Astronomy

NASA is giving everyone the opportunity to use the world’s most celebrated telescope to explore the heavens and boldly look where the Hubble Space Telescope has never looked before. Public can vote for one of six astronomical objects for Hubble to observe in honor of the International Year of Astronomy. The options, which Hubble has not [...]

This color composite image of Centaurus A reveals the lobes and jets emanating from the active galaxy’s central black hole. Centaurus A is our nearest giant galaxy, at a distance of about 13 million light-years in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It is an elliptical galaxy, currently merging with a companion spiral galaxy, resulting in [...]

Mars, it seems, is not quite dead. A team of observers has found methane in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. This finding proves either that Mars has (or once had) life — or that the planet’s interior occasionally burps. By carefully observing the planet throughout several Mars years with NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility and the W.M. Keck [...]

This year, a staggering 135 nations are collaborating to bring the universe closer to Earth. The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) has been launched by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under the theme, “The Universe, yours to discover.” The IYA2009 is a global celebration of [...]

The first solar eclipse of 2009 will took place on January 26, 2009. Partial phases of the eclipse are visible primarily from southern third of Africa, Madagascar, Australia (except Tasmania), southeast India, Southeast Asia and Indonesia. The annular path begins in the South Atlantic at 06:06 UT when the Moon’s antumbral shadow meets Earth and forms [...]