Astronomy

General Astronomy

• 2010-Nov-27: Was there only one Big Bang? This is something that I have sometimes thought about, why should there have only been one Big Bang, perhaps smaller bangs are going off all the time (or at least every few billion years) and they are widely distributed through space? Maybe this is a better explanation of why we keep seeing objects further and further away. [9435]
• 2010-Jul-27: There might be a lot of Earth-like planets and the Kepler Space Telescope team might have already found some. [9329]
• 2010-Jun-22: Deformable liquid mirrors are becoming practical. [9231]
• 2010-Jun-22: The Pan-STARRS panoramic survey telescope is now running, this uses a 1.4 Giga pixel sensor to search the sky for asteroid and comet threats to earth. [9223]
• 2010-May-27: My Solar System is an orbit simulation which you can use to model your own ideas about the solar system. [9133]
• 2010-Mar-13: The Earth Impact Database collects information about impact craters on Earth. [9020]
• 2010-Mar-13: The orange dwarf star Gliese 710 is now expected to pass close to the outer edge of our solar system in about 1.5 million years. This might cause a disturbance in the Oort Cloud and sling new comets into the solar system. I wonder if this sort of thing has happened in the past? [9018]
• 2010-Jan-20: Faster than light currents (in which the particles don't more faster than light) may be the source of pulsar beams. [8932] [1]
• 2009-Jul-02: The orbit of the Sun around our galaxy is thought to have a connection to the periodic mass extinctions of species that occur about once every 62 million years. But there are others who think that it cannot be the cause of the 140 million year cycles in Earths climate. [8213]
• 2009-Jun-09: The top 10 images from Hubble. [8105]
• 2009-Mar-22: Finding twin-earths by studying transit events may require that multiple events be added together to boost the signal to noise ratio. Given that a twin-earth might have a year-long orbit this means it might take decades or even centuries to accumulate enough data. Sounds like we need bigger telescopes in space. [7760]
• 2009-Mar-20: A preview of the new WorldWideTelescope that one of Microsoft's research labs has been working on. This project takes images from telescopes all over the world and stitches them together to produce a full view of the night sky that can be explored interactively. Discussed here on Slashdot. Now this will be a great way to use a home theater system driven by a good sized PC. This has now been launched. In March'09 a web interface to this (see it here) was added. [5205]
• 2009-Feb-24: A simple DIY approach to image stabilizing binoculars. [7638]
• 2009-Feb-21: Fast geometric hashing is being applied to the problem of automated astrometry. [7617] [1]
• 2009-Feb-20: Astrometry.net is building a system that will allow one to provide an image and it will automatically figure out what part of the sky it is of and when it was taken. Discussed here on Slashdot. [7614]
• 2009-Feb-19: Galaxy Zoo is a project to get the public's assistance in classifying galaxies. Discussed here on Slashdot. With billions of galaxies is observable space, there are lots to go around! [7611]
• 2008-Dec-09: Mars in 3-D based on data from the Mars Orbiter's HiRISE system. [7328]
• 2008-Sep-06: Using Google Earth to track satellites in real-time. [6807]
• 2008-Sep-02: This study of planetary formation concludes that our solar system is special and that formation of similar systems would be less likely than previously thought. Then again, maybe they got a sign wrong or typed a zero instead of a nine somewhere. [6784]
• 2008-Aug-13: A new theory about the formation of gas giants calls for them to spiral inwards through their solar systems (this explains why so many solar systems are being observed with gas giants in near-sun orbits). If this is correct, then solar systems like ours might be quite rare as the gas giants would naturally tend to sweep up any smaller planets as their orbits gradually shrink. [6681]
• 2008-Jul-31: Saturn's large moon Titan has lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. [6612]
• 2008-Jul-28: Nukes may not be the best way to stop (or deflect) asteroids. [6592]
• 2008-Jun-27: Canada goes asteroid hunting: the NEOSSat is a mini satellite is being designed (total of 65kg) that will house a 6 inch telescope dedicated to searching out near Earth asteroids. [6449]
• 2008-Jun-15: pyephem is a package for performing astronomical calculations. This is now on Launchpad. [6325] [1] [2]
• 2008-Jun-04: The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope has completed an infrared survey of the Milky Way and produced a 400000x13000 pixel mosaic. [6277]
• 2008-May-02: It is now thought that a 30m Fresnel imager built out of foil with holes in it could be placed in orbit and provide sufficient resolution to detect Earth-sized planets at up to 30 light-years. [6023]
• 2008-Apr-16: For a science project a German schoolboy, Nico Marquardt, has revised NASA's Apophis asteroid orbit figures to follow what changes might happen if the asteroid hits a satellite when it pases near earth in 2029. This might make the chances of an earth-impact in 2036 much higher, up to 1 in 450. [5818] [1]
• 2008-Mar-30: AstroGrid is a virtual observatory system funded by the UK. There is a Python interface to this called astrogrid. [5358] [1]
