Astronomy Online

Archive for June, 2009

For 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.

  Astronomy fun facts about our average sized sun’s size.  As average as it is it accounts for about 98% of all the matter in the solar system.  Everything else, counting the earth and all the planets, is a tiny 2%.  It would take about 100 Earths to make it across this average sun.  The sun blows its solar wind out to 50 times the distance between the star and our earth.

Shall we turn to some astronomy fun facts that don’t have to do with the sun?  How about the moon?  It’s the only other space object, besides the earth, over which man has walked.  One fellow went there and stayed.  Dr. Eugene Shoemaker didn’t make the cut for astronauts.  After his death he was cremated and his ashes scattered over the moon by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft in 1999.

There are more astronomy fun facts about the moon. It’s the site of what may become the oldest footprint. Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” left a print in the moon dust that will like still be there in 10 million years. Many people, in fact about 13% of those asked in 1988, still believe the moon is made of cheese. And finally the suits worn by the moon walking astronauts weighed 180 pounds on Earth but only 30 pounds on the moon. Talk about an instant diet.

Fun facts about astronomy aren’t limited to our close neighbors. The stars we see are a gateway to the past.  It can take millions of years foe light from some stars to reach us.  Some of those stars you see may really be images of stars a million years old that aren’t even there in the present.  There are over 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe.  That’s a 1 followed by 22 zeros.  The number is staggering.

Astronomy fun facts can go on forever. But this article can’t. So get out there and learn about astronomy.

The liquid found on Saturn’s moon, Titan makes one of the most exciting and challenging discoveries of our century, since besides Earth, this is the second solar body with liquid on the surface in the system. The lake-like formations contain liquid hydrocarbons, most probably ethane according to NASA press release. Cassini spacecraft was the probe to send hundreds of pictures of Saturn and its satellites in its forty close flybys in the area. According to theories, there could be real oceans of methane, ethane and various other hydrocarbons; the dark color of the liquid found on Saturns moon could only point to these components of crude oil. Nevertheless, the liquid form was not confirmed until a probe reached the surface of Titan in January 2005.

The depth of these pools or lakes of liquid found on Saturn’s satellite could be a few or hundreds of feet deep. Infrared scanning by Cassini spacecraft allowed an approximation of the features. Yet, the main question remains as whether this planet can support life or not. Another Saturn moon, Enceladus, revealed cold water geysers issuing from liquid reservoirs lying a little below the frozen soil. Could such discoveries start a new era in the planetary exploration programs? Though life is difficult to imagine in the cold conditions of this icy world, right beneath the surface of Enceladus, all the premises indicate that life is more than possible.

This is the reason why the liquid found on Saturn’s Enceladus set the course for new investigations for life in the solar system. Plus, the other prerequisite for life existence on Enceladus, organic materials, is also met: there is methane, ethane, carbon dioxide and several others. Last but not least, near the thermal vents, deep down in Saturn’s center, the temperature could also create a favorable environment for the appearance and development of life forms.

The liquid found on Saturn’s moons makes the most exciting discovery in the last twenty five years, since volcanic activity was identified on one of Jupiter’s satellites. Though the source of the water geysers could not be spotted by the camera of the spacecraft the water and ice sprays were very visible in the sunlight, in the polar region of Enceladus. An identical alternation of hot and icy patterns specific to commets is present in this Enceladus combination of hot water and icy particles. Then, there must be liquid water under the surface!

We have a special feeling toward the other planets that circle our sun. Perhaps it’s all the science fiction stories about visiting the moon, Mars and other planets. But we like to consider those planets that make up what we call “the solar system.” that do what our planet does but do it extremely differently indeed.

The planets of our solar system have taken on personalities and legendary appeal in our literature and humanities. It is simple to find artists who render their vision of the planets that make up our society of planets close to our sun. The names of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all from our cultural past being gods from Greek and Roman mythology. But the solar system isn’t just made of these planets. The solar system is an extremely busy place indeed.

In 2006, there had been rather a lot of debate as scholars and astronomers agreed to downgrade Pluto and remove its standing as a planet. So you have to wonder, what’s it that makes something a planet and what happened to Pluto? It did not just depart so it must be out there. A planet, by scientific definition is any object in orbit around a sun, that has formed into some type of round object is a planet as long as it has cleared away any other orbiting items around it. By cleared away, that doesn’t mean it is wrecked all space waste For instance, our planet has not “cleared away” the moon but it is caught it into maturity orbit so we classify as a planet. That’s a relief huh?

