Rodriguez-Velez wrote:

Hello friends! I couldn’t remember if we talked about this in class or if I had this conversation with someone else, nevertheless I thought this was a very interesting article. Someone wrote into Astronomy magazine, asking how much more massive our largest planet, Jupiter, would have to be to become a star. Despite weighing more than twice as much as all the other planets combined it would still take 13 times its mass to become a brown dwarf (only deuterium fusion) and about 84 times it mass to become a low-mas star. I learned that the most common stars are about 25% of our own Suns’ mass, but that is still 262 time the mass of Jupiter! Imagine if the planet Jupiter was replaced by the star Jupiter, our solar system would be very different. Also, on October 13th Mars will be in opposition with us. If you go outside around 1am “ish” you should be able to see the planet we might just inhabit one day! A pair of binoculars or a telescope will be helpful. The next “decent” one won’t be until 2033, so don’t miss it! Let me know what you guys think. Is there anything else you’d like to hear about? Have a great weekend!

Blog Post #1. Fri Mar 27 18:34:27 2020. Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Welcome to the ASTR330 Blog! I hope that you find it useful. It works best if you all make an effort to post good stuff here for the rest of the class to enjoy. You can even use Simple HTML Commands to include links and images.

But Wait - there's More! Simply post something fun here by September 30 and receive 2 juicy bonus points!*

* Offer void where prohibited by law, you must be enrolled in ASTR330 to participate, you must be a resident of Earth, and bonus points have no cash value.

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