Physics upperclassmen Meredith Mc Linn (junior), Pragalv Karki (senior) and Shouvik Bhattacharya (senior) participated in the University Physics Competition 2012. They modeled how masses of the exoplanets affect volcanic activity over time. They used principles of Thermodynamics and Planetary Sciences to solve this problem. Dr. Juan Cabanela served as the adviser of the team. The team was sponsored by the […]
By: Ryan Johnson, INFORUM MOORHEAD – While it was built with valid scientific goals in mind, the premise of the six-wheeled, 2,000-pound Curiosity rover and the engineering feat that landed it on Mars early Monday could strike some as more science fiction than reality. “We have landed a nuclear-powered truck on another world,” said Juan Cabanela, astronomy professor at Minnesota […]
An article co-authored by Juan Cabanela, Physics and Astronomy, has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. As part of a four-year project, Cabanela and his collaborators obtained detailed spectra for over 4,000 stars, allowing them to measure their motions and chemical compositions. Analysis of the motions and positions of these stars has revealed that as the bar-shaped core […]