Mercury and Venus

                         Mercury and Venus
     Mercury is  the first planet form the sun. It's size is about the same as Earth's moon, but just a little bit bigger. It's the smallest planet in our solar system. This planet has no atmosphere and there are a lot of craters (holes) on it. Since this planet is the closest to the sun, the side that gets shined on is super hot. Surprisingly, on the other side of Mercury that isn't radiated by the sun is super cold. Sometimes it goes about hundreds of degrees below freezing temperature. It takes Mercury 88 days to complete an orbit around the sun. One day on Mercury takes 59 Earth days which means that it takes 59 Earth days for the side of Mercury that was getting radiated by the sun to spin into the freezing side (the side that doesn't get shined). This planet has no moons. It's about 58 million km. from the sun  and it has no known living organisms inhabiting on it. 
     Venus is a hot volcanic planet. It's the second planet form the sun. It has a thick atmosphere which traps the sun's radiation making it the hottest planet in our solar system. It's atmosphere can go up to about 465 degrees Celsius. This planet has about the same size as Earth. One day on Venus is  243 Earth days and it takes this planet 224 Earth days to complete an orbit around the sun. Both Venus and Earth have a core and a mantle. Venus' orbit is different from any of the other planets. It spins in a different direction. Astronomers think that the cause for this is because of an asteroid that crashed into Venus and thus reversing the spinning direction. The robots/machines that was sent to explore Venus exploded about a few hours after it landed on the scorching planet. Scientists discovered that there is life in Venus.... Just kidding... There hasn't been any organisms that is able to live on that volcano filled planet. 

Solar and Lunar Eclipses

                  Solar and Lunar Eclipses

Lunar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse

     To begin telling you guys what the solar and lunar eclipses are, I'm going to tell you about what an eclipse is. An eclipse is an astronomical term in which an object in space is concealed by either blocking the view of an object or getting blocked by one. 
     Knowing that, solar eclipses occurs when the moon comes in between the Earth and the sun. The moon blocks the view of the star and conceals it. If the moon's orbit was completely circular, then we would have a solar eclipse every month. But since the moon's orbit is a little bit tilted, we rarely get solar eclipses. Solar eclipses can only be seen in some and not all parts of the world, because Earth is round. Solar eclipses last for about a few minutes because of the continuation of orbiting by the moon and the sun. 
     Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth is in the middle and the moon and sun are on opposite sides of each other. During lunar eclipses, the moon becomes a little bit dark since there is no sunlight shining on it. Lunar eclipses are rarer than solar eclipses because in order to have the lunar eclipses to occur, the moon has to be a full moon. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses last for a few hours. It can be seen from a lot of places on the globe at night.

Penumbra and umbra basically are some parts of shadows.

Constellations

                             Constellations
     A constellation is a group of stars that form a shape or pattern. Astronomers use constellations to tell which star is which. If it's really dark, we can see about 1,000 stars out in the sky. It's important for astronomers to group up the stars so that they can study them easier. 
     The constellations were named after mythological characters, animals, and people. A lot of the names were actually made by people from all over the world dating from 3000 B.C., or maybe even earlier. In the olden days, people use constellations for navigating at night or for telling the changing seasons. People in different places around the globe have different perspectives of the constellations. The constellations look differently because of Earth's rotation. Constellations are kind of like the connecting the dots game that everyone can play. 

     Due to Earth's rotation, in different times of the 12 months, different constellations appear. Our 12 zodiac signs are constellations. I think constellations originated from Babylonia. Later, Romans added on to their idea.  
     One constellation is called the Big Dipper. It's a group of 7 stars that points to the direction of Polaris, the end star of the Little Dipper.                  

Moons

                                                                   Moons 

     The Earth's moon rotates around Earth because of its gravitational pull. Moons, also called satellites, come in many different shapes and sizes. Not every moon is like our moon. Many moons are lumpy and not circular shaped. They are also made of different things. Io, one of Jupiter's moons, is filled with volcanoes while many other moons are made of rock and ice. Most of the moons in our solar system was probably formed by the gas and dust that surrounded the planets in the early days of our solar system. 
     There are many moons in our solar system spinning around the other 7 planets. Mars have 2 moons, Jupiter has about 50-67 moons, Saturn has 53-62 moons, Uranus has about 27 moons, and Neptune has 13 moons. The dwarf planets in our solar system also have moons of their own.  Pluto's largest moon is called Charon and it's about half the size of the dwarf planet.

