Archive for the ‘Astronomy’ Category
Astronomy Picture Of The Day
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009Astronomy Picture of the Day
The study of space objects such as planets, galaxies and stars is Astronomy. It’s important science, but for many people an enjoyable hobby. That’s why when a web site or magazine offers an astronomy picture of the day it’s likely to garner a great deal of attention. There are plenty of such pictures to choose from, and plenty of interesting objects out there to keep people looking.
NASA of course is a primary source for an astronomy picture of the day. Their web site, nasa.gov, presents a new photo every day. It also has a multimedia center with video and images. These could be great sources for a person to create their own site that offers a new image each day. On November 5, 2008, NASA’s picture of the day was a close view of Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. It was taken by the Cassini space craft as it passed about 1,700 kilometers from the surface. The image is so detailed that features about the size of a bus are viewable. One interesting feature of the ice on Enceladus is that it reflects 99% of the light that falls onto it. Talk about snow blind. The moon is so interesting that Cassini will continue to fly by for more images later in its mission.
NASA maintains an archive of all the astronomy photos of the day dating all the way back to June 16 of 1995. That image was of Earth as if it had the density of a neutron star. The image is a computer generation. The most interesting feature is that the constellation Orion is visible twice. The reason is that a Neutron star is so dense that light, even from behind the star, is visible as it is pulled around by the intense gravity. This distortion causes double images of some objects.
September 8, 1995 brought a very interesting image of the central part of our own Milky Way galaxy from the NASA COBE Satellite. This image would normally not be visible because the dust in the galaxy obscures it in the visible spectrum. But COBE scans in infrared, so produced the amazing image of our very symmetrical galaxy.
January 1, 2000 and January 1, 2001 shared the same image, a drawing really, of the universe as defined in the last millennium. The reason both dates shared this image is that most people considered the year 2000 as the first year of the third millennium. In reality January 1, 2001 was the beginning of millennium #3. NASA decided to just go with both. The image found at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010101.html shows the progression of our picture of the universe from orbs that rotate around the Earth all the way to the big bang event creating an ever expanding cosmos.
NASA has a lot more days with their own astronomy picture of the day. Visit the web site, NASA.gov, to see them.
Astronomy Facts
Saturday, March 7th, 2009How many astronomy facts are there for all the objects and phenomenon in the entire universe? Consider that there are somewhere around 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe, that’s a one followed by 22 zeros. Then consider that many of those stars have planets surrounding them. Then consider all the moons that orbit the planets, the comets and asteroids, the galaxies these stars form, the nebulae and black holes and everything else out there. The number of facts and amount of data is staggering. This article, which presents astronomy facts, certainly won’t contain every fact. But these are interesting facts.
Let’s take a look at this subset of astronomy facts
Astronomy Magazine
Saturday, February 28th, 2009Astronomy is a serious science and a popular hobby all over the world. As with any other hobby there are tons of articles and a lot of information written for enthusiasts, but also to chronicle the happenings in the
Astronomy Fun Facts
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009For many people astronomy is an interesting science filled with many astronomy fun facts. Everything from the size and temperature of our own star, the Sun, to the makeup of distant planets is recorded. All of this information can be recalled to entertain and enlighten people.
The Sun is a great source of astronomy fun facts. Our own star that supplies our heat and light is between 91 and 94.5 million miles from Earth. It’s not that nobody knows for certain. It’s that the Earth orbits the sun in an elliptical, uneven, orbit. The distance varies depending on where the Earth lies in that orbit.
The sun is only average size for a star, yet it’s size is another terrific source of astronomy fun facts. As average as it is it accounts for about 98% of all the matter in the solar system. Even with Jupiter on our side, we’re still a measly 2% of non
Pisces Constellation Astronomy
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009There was a time when astronomy, and in fact all science, was a mixture of strange ideas and even superstition along with any real provable ideas. But stalwart men of science continued to look up into the night sky and consider the universe beyond the world upon which they stood. These were men such as Isaac Newton, who recognized that other stars are suns just like ours, Galileo who first used a telescope to gaze into the heavens, and even people as far back as Ptolemy who formulated the geocentric planetary system around 100 AD. The universe is infinite, which means astronomy is infinite. So a choice has to be made to zero in on a smaller sub-set of astronomy. Let’s pick a constellation, Pisces, and discuss Pisces constellation astronomy.