There are a lot of objects bobbing around in our solar system other than the planets we know of. It’s an interesting piece of trivialities that in addition to the planets there are 165 moons orbiting around those nine planets. Some of those moons are so advanced that some scientists have suspected that they might have supported life at some point.

In addition to the regular planets and moons, there are dwarf planets, asteroid belts and routine visits by comets that create a ton of traffic in our cosmic corner of the universe. The two known dwarf planets that exist on the outer edge of our solar system are Eries and Ceres. So when Pluto’s status was changed to be removed from the list of planets, it simply joined those 2 bodies as dwarf planets but still a solid citizen of the community of astronomical bodies around our sun.

In addition to these larger bodies, there is an asteroid belt that exists between Mars and Jupiter that almost all of the asteroids that we see in our night sky come from. There is another belt of huge objects further out called the Kuiper belt as well as a “bubble” in space called a heliopause and there’s a suspected extra belt outside the known solar system called the Oort belt that we think is the origin of a ton of large asteroids and comets that frequent our solar system and come to orbit our sun.

As fascinating as these many astronomical bodies who are our neighbors in space is the origin of our solar system. We’ve to easy terms to easy terms to understand the terms but we know that the solar system and the solar system and the universe was one of great bodies of gas and clouds of matter eventually cooling and heating, exploding and spinning off stars and other massive space giants that became more stars, galaxies and solar systems. It was from this haphazard activity that our sun separated from the gasses and carried with it the material that became our solar system. The gravity of the sun caught acceptable matter that it started to go through the process of forming, cooling, exploding and separating. This is what happened as the planets all went through he same process eventually establishing stable orbits and small objects falling into orbit around them.

When you think about how strong and beyond control this process is, it’s dazzling to step back and see the great thing about the organization of our solar system today. The more detail you learn about the history of our solar system, the more you’ll enjoy your explorations of the planets with your telescope. That that discovery is part of the fun of astronomy.

Visit planet-facts.com for more information about planets and our solar system. Along the way, check out facts about Uranus.

If you’ve got a zeal for star gazing, telescopes, the Hubble and the universe and this thing we call “astronomy”, you are far from alone. Naturally, we know that astronomy is a very respected science which has produced some of the most superb achievements of the twentieth century. On top of that, it’s a thriving area of obsession and one of the most exciting hobby areas going with thousands of astronomy clubs and thousands of beginner astronomers watching the stars consistently just like we do.

But were you know that astronomy is an example of the oldest and most respected sciences of them all? As far back as before the times of Christ, the smart and thinking folk of societies of the time were looking at the stars and finding methods to track and chart them. We who love the hobby of astronomy can chart a proud history of astronomers that tracks across millennia and thru just about each culture in civilization. So for the sake of having some really good minutiae to toss around at astronomy club the week after next, let’s highlight some of the big moments in the history of astronomy.

For many centuries the science of astronomy was not distinct from the practice of astrology. For clearness, astronomy is the study of the stars, planets, and the universe with a clearly scientific approach. Astrology is the study of the zodiac signs and how they influence our expansion, our personalities and our daily lives. In modern times, we as people of science discount the astrological side and concentrate on the astronomy of the heavens. But they were one study for millennia before the age of science made them separate.

There is historical evidence that astronomy was a recognized science as far back as the Babylonian civilization centuries before Christ. But the study of the stars wasn’t restricted to one country. There were similar movements going on in China, India, and traditional Egypt and all over the Arabian Peninsula. The integration of astronomy and religion is so prevalent that we see it in the Christmas story in which the Magi, Zoroastrian church possibly from the equivalent of ancient Syria, followed a star to the Christ kid. These astronomers were also astrologers and it was that mixture that lead them to join this important event.

The first book on astronomy was written by Ptolemy during the Greek empire. Since that historic publication, the who’s who list of great astronomers charts a trail right through the middle of modern science including Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Sir Issac Newton, Jung, Michelangelo, Benjamin Franklin and more not long ago even Einstein and Stephen Hawkings would join that noble list. It seemed that from the renaissance on to this day, virtually any man or lady intellect experimented in astronomy at least rather and it has always been considered an indication of the learned to know about the universe and things astronomical.

