(This post has been edited slightly from the original to include the MESSENGER mission to Mercury and to correct a misstatement about galactic black holes.) As the end of calendar year 2011 approaches, I thought my readers might enjoy a look…
Year: 2011
Astronomy in 2011
Tagged with: black holes, Dawn, Exoplanets, Kepler, Mars, SN 2011fe, space launch system, space shuttle, spaceship two, Vesta
Target: Earth!
One of the best arguments, perhaps THE best, for a human presence in space is the certainty that there will someday be a civilization-killing asteroid or comet headed our way. It has happened in the past—just ask the dinosaurs—and it…
Supernova!
There is a reason why most of the major observatories in the U.S. are west of the Mississippi River. The clouds and rain we have had in Virginia for the last several weeks have reduced our view of the heavens…
Asteroid 2010 TK7
Near-Earth Objects Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are of interest to us for several reasons. One is a matter of safety: if an asteroid or comet were to impact the Earth, the consequences could range from local damage to global catastrophe, depending…
Pluto Has A New Moon
…which now makes four and counting. The new discovery comes via an eight-minute exposure (long in this context) of Pluto and its environs with the Hubble Space Telescope. Here is an image that may be a little different from what…
Enjoy Watching!
Traveling to the southern hemisphere is a treat for anyone, but for astronomy enthusiasts, it holds a special appeal. The center of the Milky Way, hidden in near-horizon murk for those of us in the northern hemisphere, shifts to an…
Tagged with: Milky Way
Planets In The Morning
One of the more pleasing aspects of astronomy is the extent to which it is utterly predictable. The North Star will never appear in the southern sky, the Southern Cross will never be visible from Virginia, and if Orion is…
If You Are REALLY Into Astronomy…
…then I have the site for you. Astrobites (http://astrobites.com/) is the “astrophysics reader’s digest”, a role which it fills admirably. (Full disclosure: one of the writers for the site is the daughter of a friend and professional colleague.) Astrophysics graduate…
Ceres, Vesta and Dawn
On the very first day of the nineteenth century, January 1, 1801, a moving star-like object was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in Sicily. Initially thought to be a comet and then a new planet, Ceres was eventually recognized as the…
Do Other Worlds Mean Other Life?
Maybe. How’s that for a definitive answer? New planets around stars other than our sun (exoplanets) continue to be discovered almost weekly. If we include the 1200 or so from the last Kepler mission data release (see this earlier post),…
Top