March 2011 Auroras

"A powerful solar flare hurled into space when superhot gases erupted on the sun and caused a display of the aurora borealis for parts of the northern United States overnight. These geomagnetic storms are caused by particles that glow green in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum."

Here are some pictures of the March 2011 auroras.

EDIT: For some reason, the pictures aren't showing up. Sorry =(

These pictures are from - http://www.space.com/10905-spectacular-auroras-northern-lights-photos.html

New Galaxy Discovered!

The Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea has found a surprisingly young galaxy.

According to a media release, astronomers have uncovered one of the youngest galaxies in the distant universe, with stars that formed 13.5 billion years ago, a mere 200 million years after the big bang. The finding addresses questions about when the first galaxies arose, and how the early universe evolved.

See the full article here: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2011/04/13/suprisingly-young-galaxy-found-by-keck-nasa/comment-page-1/

I'm back!

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting in a while. I guess I've been really busy. I'll try to post more often.

Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is an area of space way out beyond Neptune and the other planets. It's like the Asteroid Belt, but A LOT BIGGER. It's at least... 20 times wider and maybe... even up to 200 times as massive! The asteroids in the Asteroid Belt are made of rock and metal and stuff like that, but the asteroids in the Kuiper Belt are made of frozen chemical elements such as water, ammonia, and methane. There are 3 dwarf planets that make their homes in the Kuiper Belt- Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake. Things in the Kuiper Belt are often called TNOs, or trans-Neptunian objects.

Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture. Saturn is a gas giant, along with Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. Saturn's density is only 1/8 of Earth's but, since it has a larger volume, its mass is a little more than 95 times Earth's mass. Saturn has 9 rings. These rings are mostly made up of ice and dust. The rings orbit the planet at speeds of up to 40,000 miles an hour. 62 known moons orbit the planet, but 53 are officially named. This number does not include the hundreds of 'moonlets' that orbit Saturn. The winds on Saturn's surface are faster than the winds on Jupiter. Saturn's wind speeds can reach 1,800 km/h.

Exoplanets

Exoplanets (AKA Extrasolar planets) are planets outside our Solar System that orbit around a celestial body other than our Sun. It is estimated that billions of exoplanets probably exist in our very own galaxy, the Milky Way. Scientists try to find planets in the Habitable Zone (or Goldilocks Zone) of their star, which means it's not too far away, which would make it too cold for liquid water to exist, and not too close, which would make it too hot for liquid water to exist.

There are a couple of ways to detect an exoplanet.

1) The Doppler Shift
When a planet orbits a star, its gravity tugs very slightly on the star, making the star move a little bit. We can detect this movement to see whether there are planets orbiting the star. The more the star is moved by the planet, the bigger the planet is.

2) The Transit Method
When a planet passes in front of its star, the light coming from the star gets a bit fainter. The size of the planet can be determined by how much dimmer the star gets.

There are some other ways, but these are the two main ways of detecting exoplanets.

Who knows, maybe one day we'll find an exoplanet with liquid water on it, or maybe even life.

YouTube

Hey guys, so I uploaded a recording of my favorite song on Youtube one week ago (to date) and as of right now, it has 13,018 views. O.O Wow. It's amazing! Check it out at this link!

---> Francesca Battistelli - This is the Stuff

EDIT: (2.13.11) 15,721 views. Wow.

Blog Updates

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been on. We went to New Jersey yesterday. Anyway, I'm gonna be changing some of the things on this blog.

1. Weird Science Fact of the Day will become Weird Science Fact Wednesday.
2. I won't be posting as often, maybe a post every day or every other day.

Thanks!

The Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It's the brightest thing in the night sky (well, ignoring the Sun). The Moon's gravity creates the ocean's tides on Earth. It also makes the day a liiiiitle longer. The Moon looks about the same size as the Sun when it's in the sky, and this allows it to cover the Sun almost exactly, and this results in total solar eclipses. The dark spots you see on the Moon are called 'maria'. The word 'maria' is Latin for 'seas', because ancient astronomers thought they were filled with water. We now know that they are big solidified pools of ancient basaltic lava. The Moon is the only celestial body that humans have landed on.