How can there be a whole discussion of a constellation and its astronomy? A constellation isn’t just some figure in the night sky. Every constellation contains a number of interstellar objects and phenomenon including stars, nebulae, and even entire galaxies. Pisces, for example, contains very few bright stars but does contain a unique galaxy from our point of view. M74, also known as galaxy NGC 628, is a face on spiral galaxy. That means we see it from the top, from a perspective that shows its spiral arms reaching out into space. It looks like a spiral to observers from Earth, in other words. Not with the naked eye, of course. And through most amateur telescopes it would appear as little more than a blurry spot. But with a telescope of 12 inches aperture or more the spiral details will be visible.
Another unique feature of Pisces is that an important part of the Sun’s path passes through Pisces today, where it did not when the constellations were first mapped. The first point of Aries is the point where the sun crosses the equator on its way North. This happens at the Vernal Equinox, the first day of spring for the Northern hemisphere of the planet. When the First Point of Aries was established in ancient times it was east of Pisces. But over the years it has moved west into Pisces. This is an example precession, the movement of stars and objects in relation to Earth. It happens, of course, because none of these objects are stationary, and neither is the Earth. Our sun and our galaxy are moving at incredible speeds. The sun and solar system, for example, move at about 220 kilometers per second around the center of the galaxy. In all of human history, the solar system has moved 1/1250th of a complete revolution. Not only is the solar system moving, but so is the galaxy itself as well as every object in the night sky. So the constellations are always moving and changing. Pisces and the First Point of Aries are a great example of this.
See how interesting Pisces constellation astronomy can be?
Current Happenings In Astronomy
Saturday, February 14th, 2009Astronomy is a science that goes back thousands of years. In the beginning it was very connected to astrology, but as time went by astronomy became more and more scientific, relying on observation, measurement and the scientific theory to develop a knowledge of the universe outside our own planet and solar system. Astronomy is something too many people ignore, but those who keep their eyes on current happenings in astronomy find a wealth of interesting information.
In early November of 2008 NASA nearly bombed Australia with a 1400LB Ammonia tank jettisoned from the International Space Station. This coolant tank was thrown over board because it became too volatile to keep on board. It broke up on reentry to chunks no larger than 15 pounds, and it was expected that most of those chunks would land in water. Australians were told that ammonia vapor could make their windows cleaner, but advised them to remove the residue with newspapers and some elbow grease. Paul Hogan, the famous actor who played Crocodile Dundee, was unharmed. Unfortunately, according to the Daily Mail in the UK, Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, remained deceased after this incident.
In September of 2008 China sent up its third successful manned space mission that included the first space walk by Chinese astronauts in history. Unfortunately for China it was revealed that
Recent Astronomy Articles
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009Recent astronomy articles appear all over the Internet and in magazines dedicated to the science and the hobby. When new images are taken, people write about it. When space agencies announce missions, people write. Every new discovery and piece of information generates a tremendous amount of discussion. Here’s just some of the most recent astronomy articles.
Something as simple as bumpy space dust generated a great deal of interest and a lot of the recent astronomy articles. Why is this important? Scientists have long known that hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. But hydrogen has to bond to form the larger molecules observed in the universe. In the cold of space it takes the right medium to complete the bond. Bumpy molecules provide that medium, so now scientists have verified a theory on how hydrogen forms molecules in space. Bumpy dusty, who would have thought it.