     Earth's moon shines because of the sun. Our waves on the ocean are made by the moon's gravitational pull. Unlike Earth, the moon has no atmosphere causing many asteroid impacts, thus having many craters, holes. Many people wonder why the moon has many phases. (Ex: full moon; crescent moon) The reason behind this is because of its rotation and Earth's rotation. The sun shines on the rotating moon, while the Earth also rotates. People on Earth only see the part of the moon that gets shined by the sun. Also, the moon is made of cheese. (JK)      

Black Holes

                                                       Black Holes
     Black holes are huge vacuums in space. They suck up everything in their path. The more they suck up, the bigger they get. There is one huge black hole in the middle of our galaxy, but thank goodness our solar system isn't anywhere near that. 
     Black holes are made when big stars die. When stars die, they explode in a process called supernova. After the explosion, a neutron star or a black hole may appear. If the solar mass of the core is more than 3 solar masses, weight of the star, then the core becomes a black hole.If the core of a supernova is about 1.4 to 3 solar masses the protons and electrons continues and forms into neutrons, a type of element. This process creates neutron stars. 
     Scientists have discovered many galaxies with huge black holes in the center. Studying black holes, astronomers can know a lot about how the galaxies are formed. Scientists, now, are finding the answer to the question: "Which came first: the black hole or the galaxy?" 
     No one has ever been sucked into a black hole and came back before. If you can even enter into the black hole, that is. The vacuums' gravitational pull are so strong that we would be torn into pieces before we even get to go inside it.

Asteroids

                                                               Asteroids
     Asteroids are big space rocks. There are millions if not billions 
of asteroids in space. If they have the size of a planet, they are called planetoids. They are found in the inner and outer solar systems and  all throughout space. The first spotted asteroid is called Ceres. It was founded by an astronomer by the name of  Giuseppe Piazzi, and since it had the size of a planet, he thought that it was one. Later, astronomers found similar objects and they didn't classify them as planets. Instead, they called them the term "asteroids".
     The asteroid belt is a ring of clustered asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter, separating the inner and the outer planets. There is another belt known as the Kuiper Belt. It's near Pluto, and it contains of icy materials unlike the asteroid belt.
    There has been a lot of misunderstandings and I just wanted to clear it up. Meteoroids are small particles of asteroids. (Most of the time, they come from comets.) If they come close to the Earth's atmosphere, they are called meteors. Meteorites are the remains of the meteor that survived the Earth's atmosphere and are, later, found on Earth. Many people have trouble figuring out the difference between these terms, and I just wanted to tell you guys about it. (No idea who would debate about these things, but there are billions of people out there. There just has to be somebody. XD)       If you see tons of meteors going in "one direction" in the sky, it is possible that you have seen a meteor shower. They are caused by comets when they go near the sun. Bits of their icy material falls off causing the particles to float in space. If, by chance, a group of the particles are near the Earth, a meteor shower occurs.

Comets

                                Comets
     Comets are huge chunks of dusty ice in space. They have their own orbit course and it's very rare for humans to see one. Their orbit course is very long and it would usually be around the sun, because of the star's strong gravitational pull. Comets are basically made of ice, dust, and gases. Comets have a carbon-filled layer on the outside that protects the inside. You can call them dusty snowballs if you want. If one was ever to appear in our solar system at night, than, with telescopes, we could see a tail, called a coma, at its end. That's because of the sun's radiation on the comet, heating up its gases and ice, making it evaporate. Chunks of rock and dust close to the surface of the comet, begins to detach from its place and falls out. Vapor, dust, and the rocks cloud behind the nucleus, the comet, and follows it in its path. 
     Astronomers believe that comets come from the Oort Cloud and the scattered disc. Long term orbit comets, comets whose orbit period is 200 years or more, come from the Oort Cloud (the name was named after the Danish astronomer named Jan Oort) and short term orbit comets, comets whose orbit period is 200 years or less, come from the scattered disc. Jan Oort hypothesized that there is a cloud of ice way beyond Pluto and it contains millions if not billions of comets. The scattered disc is a place where many icy dwarf planets, such as Pluto, populate. Astronomers believe that comets originated from the scattered disc due to all of the icy materials and substances in that place.

