By: Noah Ramos

Recently a new ring system has been spotted at the edge of our solar system and it belongs to a dwarf planet by the name of Quaoar. However, this ring baffles astronomers because its distance from its dwarf planet parent shouldn’t be possible according to the information known about ring formations around planets. But this phenomena changes what we thought about ring formations and means that the ring formation theory is going to change based on how it can be explained by this new ring. Previously it was thought that rings can only form within the Roche limit and anything beyond the limit would be too unstable to survive outside since they accrete into moonlets. Quaoar’s ring is different since the ring is made up from debris such as rock, ice, and dust particles that resulted from moonlets colliding. The particles normally cannot reform a moonlet if they are within the Roche limit since they get torn apart which also prevents clumping. However, the particles that make up the ring are constantly colliding with each other and if the particles have an icy coating could cause elastic collision. Elastic collision is when two objects collide and bounce off each other like a bouncy ball. Surprisingly the ring was found accidentally while checking to see if Quaoar had an atmosphere. The researchers were lucky enough to have seen it when it caused a dip in light from a star in the background; the event is known as occultation and lasted for less than a minute.

 

By: Noah Ramos 

There is a short tale that everyone in town knows about that is told to all the children when Autumn comes around and that tale is called “The 4 Seasons War.” It is said that among this world were 4 special people who manifested as seasons such as Winter, Fall, Summer, and Spring. Each held an artifact of immense power, but the problem wasn’t the artifacts themselves, but those who wielded them. Each season wanted to rule supreme over the others and so the 4 seasons waged war on the others. What they didn’t realize was while the battles raged those who weren’t the seasons had to deal with weather that spelled dire consequences. Blizzards froze villages, droughts ravaged crops, relentless rain caused floods, and all around there was almost no safe place. Only when the seasons finally took a look at what had been happening below did they see what destruction they had done to others. So, after finally coming to an agreement, the seasons decided to hide the artifacts in order to not repeat the same mistake. Among these was a golden cornucopia that had the power to make an everlasting feast which could keep a whole continent fed. 

 I, Leah Warren, have vowed to find the golden cornucopia to save my village from starvation after many of the crops had died from an unknown source. Of course, I have been told I’m crazy for believing a children’s tale, but stories always have some truth to them otherwise who would make such tales? I decided, the sooner I set out, the better. While everyone was busy talking about what they would do for the food shortage, I snuck into the woods beside our village. The forest, where I believed the artifact to be, was very dangerous. Not only because of the animals who lived there, but people talked about the abnormal weather in that forest like it was an unknown force trying to get them out. Yet, the surrounding woods beyond that portion of the forest were normal. So, I decided to start by searching the area where the abnormal weather happened. When I started walking through the forest, nothing seemed to happen besides hearing the leaves crunching beneath my feet. But suddenly, a chilling wind swept through, out of nowhere. Even with my jacket, it felt like ice. I kept moving forward with every step bringing me deeper into the forest, as the wind became stronger and stronger. It felt as if I would be blown out before I found anything, but as I looked ahead, a cave came into view. I decided that would be the best place to start looking since everywhere else was just trees and leaves. When I stepped in, the cave was dark. Luckily, I had brought a lantern in case I had to search in the dark. The cave was bigger in the inside than I had seen from outside which only intrigued me further. 

As I moved deeper in the cave, I noticed there were signs of something living there such as discarded food that had long rotted away. What was worse? The stench. I pushed on until I saw some sunlight peering in from a crack in the ceiling. Beneath the light sat a long table with food displayed as well as the golden cornucopia. This felt relatively easy, but if it was here the whole time, how come no one else found it? As I started reaching for it, a voice behind startled me and caused the cornucopia to drop. I turned to be met with a man in a coat made of leaves as well as a staff with an amber-like gem. I asked who he was, and he responded with his name being “Fall”, and that I shouldn’t be messing with his stuff. He appeared to be one of the seasons from the tale, but even in awe, I felt anger. I asked why he hadn’t used the golden cornucopia for the starving village just outside the forest, and he responded by saying “they didn’t deserve it”.