Astronomy has had an effect on so many areas of our lives that we actually don’t recognize. Many words in our language had their roots in astronomy such as:

*    Influenza which comes from the Latin root word for influence. This reflects an early belief that the moon and stars may influence health and cause or cure disease.

* Disaster which comes from the Latin for “bad star”.

* Lunatic that has the root word “Luna” in it which is the Latin word for moon. This highlights the long held belief that is even prevalent today that irrational behavior and even wild and deadly things happen during a full moon.

Astronomy and its interrelationship with astrology has influenced culture, education and religion to a particularly massive extent over the centuries. In the English language, the first two days or our week, Sun. and Monday are a reference to astronomy as their literal interpretations would be “The Day of the Sun” and “The Day of the Moon.”

So if you have found astronomy becoming a consuming passion in your thoughts and what fascinates you about the world we live in, you are in great company as this area of study has been a major part of culture and thought virtually since the dawn of civilization. And it will continue to fascinate mankind for as long as those beautiful stars shine over our heads.

To learn more about the nine planets in the solar system, visit planet-facts.com. Also, make sure to take a look at facts about the solar system.

The one thing we love the most in the world of astronomy is a good poser. And if there was ever a mysterious and yet very powerful force of nature that we witness in the night skies, it’s the coming of the mighty comet.

The arrival of a comet within view of Earth is an event of global importance. Witness the huge media attention that the Haley or Hale-Bopp have had when they have come within of these superb space objects is simultaneously frightening and shock provoking.

Above all, it is during these comet viewings that the astronomer comes out in all of us. But what is a comet? Where did it come from? And how does it get that wonderful tail?

We should never confuse comets with asteroids. Asteroids are small space rocks that come from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. While still quite surprising to see, they diminish in comparison to the arriving of a comet. Asteroids also have received substantial study by the systematic community.

Not as much is known about comets. As a rule, comets are considerably larger than asteroids. The composition of a comet is a mixture of nebulous, gasses, ice, dust and space waste. One scientist called the composition of a comet as similar to a “dirty snowball” as the composition is so various and changeable. The center or nucleus of a comet is generally quiet solid but the “snowball” materials often create a “cloud” around that nucleus that will become quite giant and that extends at great lengths behind the comet as it moves through space. That trailing plume is what makes up the comet’s magnificent tail that makes it so exciting to observe when a comet comes inside view of Earth.

The origins of comets is similarly mysterious. There are a number of theories about where they come from but it is clear that they come from outside our solar system, somewhere in deep space. Some have speculated they are fragments left over from the organization of planets that get loose from whatever gravitational pull and are sent flying across space to ultimately get caught up in the gravity of our sun bringing them into our solar system.

Another theory is they come from a gaseous cloud called the Oort cloud which is cooling out there after the organization gaseous cloud called the sun. As this space debris cools, it is getting arranged into one body which then gathers acceptable mass to be attracted into the gravity of our solar system turning into a fast moving comet plunging toward our sun. However, because of the robust gravitational orbits of the various solar system, the comet does not always right away collide with the sun and often takes on an orbit of its own.

The life expectancy of comets varies widely. Scientists refer to solar system, the comet that is expected to burn out or impact the sun within 2 hundred years as a brief period comet whereas a long period comet has a life expectancy of over two hundred years. That may appear to us as earth dwellers but re stars and planets, this as a brief period comet while a space object indeed.

Scientists across the world have put together some pretty inspiring probes to find out more about long to aid our knowledge of these visitors from beyond. In 1985, for instance, the United States put a probe into the trail of the comet Giacobini-Zinner which passed through the comets tail gathering amazing systematic data about comets. Then in 1986, an international collation of scientists managed to launch a probe that was ready to fly close to Haley’s comet as it passed near Earth Put a probe into the research.

While science fiction writers and tabloid papers like to alarm us with the possibility of a comet impacting the earth, scientists who understand the orbits of comets and what changes their paths probe us this is improbable. That is good because some comets reach sizes that are the size of a planet so that impact would be devastating. For now, we can enjoy the fun of seeing comets make their rare visits to our night sky and marvel earth, scientists who understand the spectacular shows that these visitors from beyond put on when they are visible in the cosmos.

What is the biggest known planet in our galaxy? Visit planet-facts.com to compare the nine planets in our solar system. You might also want to take a look at the planet Pluto.