Halley's Comet

    There is a comet known as the Halley's Comet. (I'm sure you all know this comet.) This comet travels for a short time in a short orbit around this galaxy. It only takes about 75-76 years for it to be visible to the people on Earth to see it with the naked eye. If your lucky, you can see it twice in your lifetime. Many people feel that this comet is very unlucky and it can cause many horrible things to happen. I, for one, feels very sorry for Halley. I mean, it's not its fault that you had a bad day. The only thing you can blame is yourself.

Stars

                                                  Stars  
    If you went online and searched up "stars" the articles that pop up will be filled with words and sentences that a normal grade and/or middle school-er wouldn't understand. Now I'm going to try and change that. 
     On Earth, in the city, we can see very little stars in the sky. The reason behind this is that we have a ton of city lights that block our eyesight from seeing the bright stars. If we go into the country-side, we would see numerous amounts of stars since there is not a lot of light in the rural areas. 
    Stars can be born in several different types of nebulae. One type of nebulae is called an emission nebula. It's the most brightest and colorful nebula due to its different color gases and dust. 

Binary Stars

    Stars are made with the gases and dust in the nebulae. With a sudden jolt, the gases and dust begins to crash into each other making the center of the collision heat up. The hot center is called a protostar, and someday, it will become a star. Now , you may all think that the shining stars are just alone and individual. But that is not true. During the collision of the gases and dust, they sometimes divide into 2 - 4 stars. These groups are called binary stars. So when you look up in the sky and you see a star, think that maybe it's not just one, but multiples of stars grouped together. (Sometimes the separated parts, when forming the star, can actually become a planet, comet, or an asteroid.)
     Stars are made of mostly hydrogen and helium. In the core of our sun, scientists predicted that it has something known as plasma, this mixture of electrons and protons that were pulled apart by the hydrogen atoms. Astronomers think that the plasma is about 15 million degrees Celsius.
     According to astronomers, the stars brightness depends on  the surface temperature of the star. The hottest star is the blue star and the coolest is the red dwarf star. 
     As time passes, the stars become old and they become white dwarfs. White dwarfs are about the size of Earth. It, the white dwarf, keeps itself intact, unbroken, and from collapsing by high speed electrons moving all around it. Our sun will become one, billions of years from now.

Supernova

     The bigger the star, the faster it will die; However, the stars still live for a very long time. Stars die in a super huge explosion called supernova which is when the star's core collapses and explodes. 
    After the explosion, a neutron star or a black hole may appear. If the core of a supernova is about 1.4 to 3 solar masses, weight of the star, the protons and electrons continues and forms into neutrons. This process creates neutron stars. If the solar mass of the core is more than 3, then the core becomes a black hole.
     After the supernova, the gases and dust remains gets reused and the process of forming a star begins again. 
     
      

The Milky Way Galaxy

                                        The Milky Way Galaxy
    The Milky Way is the name of our galaxy. It contains of billions of stars, 8 planets, an asteroid belt, black holes, gas and dust, comets, and many other celestial things. This galaxy is a spiraled galaxy with a big bump in the middle with 4 spiral arms. 
    Many people might not know this but galaxies are moving, including ours. Our solar system is moving with the Milky Way along with the things this galaxy contains. Our solar system moves at a tremendous speed of 828,000 km. per hour, circulating the whole galaxy in 230 million years. 
    In the middle of the galaxy, there is something called the galactic bulge which contains a ton of stars, gas, and dust. The gas and dust covers so much space of the bulge making humans unable to see a lot of the stars in the galaxy. In the very center of the bulge, there is a humongous black hole. It is WAY bigger than the sun and it feeds on the stars, gases, and dusts that goes in its path,  growing huger and huger. 

