Tag archives for astronomy
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The lunar wall comes into view, three planets huddle, and the moon joins the Leo constellation in this week’s best sky events.
A pair of dead stars sitting in a star cluster about 150 light years from Earth appear to have their atmospheres polluted with debris from asteroids . Astronomers say this suggests that the basic ingredients for making Earth-like planets could be quite common in stellar nurseries across the cosmos. “We have identified chemical evidence…
After nearly four years of glorious service to science, the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory mission has come to the end this week. Running out of helium coolant needed to chill its instruments down to near absolute zero means that it has closed its far-infrared eyes to the Universe for good. After a…
Skywatchers this weekend will get treated to some beautiful close encounters when the Moon glides past bright clusters of stars and planet Jupiter. Up first on Saturday, April 13, look towards the high western sky after local sunset for a waxing crescent Moon. Look to its far upper left and you will see a super-bright…
Looks like astronomers may have new hunting grounds to search for exoplanets , and it’s close– in fact it’s just in our local interstellar neighborhood. A new-found star system at only 6.5 light years away now ranks as the third nearest to our solar system and the closest to be discovered since 1917. The new…
After nearly a half million votes cast by the public, Pluto’s two tiniest moons may have new names—one of which could be named after the home world of famous fictional pointy-eared humanoid Mr. Spock. Astronomer Michael Showalter and his team who discovered these tiny worldlets asked the online community for help in naming the moons, now…
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All eyes are looking back at the life and work of Copernicus. We thought it’d be nice to look around and ahead as well.
This Friday asteroid 2012 DA14 will go down in the record books as the closest approach of an object of its size since astronomers began keeping records a few decades ago. Zipping past our planet closer than most orbiting communication and weather satellites, this office building sized chunk of rock should be visible to some…
Even though Pluto may have been officially kicked out of the major planet club, the number of moons orbiting the dwarf planet has increased by two in just the last couple of years. And now astronomers need your help in naming these newly discovered moons. The naming contest for two of the tiniest satellites, measuring…
Help Astronomers Name Pluto’s Moons
Posted by Suzan Eaton on February 12, 2013 
P4 and P5? Surely you can come up with better names for Pluto’s newly-discovered moons. Astronomers at the SETI Institute are asking for your help.
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When Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York City’s Hayden Planetarium, got a call from DC Comics about its latest Superman storyline, the famed astrophysicist saw an opportunity to make real science a part of superhero lore. He said to DC: How about I find you a real star that could be home to Superman’s native planet, Krypton? He did, and here’s how.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … Superman’s home star! Astronomers call it LHS 2520, but thanks to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s collaboration with DC Comics, it’s getting top billing this week as Rao, the sun to Superman’s native planet, Krypton. Find out why Tyson picked it…
What places best describe humankind’s fascination with the universe? Try Navajo star ceilings, the Temple of Isis in Egypt, or Stonehenge. Maybe it’s Qing Dynasty instruments at the Beijing Ancient Observatory or mountaintop telescopes in Chile. These places are now recognized as astronomical heritage sites as part of a joint initiative of UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union.
Scientists Discover New Super-Magnetic Star
Posted by Alyson Foster on September 18, 2012 
A newly discovered star with an extremely strong magnetic field has caught the attention of scientists. Located about 20,000 light-years from Earth, NGC1624-2 is the most magnetic massive star discovered by astronomers to date.
Help Put Pluto On Postage!
Posted by Jason Major on February 4, 2012 
As New Horizons speeds toward its date with Pluto the mission team petitions to celebrate the spacecraft with a USPS Forever Stamp… and YOU can help!
“Somewhat Beauty and Poetry”: Remembering Maria Mitchell
Posted by Alyson Foster on June 30, 2011 
This week marks the 122nd anniversary of Maria Mitchell’s death. This talented and unconventional astronomer not only discovered a never-before-seen comet, she helped blaze a trail for women who wanted a life in science.
Brief History of the Astronomical Telescope I: Galileo Galilei and the unlikely fate of his middle finger…
Posted by Bulent Atalay of Author, National Geographic Books; author, Smithsonian Books; Prof. UMW, Adj Prof UVA. on May 25, 2011 
Just as 2005, commemorating the Centennial of Einstein’s Annus Mirabilus (“Miracle Year”) was celebrated as the “Year of Physics,” 2009 commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the invention of the astronomical telescope was celebrated as the “Year of Astronomy.” It is generally known that the German-Dutch lens maker Hans Lipperchey had received the first patent for…
Posted by Recently astronomers announced the discovery of the youngest black hole yet found, which we see as an object that’s roughly 30 years old. But the news created a bit of a stir, because the black hole lies in a galaxy that’s about 50 million light-years away. Understanding the controversy means knowing the definition of a…
A Google search for anything today should immediately alert you to the fact that the software giant is celebrating the 115th anniversary of the discovery of x-rays. The penetrating radiation—a very high-energy form of light—was first documented by German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895. His famed x-ray picture of his wife’s hand made the…
This month the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released its list of the 21 sites being added to the World Heritage list. Inclusion on the list is meant to “encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity,” according…
It’s been four years since the International Astronomical Union (IAU) ruled that Pluto is no longer a planet, and the subject remains almost as divisive as the political rumble over climate change. But it turns out that Pluto was creating kerfuffles almost from the moment it was discovered—even among world-reknowned composers. If [like me] you’re…
Aristotle was wrong—just ask Galileo’s ghost. The 17th-century Italian was on hand today to witness the official opening of the National Air and Space Museum’s Public Observatory, a new 22-foot (6.7-meter) dome housing a more than 40-year-old telescope. “Galileo” and David DeVorkin stargaze in front of the observatory’s dome. —Photograph by Eric Long/NASM, National Air…
If you [heart] space, you probably know by now that this Thursday, April 2, marks the start of 100 Hours of Astronomy. The event will feature live Web casts, sidewalk astronomy, a literal “Sun Day” for solar science, and scads of other public outreach activities around the world. Kicking off the whole shebang is the…
Those sneaky folks at Google. Even as waves of coverage come pouring forth about the newly launched oceans layer in Google Earth, a short NASA press release and no more than a few lines in a couple news articles note that, oh, yeah, and by the way, there’s a new 3-D Mars layer too. Wha?!?!?…
Building on the Hubble-Slipher smackdown from last week, a group of historians at the Royal Astronomical Society in the U.K. is aiming to give credit where it’s due to the man who drew the first maps of the moon using a telescope. Popular thought pegs Italian scientist Galileo Galilei with this feat—in fact, the International…
