Learn about the Solar System and Space with me!
- The Northern Lights
Source The northern lights are one of Earth’s beautiful sights that everyone wants to see. However, little people actually know how they occur. The northern lights, which are aurora, are caused by electrified gas from the Sun getting caught by Earth’s magnetic field which leads to the North and South poles. These particles from the sun interact with gases in Earth’s atmosphere (Oxygen gives off green and red light and Nitrogen gives off blue and purple light). Since auroras are caused by a magnetosphere and atmosphere, other planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, can have them too! Have you ever seen the northern lights, and if so, where?
- The Fermi Paradox
Aliens? The Fermi Paradox is the paradox that while there are probably other intelligent life forms in the Milky Way, none have have made any communication with Earth. Since Earth is a younger planet of the Milky Way, if intelligent civilizations existed they would likely be much older, meaning they would have the technology to communicate with Earth and the time to have done it. The explanations for this paradox are aliens have not come/communicated because of lack of technology, because they didn’t want to, or they have come and we have not noticed. Personally, I believe it is likely aliens have come in the past, explaining things like the great pyramids and stone hedge. Perhaps they do not want us to know they came and do not want to come again. What do you think is the explanation for the Fermi Paradox?
- Asteroid Mining
A mockup of asteroid mining Asteroids are failed planetesimals made up of rock and metals, some of which may be valuable such as platinum, silver, and gold. Around 8% of the asteroids in the asteroid belt are ones full of precious metals. Some platinum heavy asteroids may contain 175 times the amount of platinum mined yearly on Earth. For this reason, a lot of people fantasize about the idea of asteroid mining, or gathering the precious metals from asteroids and bringing them back down to Earth. Starting around 2012, companies such as Planetary Resources (created for asteroid mining) were starting to raise money for the asteroid mining endeavor. However, these companies soon gave up their dream for a multitude of reasons. The biggest one was funding, as it’s hard to receive funding for something that will take decades to come to fruition. Another one was that since it has never been done before, there is no precedent set. As of now, it seems like asteroid mining is a thing of the far future. Would you invest in the endeavor?
- Europa
Source Europa is one of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, however, it is much more than that. Scientists believe that out of everywhere in our solar system, Europa is the most likely place to have life besides on Earth! Scientists are pretty confident that under Europa’s ice water surface is an ocean that may have twice as much water as Earth’s. Scientists also think that the necessary chemicals for life are present in Europa’s ocean. They are hoping to get a sample eventually by doing a flyby and gathering the ocean that can be ejected from plumes on Europa’s surface. The one thing necessary for life besides liquid water and the required chemicals would be an energy source, which has not yet been found on Europa. If life were to be found on Europa, this would give us a better idea of how easily life forms if a space object has the requirements! Do you think that Europa has life?
- Life on Mars
Life on Mars Imagined In an interview with USA Today, NASA Scientist Jim Green talked about the high possibility that humans can and will occupy Mars. He went as far as to say that he sees the first human being sent to Mars by 2040. However, before sending a human to Mars, NASA needs to figure out a few things. First off, a spacecraft big enough to house a human has never landed on Mars, which is tricky due the Mars’ rocky terrain. Secondly, no spacecraft has had a return route to Earth from Mars, which would be necessary for someone to come back since Mars is not habitable just yet! Life on Mars would also be very different, requiring constant wear of a spacesuit due to extreme temperatures and no oxygen. If humans ever do make it Mars, they will need to build up a civilization with a food source and homes braced for dust storms and the temperatures! Read the USA Today article here.
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Grace's Space Blog 