Andromeda  (left) Milky Way (right)

    Now, based on the fact that galaxies do move, what do you think is going to happen? (Hint: There is a galaxy very close to ours called the Andromeda Galaxy...and it's heading our way.) Answer: Our galaxy is going to clash and collide into it. Now, don't worry. I know it's hard to take in, but it's not 'till 4 billion years later when that happens. So we are fine... for now. Remember, our sun is also a star. That means it will die at some point in time. Scientists calculated that before Milky Way and Andromeda clash course, the sun would have already begin dying and it would make our solar system inhabitable. Surprised?
    I have been thinking about our future for the past few days. What will happen to our solar system after the sun dies? Will there be another type of organism that will strive and live after the collision of the two galaxies? But I can't answer those questions. I don't think anyone can...

•     Our solar system contains of 8 planets and 3 dwarf planets. For all you starters out there, the sun is in the middle while the following planets and 3 dwarf planets spin around it: 1. Mercury 2. Venus 3. Earth 4. Mars 5. Jupiter 6. Saturn 7. Uranus (lol) 8. Neptune 9. Pluto 10. Ceres 11. Eris. An asteroid belt divides the inner and the outer planets starting from Jupiter. (My favorite planet is Saturn. Don't know why.)
•      Stars are hot spherical shaped objects in space and are made of about 70% hydrogen, 25% helium, and 5% of other elements. Stars that are red are called red giants. They are the least hot of all the different colored stars. Blue stars are the hottest of all stars.
•     Black holes are like HUMONGOUS vacuums in space. Nobody knows where you go to when you get sucked into it. That's the scary part about black holes. I think that the only good part about them are that they keep space clean. (lol)

BLACK HOLE

  

Technology For Astronomers and Astronauts

Technology

   A lot of people who are interested in science, have a habit of not paying attention to the technologies scientists use to do their experiments and/or research. I’m one of those people so researching and writing about scientist’s (mainly astronomer’s) technologies is going to be hard. On the other hand, scientists can go on and on about the technologies that they use. Scientists use technology so much that they feel like technology is part of their daily routine and life.

·       Satellites are used by all kinds of scientists. They help scientists by taking pictures of the Earth or any other extraterrestrial things. Satellites are also used for communication. Telephone lines, television shows,  GPS signals, and many more need satellites in order to perform their activities.

·       Radio interferometers are used by astronomers to study celestial (space) objects. Large antennas send radio waves into space, making an image out of the object that is blocking the way of the waves.

·       Robots are very important for astronomers. Mobile robots can travel to places where humans cannot in space. They take pictures and send them to the scientists. Human-like robots were made to perform daily tasks of the astronauts.

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·       Spectrographs are used by astronomers to measure the spectra, meaning the light waves, of stars and galaxies.

·       Computers help astronomers by it having useful tools and apps that the scientists can use to study space, like Microsoft Windows for example.

·       Space shuttles help astronauts travel to places in space to take a closer look at things.

·       Telescopes are very important to astronomers, but I’m sure that you all know what they help scientists do. The Hubble Telescope is a telescope made to perform the same tasks as a satellite, but also works as a telescope. (No idea why they can’t just call it the Hubble Satellite.) 

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The Basics About Space

                      

                                                        The Basics About Space

      Space is a place in the universe where stars, planets, meteors, asteroids, black holes, and many more extraterrestrial things float non-stop due to zero gravity. Since there is no air in space, no known living organisms live in it. Also, there is no way to communicate with each other since sound cannot be carried through space. In our solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, we have one star called the sun and 8 planets that orbit the yellow star due to its gravitational pull. Our solar system is just a tiny part of space. There are billions and trillions more galaxies out there that scientists haven't discovered, yet. There are spiral ones, circular ones, just plain irregular shaped ones, and many more kinds of galaxy shapes. 

    The theory of Big Bang is about how our whole universe was created. Big Bang states that the whole universe started at one point and then expanded. Scientists calculated that the universe started about 13.8 billion years ago. Astronomers, today, are still trying to find the answers to the thousands if not millions of questions that had not been answered yet. But through time and as knowledge grows through the generations, questions might be answered. Scientists might figure out a way for humans to live in Mars. We might even see aliens coming to our planet and try to take over it. (JK) But as far as I'm concerned, we all just need to be patient and let time be the tunnel to victory.