“If you won’t help my town, then I will”, I exclaimed. I quickly reached down and scurried towards the entrance with the golden cornucopia in my arms. The funny thing is, while I was running out, instead of chasing after me, he only yelled I would regret taking the artifact and I would be back soon. I wish I had listened for what came next…

The Missing Student

By: Noah Ramos

There has been something bothering me lately at school. At first I had no idea what it could’ve been for the longest time. It took a couple weeks to figure out that a chair in every one in my classes was empty. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered me but something about that empty spot just didn’t seem right to me like someone used to be there, and had suddenly vanished. I tried to ignore it but it was like the chair was beckoning to me in the back of my mind no matter what I did to try to forget about it. I decided to finally come back late at night when no one was around to see if I could find anything that would prove my theory. If there really was someone who had vanished without anyone noticing somehow the answer had to lie in the school somewhere. I had tried to see if the attendance had any names that didn’t belong with nothing that caught my eye. Next I went into the principal’s office first to check the files of students in that class to see if there would be evidence. 

Luckily the door was unlocked which made it easier to get into the office undetected and soon I locked the door behind me. However when I looked around I found nothing and was just about to leave when something on the desk caught my attention. One of the drawers was smaller than it was compared to the other one which was a bit suspicious so I felt around until the bottom opened up to a secret compartment. Inside I could see a large envelope but before I could grab them I suddenly heard the jangle of keys like someone was about to come in. Quickly I grab the envelope before closing the drawer’s compartment and hiding under the desk right as the door opened into the office. Luckily it was only the janitor who had come to clean out the waste bin and left a couple seconds later. After I was sure no one else was coming I slipped out of the office and headed outside to the playground to read what was inside.

 Inside were two pieces of paper, one of them was an incident report of an accident that occured here at the school. It detailed how a student had been badly burned by acid and later pronounced dead at the hospital from the wounds. For some reason I didn’t remember the news ever reporting on this which was strange. I looked at the next paper that showed the dead student’s profile and was absolutely mortified with what I saw next. The person in the profile had my name and not only that but the picture looked exactly like me! But this couldn’t be I was still alive for sure. This had to be some sort of sick joke someone was playing on me. It was already morning for some reason when I lifted my head and saw one of my friends heading towards the door. I ran to them to ask if they were in on it but when I tried to grab their shoulder my hand touched nothing. I looked towards the glass door and instead of seeing my reflection I simply saw nothing…

By: Noah Ramos

It’s that time of year again when the temperature starts to drop and we scramble to get last minute gifts for family and friends while also getting into the Christmas Spirit. If you haven’t gotten a gift for that certain someone yet then I have a gift you can make at home that your family will surely love to receive this year.

Hot Chocolate Snowman

This gift is sure to leave a sweet taste in your mouth when you use it.

Steps: 

2. Grab 3 small empty jars, Black marker, small cloth, object that resembles a hat.
3. Add hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows, & any other sweets in the jar.
4. Stack them up & make facial features & whatever decorations you want to add.
5. Repeat.

Chocolate kisses tree 

This is a good way to get your family members with a little prank

Steps:

3. Get some chocolate kisses, square chocolates, construction paper, & ribbon.
4. Fold the construction paper to make a big triangle then make small ones to make sure the kisses are separated inside the big triangle.
5. Make the base at the bottom as a square & add the square chocolate in there.
6. Tie the ribbon around the big triangle and place the big triangle on top of the base.

Homemade snow globe

Sometimes it just takes a couple things around the house to make a gift.

Steps: 

1. Get a jar, fake snow, mini trees, & glue
2. Glue the tree to the inside of the jar lid and put some fake snow in the lid too.
3. Then screw back on the lid and you have yourself a homemade snow globe.
4. Repeat.