Astronomy

Celebrating fourth anniversary of the launch of Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA released newly expanded image of the Helix nebula. This spectacular object, a dying star unraveling into space, is a favorite of amateur and professional astronomers alike. Spitzer has mapped the expansive outer structure of the six-light-year-wide nebula, and probed the inner region around the […]

Popularity: 37%

The first actual inventor and constructor of an achromatic telescope was Chester Moor Hall, who was not in trade, and did not patent it. Towards the close of the eighteenth century a Swiss named Guinand at last succeeded in producing larger flint-glass discs free from striate. Frauenhofer, of Munich, took him up in 1805, and […]

Popularity: 69%

To date, telescope is the main equipment booth for amateur and professional astronomers to observe remote objects in the sky. It begin with wonderful optical experiments by Roger Bacon (who died in 1292), and in the sixteenth century by Digges, Baptista Porta, and Antonio de Dominis, who have led some to suppose that they invented […]

Popularity: 33%

If you are Google Earth’s user and also stargazer, here is some good news for you. Google Earth 4.2 now launched with built in sky map feature. This ad-on, named Google Sky, can bring the view from Earth of the Sky on your monitor.
Imagery for the system came from six research institutions including the […]

Popularity: 38%

Actually, solar eclipse and lunar eclipse occur at the same frequent on any given period. Total solar eclipses are very rare events for any given place on Earth because totality is only seen where the Moon’s umbra touches the Earth’s surface, thus it only covering certain relatively small area of the world. On the other […]

Popularity: 33%

This picture shows a nebula called The Cone Nebula. It lies in the southern part of NGC 2264, the Christmas tree cluster, which is a rich region with much nebulosity and many interesting objects. The Cone Nebula is actually an intense region of starbirth, a chaotic place where new stars are born inside a natal […]

Popularity: 30%

This beautiful picture shows spiral galaxy M81, tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a “birds-eye view” of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies.
M81 may be undergoing a surge of […]

Popularity: 31%

An interesting astronomy event on this month is total lunar eclipse, that will takes place on August 28, 2007. According to NASA Eclipse Home Page, the penumbral phase begins at about 07:54 UT, but most observers will not be able to visually detect the shadow until about 08:30 UT. A timetable for the major phases […]

Popularity: 35%

What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning? Well, actually you would not like this situation. Fortunately, the probability for such an event is practically zero in the next few billion years. Let’s see. If the Earth stopped spinning suddenly, the atmosphere would still be in motion with the Earth’s original 1100 mile per hour […]

Popularity: 64%

Astronomers spent mostly of his/her time with the telescope.
This is generally untrue. Contrary to popular belief, astronomers don’t spend most of their time using telescopes. Typically, they only use telescopes for a few nights a year. In order to make the most of the limited telescope time, astronomers spend weeks preparing observing runs. This includes […]

Popularity: 32%