One of Saturn’s moons is called the
Star Astronomy
Saturday, February 7th, 2009Astronomy in general is a huge subject, as vast as the universe it describes. Star astronomy is just one part of the overall science and hobby. There are ample phenomenon and objects in just our own solar system to keep someone bust for an entire life time. Many people decide, then, to specialize, to focus their attention on the brightest objects that are often the first space objects that peak people’s interest in astronomy
Astronomy For Kids
Saturday, January 31st, 2009Astronomy for Kids
Astronomy is a serious science. And as with many things, even very serious things, people often get an early start. There are a lot of resources for astronomy for kids who are interested in the planets, the solar system, the universe and everything else that’s part of this exciting science. A number of astronomy subjects interest kids. These include the solar system, planets, comets, meteorites, asteroids, stars, the sun, galaxies and of course our closest neighbor in space, the moon.
The moon is Earth’s only satellite. It orbits our planet once every 27.3 days. Because it is so close, it is the only space object that a human has ever walked on, other than Earth of course. The moon is important for the Earth because it causes the tides through gravitational forces between the Earth and the moon. It’s one of the first objects that can spark a kid’s interest in astronomy because it can be clearly seen with the human eye.
Let’s move to the sun. Earth is quite far from the sun. The distance varies between about 146 million kilometers and 152 million kilometers. That’s because Earth’s orbit around the sun isn’t a circle, it’s an ellipse. Without the sun there would be no life on Earth. The sun provides both light and heat to the planet. A little known fact is that the sun contains about 98% of the mass in the solar system. Talk about the big bully on the block.
Our own galaxy is the Milky Way. Like all other galaxies it’s a collection of gas, dust, stars and planets. Most of the area in a galaxy is filled with nothing, just empty space. That’s a lot of nothing because our galaxy is 100,000 light years across and 3,000 light years deep. Our sun is over 30,000 light years from the center of the galaxy. Even with all that space there are about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way. In fact the galaxy takes its name from the appearance of the band of stars that shine from the main section of the galaxy. It looks like a pool of liquid, thus the name
Current Events In Astronomy
Saturday, January 24th, 2009Astronomy, at times, can be like a sport. It’s fun to watch what’s going on day after day, reading the magazines and web sites for all the current events in astronomy. Big things happen nearly every day. That includes new images brought in from satellites and telescopes, new discoveries about the nature of planets and stars and other objects, as well as breakthroughs and just every day small progress in the tools and techniques used to make these discoveries.
One of the best places to keep up with current events in astronomy is NASA’s web site. Not only does NASA make a lot of the news, but it constantly keeps its site updated with news of the latest and greatest about space and objects within it. A quick look at NASA’s web site in mid November revealed some pretty big current events in astronomy.
One of the most important current events in astronomy NASA discussed in November was the late month launch of the shuttle Endeavour. It’s mission was to re-supply and repair the International Space Station. This included a number of space walks to perform routine maintenance on the outside of the station. Such space walks aren’t only immediately important for the goals they accomplish, but important in the development of techniques and experiences that apply to future missions. While some might argue that the space station is more space related than necessarily astronomy related, there is a lot of science going on there, including observations of outer space which definitely falls under the heading of astronomy.
Another of the current events in astronomy discussed by NASA in November was a staggering discovery made by the Hubble Telescope. For the first time in history, a telescope took a visible light image of a planet orbiting another star. The effort dates way back to the 1980’s when NASA’s IRAS, an infrared telescope, discovered dust around the star. That was a tell tale sign that planets might orbit this star located about 25 light years away from our own little planet.
This one, still one of the current events in astronomy, is all about the past. NASA announced details of a Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project designed to restore images of the moon taken by five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft that visited the moon in 1966 and 1967. Much of the data was removed from the tape drives in the 1980’s, but stored as analogue images and only partially restored. NASA has already released some of these restored historic images.
Astronomy is a huge field. Current events in astronomy could cover volumes each day. Keep looking into the universe!
Astronomy Software
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009Many people love Astronomy. Some are serious scientists who study it for a living, or who even teach it. Some are enthusiasts who delve into the stars as a hobby. Some of these hobbyists have even made important discoveries at times. It used to be that astronomy required a telescope or at least binoculars. But now thanks to astronomy software, everyone with a computer can take part in this interesting and at times exciting endeavor. Here are some of the programs available.
