Pretty much why I went into Physics

Our solar system is full of interesting planetary bodies. For as long as I can remember, I loved learning about pretty much all of them. My favorites include Mars, Europa, and Titan.

Ah, Titan. Saturn's largest moon, with a composition that would make it appear to be a bizzaro-Earth, has long held my attention. With its nitrogen atmosphere, methane lakes, ammonia seas, and rocky mountains, it's perhaps the most interesting body in our solar system (next to Earth, of course).

Our moon, Titan, and Earth

I was very excited to find a new article about Titan on Physorg.com about its atmosphere:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-titan-atmosphere-earth-like-thought.html
What really piqued my interest was the allusion to finding life on Titan. While the simulation is a far cry from evidence, showing that a very complex, multi-layer atmosphere does make the idea a bit more reasonable. After all, Titan has one of the densest atmospheres in the solar system. And that in of itself is a big mystery. How did Titan get to have such an amazing atmosphere, and how is it managing to stay so stable (it's actually losing its atmosphere, but is being replenished somehow)? There are different theories, ranging from vulcanism to bacteria. No one really knows why yet, unfortunately. Titan is so very different from every other moon in the solar system. It's exotic even compared to the not-so-distant moons of Jupiter, which have virtually no atmosphere. Searching for more information, I came across this article:

http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_retrospection&task=detail&id=1755

McKay discusses his ideas, saying Titan probably condensed with nitrogen and methane, forming the layers of atmosphere that we know of, but further probe results are needed to find out more. I'll get right on that.

hahahaha

Had to post this. How could I not?

similarities between charge and gravity

We all know the equations for the force due to gravity (Gm1m2/r^2) and the force due to charge (kq1q2/r^2) and probably have thought about how similar they are. For the most part it's been chalked up to merely a striking coincidence, but after watching this video it would almost seem like there is a greater force (haHA!) at play.

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We can see the water droplets orbiting the charged knitting needle in an elliptical fashion, as they would if they were planetary bodies orbiting a massive star.  The droplets speed up as they near the needle, and slow down as they become farther away, following Kepler's laws. Is this why the early diagrams of the atom show the electrons orbiting the nucleus, as moons orbit their planets? We of course now know that isn't accurate, but I can see how it would not have been at one point a big stretch to think that way.

What does it mean to be an Astronomer?

Being an Astronomer, like other scientists, means gathering in large groups with other like-minded people and talking about how smarter we are than everyone else. It's very important for us to do this; as it pumps us up and makes us ready for long, grueling days of research. And when we take breaks, we support the economy by buying coffee from humanities majors so they then can go and buy Apple products.

But seriously.

Astronomy was probably the first branch of science. Starting out as pure observation, people thousands of years ago looked up at the night sky in wonder and awe and felt that burning desire to figure out what all those bright little dots were. What are they made of? How far away are they? As our observations got keener, we found out that many of those bright dots were stars just like our own, and eventually, that our own sun wasn't even special.

Observing the night sky opened up all sorts of questions for humanity. It lead to many answers as well. Since our early days, we've figured out how the Earth and other planets move around the Sun, how the Solar System is part of a large collection of solar systems, how galaxies can interact with each other, and even some damn good theories about how the universe was born. And once we started figuring that stuff out, we began wondering about everything else here on earth, from how certain chemicals can react, how to breed crops to yield more food, even how our brains work.

Carl Sagan said that the greatest thing his mother instilled in him was his sense of wonder. To me, that's the greatest part about humanity: the never ending desire to know.