Spectacular planetary 'huddle' to start tonight
Associated Press Nov 27, 08 12:25 PM CST
(Newser)
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Americans looking at the night sky this weekend will be able to see the three brightest celestial bodies come together for a Thanksgiving reunion, the AP reports. Jupiter and Venus will move closer and appear to be just a finger's width apart by Sunday. By Monday, the crescent moon will appear right next to them, forming a triangle of light not to be seen again until 2052.
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DNA proves elderly man buried in Poland is father of astronomy
Discover Nov 20, 08 6:20 PM CST
(Newser)
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More than 400 years after Copernicus determined man's place in the universe, scientists returned the favor by pinpointing his grave in an old Polish cathedral. Using DNA from a tooth and a bone, scientists identified a 70-year-old man buried in an unmarked grave as the astronomer who determined that the Earth revolves around the sun, and not vice versa, Discover reports.
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Three-planet, one-planet systems caught on camera
Space.com Nov 13, 08 3:55 PM CST
(Newser)
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Scientists have photographed planets outside our solar system for the first time, Space.com reports. One team captured images of a three-planet system orbiting a star in the Pegasus constellation, while another group snapped a planet rotating around the star Fomalhaut. The planets can't support life or little green men, but one astronomer says the photos are “a crucial step on the road to the ultimate detection of another Earth."
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Space.com Oct 27, 08 6:45 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A nearby solar system looks a lot like ours, complete with newly identified asteroid belts, gas giants, and a similarly sized sun, Space.com reports. The star at the center of the system is visible without magnification, and scientists say they can infer the presence of planets in a zone whose conditions would be hospitable to life. "This system probably looks a lot like ours did when life first took root on Earth," a researcher tells McClatchy.
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Survey used red shift to find relative distances of heavenly bodies
Los Angeles Times Oct 15, 08 5:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Telescope photographs of the night sky are compelling, but it’s hard to get a feel for the heavens when you’re Earthbound. The recently completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey can help: It is a 3-D map of the area within 2 billion light years of Earth that allows the user to move through space as if by flying saucer, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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Muslim holy month starts on sighting of crescent moon
Washington Post Aug 31, 08 6:29 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Telescopes are tilted skyward throughout the Muslim world tonight, hunting for the first glimpse of a crescent moon that signals the start of Ramadan. In an age-old mix of science and religion, astronomers and clerics gather each year to monitor the moon and announce the beginning of Islam’s holiest month. The 4 weeks of fasting and celebration will likely begin tomorrow, the Washington Post reports.
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Heretic remains a touchy subject in Catholic Church
Wall Street Journal Aug 28, 08 12:58 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Galileo Galilei is riling the Catholic church yet again, the Wall Street Journal reports, as an anonymous donor has offered to pay to erect a statue in the Vatican of Catholicism’s most famous heretic. But though the church has come around on science, Galileo remains a touchy subject. He’s “like a Mexican soap opera,” said one Vatican official. “It never ends.”
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Thousands flock to Russia for rare solar spectacle despite threat of rain
Guardian (UK) Jul 31, 08 11:01 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Prospects of rare total solar eclipse have drawn thousands of sky-watchers to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, where the moon’s passage between the earth and sun will create 140 seconds of darkness at 5:45 pm local time today. Hotels in the city—Russia’s third-largest—are fully booked, reports the Guardian. US viewers, meanwhile, won't be able to see a full eclipse, but residents of the Northeast may see a partial one at sunrise today.
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Finding could help scientists predict storms that take out satellites
Wired Jul 24, 08 7:01 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what causes the dazzling northern lights to seemingly dance across the sky, Wired reports. The light show, also known as aurora borealis, is triggered by explosions of magnetic energy about 80,000 miles away. The findings—drawn from five NASA satellites working in tandem with ground observers—might help scientists better predict geomagnetic storms that take out satellites.
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Smaller than Pluto, Makemake is covered in frozen methane
USA Today Jul 22, 08 10:17 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The neighborhood of the solar system beyond Neptune has a new resident—or rather, an old resident with a new name. The dwarf planet originally dubbed Easterbunny will now be known as Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh), reports USA Today.
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Hit the right spot and see 93M miles into the distance
Wired Jul 12, 08 9:28 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Thousands of people will trek to the hinterlands on August 1 just to stand in the dark for three minutes. The reason: a total solar eclipse is set to sweep over a path spanning from China to Canada. Wired clues would-be eclipse chasers in on ways to maximize each sunless second. Maximum shadow time: This year the Russian city of Nadym will see the longest total eclipse, set to click in at 2 minutes, 27 seconds. Don't waste your time traveling to a partial eclipse.
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OPINION
Rocky, Earth-like orbs appear to be out there; might we indeed have company?
New York Times Jun 24, 08 1:43 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The discovery, announced last week, that rocky, Earth-sized planets appear to be circling sun-sized stars in our own galaxy should thrill the closet Star Trek geek in all of us, Natalie Angier writes in the New York Times. "If planets abound, scientists suspect that life abounds, too, at least of the microbial kind," she writes—exciting stuff, given previous news of unfriendly gas giants.
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Experts tie Odysseus' return to Ithaca with
real eclipse in 1178
New York Times Jun 24, 08 9:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Homer's Odyssey is 2,700 years old, and the events it describes happened centuries earlier. But two scientists claim in a new paper that they've traced one line in the epic poem—a possible reference to an eclipse—to a real astronomical event. Classicists might take issue, writes the New York Times , but the astronomers say that Odysseus' return to Ithaca coincided with a solar eclipse on April 16, 1178 BC.
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Solstice makes heavenly body look bigger tonight, tomorrow—but it's an illusion
LiveScience Jun 17, 08 4:59 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Northern Hemisphere residents, check out the night sky tomorrow for an extra-large-looking moon. The moon illusion—a trick our brain plays on us—is enhanced by the summer solstice, and when Earth's satellite rises close to the horizon, conditions are perfect, LiveScience notes.
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