One of the most well known programs is SETI@Home. Launched in May of 1999 this was a project to create a virtual supercomputer, made up of large numbers of Internet connected home computers. Before SETI@Home the SETI radio telescope, SETI meaning Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, scanned the heavens for radio signals that would indicate a pattern, an intelligence behind them. Supercomputers on site were used to analyze the data. But now it’s all being done during the spare cycles on people’s computers at home and the office. There won’t be some kind of alert if intelligent life is found. But if SETI ever does find intelligence, then everyone who was part of SETI@Home can say they played a role.
A simple type of astronomy software is the 3D screen saver. These programs kick in when a PC is idle, and show various space objects rendered in spectacular 3D computer graphics. This can include simple views as well as navigable planets, solar systems or other objects that the user can explore from any angle and distance. Search
Astronomy Today
Friday, January 16th, 2009Astronomy today is a popular and enjoyable hobby as well as a vital science making new discoveries every day. From new space objects to new images, from new tools and techniques to new discoveries made with them, from new space missions to reviving and reviewing data from the old ones, keeping up with astronomy can certainly be a full time job. It’s a lot of fun too. So here are a few of the latest and greatest astronomy facts, figures and happenings.
On any day meteors are a key element of astronomy today for that day. The last half of 2008 was no different as meteors were certainly on the menu. In November the Taurids and Leonids were active in the night sky. The Gemenids had their peak in mid December, but unfortunately during a full moon phase that would make them difficult to see. But people need not worry. Meteor shower peaks may happen during full moons, but meteors are on display for up to two weeks both before and after the peaks. So there’s a lot of clear time to view these falling chunks of space debris.
Astronomy today in 2008 was often a matter of discussing a return to the moon by 2015. The talk is of this as a world wide effort rather something any one country or agency would endeavor to accomplish. The goal may be to establish a moon base or even a colony on the moon. Imagine that. Minus the aliens and hopefully the moon set adrift by an explosion, the TV series
Astronomy News
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009Astronomy is a subject as large as the universe. That’s because it has the entire universe to explore. Astronomy news is interesting, to say the least, and can be found in media reports as well as on web sites such as those maintained by astronomy magazines and agencies like NASA. Here are some recent, tantalizing tidbits of space information.
Astronomy magazine is a great source of astronomy news. One of the stories it covered was NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft. Just as weathermen examine fronts and the interaction of hot air with cold air and dry air with wet air, IBEX is interested in such fronts and their interaction in outer space. Specifically it’s the interaction of the solar winds with the relatively cold space beyond the solar system. IBEX is also set to map the boundaries of our solar system.
More astronomy news covered by Astronomy magazine is the discovery of a new aurora on Saturn that’s unlike any other known aurora in the solar system. An aurora is formed when charged particles stream along planetary magnetic field. Earth’s aurorae come from charged particles from the solar wind. Jupiter’s aurorae come from interactions within Jupiter’s own magnetic field. But Saturn’s new aurora, seen in the infrared spectrum, is something completely new which could teach scientists a lot about the solar wind and magnetic fields.
Universe today is another source of astronomy news. On November 13, 2008 it carried the story of contact reestablished with the Mars rover. The rover had lost contact after running through a massive dust storm. But the Rover named Spirit recovered from a near catastrophic low power period. Its solar panels couldn’t get sun in the dust storm, and scientists feared it would go into a low power coma-like mode from which it would not wake. But it did, and now it’s back to work on the distant red planet.
Another piece of astronomy news on Universe today is the stunning expectation that the new Allen Telescope Array, part of the SETI project, will find intelligent life in about two dozen years. The array currently is made up of 42 antennas, but will expand over time to include 350 small radio antennas that search the sky for signals that mean intelligence. When it finally includes 350 antennas, by 2025, scientists involved with the project say it will reach far enough into space to finally pull in signals from intelligent extraterrestrials.
If that intelligent life is contacted, that will be some big astronomy news.
