Astronomy Online

Astronomy 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 astronomy news articles, media reports as well as on web sites such as those maintained by astronomy magazines and agencies like NASA. Let’s look at some of the more interesting tidbits.

Astronomy magazine is a great source of current 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.

Astronomy news has also covered the discovery of a unique aurora on Saturn.  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 auroras are the result of a closed system of charged particles in Jupiter’s own magnetic fields.  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 recent astronomy news. Contact was reestablished with a roving probe on Mars.  The culprit was a big dust storm.  But the Rover named Spirit recovered from a near catastrophic low power period.  With the dust blocking sunlight from its solar panels, the fear was that it would shut down completely and never recover.  However, the rover woke up so it’s business as usual.

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.

There could be no bigger astronomy news than actual contact with intelligence.