At this stage of our understanding of the planet Mars, we have seen salty water flowing (recurring slope lineae), found evidence of ancient riverbeds, and seen seasonal changes in the polar caps. But an important question is how does water behave on Mars? A bit of science here on Earth gives some insight. Water at sea level on Earth boils at 100 degrees Celsius, which actually defined the Celsius scale. But as pressure changes, liquids boil at different temperatures. As the atmosphere gets thinner, the boiling temperature of water decreases. On Mars, with it’s extremely thin atmosphere, this means that water...
The surface of the Sun is around 5500 degrees Celsius. It’s hot, and it’s a completely different state of matter than the solid, liquid, and gas states that we are used to. However, this is a pretty balmy temperature compared to the solar atmosphere, which is heated to over a million degrees. But how does it get so hot compared to the surface? We know the core of the Sun, where fusion happens, is where temperatures can reach 14 Million degrees, but how is that energy radiated outward? And more importantly, how does it bypass the solar surface and make...
Ever heard the term ‘champagne flow?’ I’m not talking about a celebration, it’s actually a term in astronomy. When a cluster of massive stars form and ionize the surrounding hydrogen cloud, the hot gas propels itself through the layers of cooler gas at the cluster outskirts. When the hot gas finally bursts through to the vacuum of space, it flows rapidly like a newly opened bottle of champagne. This is exactly what’s happening in the cluster RCW 34, a young, gaseous cluster in the southern constellation Vela. The interesting thing about this cluster is that its nearly invisible in optical...