Astronomy Henge Stone
Friday, January 9th, 2009Most everyone has heard of Stonehenge, the stone circle in England that has been portrayed as an astronomers’ tool, a grave yard, a druidic sacrificial altar, and even in some movies and television programs as a portal to other dimensions and other worlds. But although famous, Stonehenge isn’t unique. There are other such stone circles all over the world, many containing one astronomy henge stone or even an entire grouping of them. The term henge is derived from the Old English word, henge, that became part of the Stonehenge name. Henge doesn’t mean circle or stone or earthwork, it means hang. It refers to the Stonehenge site specifically as horizontal stones were hung around the circle by placing them on top of vertical stone pillars. The name eventually came to denote a variety of similar sites, generally populated by some sort of stone formation within an earthen circle. But a henge only refers to stones set within an earthen circle. Without the earthen circle, either raised or dropped to be lower than the surrounding ground, it isn’t a henge, but rather a stone circle.
While many of these stone henges, including the famous Stonehenge, were used as burial grounds and sacrificial sites, almost all of them have some element related to astronomy. It’s sometimes argued whether or not these stone formations were built for astronomy first, but there’s no doubt of building skill and scientific know how that went into erecting them. The elements that have to do with astronomy include the markings of important dates, such as the summer or winter solstice, when the sun would rise at a point marked exactly by a stone placement. This might include the sun being viewable through a tiny window at sunrise from a point at the center of a circle. Stonehenge has an amazing array of astronomical measures built into the circle. It really doesn’t matter if they were the purpose for the site or added later. They’re still amazing.
A lesser known but no less spectacular henge is the Avebury Henge located in Wiltshire. The henge neighbors a number of other smaller stone circles, and encompasses the entire town of Avebury. It is believed that this henge had astronomical purposes as many of its stones, now mostly fallen, had positions that corresponded with key phenomenon. But it also had a relationship to ancestral and gender worship as the stones come in two main types
Galileo Galilei Astronomy
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy in the late 1500’s. He eventually became a mathematics teacher despite having no degree, and it was here that his famous future was first hinted. Galileo the math teacher made his first step into Galileo Galilei astronomy when he demonstrated to his students that Aristotle was wrong about object of different weights falling at different speeds. He wasn’t invited back to teach, and so moved to a position at the University of Padua. His entry into astronomy would come to fruition there.
In Padua, Galileo invented the compass and began studying physics. He discovered the law of falling bodies and the parabolic path of projectiles. These became very important in astronomy, later. But at the time Galileo claimed to have no interest in the subject other than that he believed the work of Copernicus rather than that of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Copernicus had proposed that the solar system is heliocentric, that is that the planets rotate around the sun. Aristotle and Ptolemy held that the solar system was centered around the Earth, and even the sun rotated around our home. The model Copernicus proposed for the order of planets around the sun has been proven. And today we know Copernicus was completely correct.
When the spyglass was invented in Holland, Galileo learned of it and made his own telescope which he turned to the sky. With a magnification of 20, this telescope helped Galileo discover mountains and craters on the moon. He also learned that the milky way was made up of individual stars. He went on to discover Jupiter’s four largest moons. He published his findings and became the court mathematician in Florence. With time freed from teaching duties, he could really get to work. It took him only 9 months to discover Saturn’s phases. This further contradicted Ptolemy while proving that Copernicus was right.
Galileo’s original dispute was with Aristotle’s teachings. Many scientists agreed with Galileo, and so published his findings. But Aristotle was popular with the church because an Earth centered solar system put man’s home, and thus man, at the center of things. In 1614 a priest in Florence denounced Galileo Galilei Astronomy. Galileo responded by writing a letter proclaiming the bible irrelevant to science. In 1616 the church censored Galileo’s books, and a cardinal instructed him to stop teaching that the Earth moves. Galileo complied, continuing his study of falling objects, comets, and methods to determine longitude at sea based on the phases of Jupiter’s moons. It is said that Galileo had one comment after signing an agreement that the Earth does not move. “I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; “And yet … it moves.”