• 2008-Mar-16: Google's new Google Sky (discussed here on Slashdot) is a pretty neat extension of the Google Maps concept to the astronomical sky view problem. [5289] [1]
• 2008-Jan-06: The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project is getting some funding from the Charles Simonyi Fund and Bill Gates. The LSST is designed to survey the entire visible sky once a week which will help with the discovery of asteroids and rapid onset events like supernovas. [4583]
• 2007-Dec-14: Digital Astrophotography by Stefan Seip, ISBN: 978-1933952161. Is a book the discusses the world of digital astrophotography. [4425]
• The Perseid meteor shower. [5914]
• 18-Aug-02 will bring asteroid 2002 NY40 near enough to earth to see with binoculars. [5904]
• Planetarium (also called Pilot Planets) which is shareware, its more polished than AstroInfo and also has a night vision mode. I run a copy of this on my Sony SJ30 (which has a colour hi-res display) and the night vision mode (which sets the display to use shades of red) works very nicely (you just use the screen's brightness control to set the level that's right for you). I have used this in Rome (Italy), Calgary (Canada) and Kauai (Hawaii) (but only for naked-eye observing) so I'm confident the corrections for observing position and time zone work! Very nice software. By the way, Hawaii has great skys for naked eye observing, they are very clear and there is little light pollution to worry about. [2376]
• AstroInfo which is freeware and has a night vision mode [2375]
• A very powerful 5 millisecond blast that occurred Aug 21, 2001 is still puzzling astronomers. [2374]
• Linking several telescopes around the earth to create a single large one. I wonder when amateurs will be doing this with thousands of scopes at once? [2373]
• The Sega Homestar Pro planetarium, view the sky without worrying about the weather. [2372]
• The alpha Aurigids, a rather rare meteor shower may appear again 1-Sept-2007 [2371]
• Discussion of using nuclear warheads to deflect near earth asteroids. [2370]
• An extrasolar planet orbiting the star Gliese 581 has been found and it appears to be a rock rather than a gas giant and it is orbiting in the inhabitable band [2369]
• The replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope will be launched in 2013 and will be 3 times the diameter, it will be stationed at Lagrange point 2. It will be called the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). [2368]
• Slashdot discusses the north pole of Saturn and its a large hexagonal cloud structure [2367]
• The asteroid Apophis (also known as 2004 MN4) may make a very close pass with Earth in April 2036. The NEO (Near Earth Object Program) risk page shows this. As pointed out in the follow up, if this hits Earth it means we don't have to worry about the UNIX year 2038 clock bug - one that affects a lot of dedicated control systems too. [2366]
• It has been predicted that the Aurigids may produce a Meteor Storm on 1-Sept-2007 [2365]
• Celestia, planetarium software that allows you to travel through the stars [2364]
• Your Sky, another planetarium program [2363]
• Stellarium, open source planetarium software [2362]
• 365 Days of SkyWatching, a free e-book, has been updated for 2007. [2361]
• Major asteroid impacts may be much more common than is typically thought, perhaps as often as once every thousand years. [2360]
• A home made mirror grinding machine [2359]
• It looks like dark matter exists [2358]
• Could the universe by 158 billion light years wide, while still only 13.7 billion years old? It appears this could happen if space expands. [2357]
• The white dwarf, RS Ophiuchi (in Libra), is thought to be close to becoming a type 1a supernova. [2356]
• A new wide angle telescope in Chile, based on a 3 giga-pixel sensor, is going to make it possible to take a complete picture of the night sky every three nights, this should help in the search for more asteroids [2355]
• Apogee Inc makes some astro-binoculars, including a pair with 90 degree prisims for more comfortable viewing [2354]
• Google Mars lets you explore the Martian landscape, make sure you look at the details revealed by the infra-red data, such as this spaghetti or this skull. [2353]
• The Celestron Sky Scout (introduced in Mar'06) will point out the stars where ever you are. [2352]
• Top 10 list of potentially inhabitable star systems [2351]
• Gravitational micro lensing used to discover a planet 25000 light years away [2350]
• 365 Nights of Skywatching, a free PDF book (for 2006) [2349]
• Building an aluminum binocular mount which allows people of different heights to view the same object (without having to re-aim) and includes a counter weight to balance the binoculars [2348]
• Phased arrays for use in transmitting radio signals [2347]
• The amazing resolving power of the Keck Interferometer [2346]
• The European Space Agency has selected its target for an asteroid deflection test [2345]
• A good write up on Julian Day numbers, which are used by astronomers and have a zero date of -4712-01-01 at noon GMT. [2344]
• A plastic space ship might be good for a trip to mars [2343]
• Build your own Dobsonian telescope [2342]
• The Perseids, a very good meteor shower in early August. [2341]
• The ultimate recliner chair for the casual night sky observer, a better look here [2340]
• More educational materials on orbital mechanics and rocket systems [2339]
• The mathematics of a trip to mars, and orbital mechanics [2338]
• A Slashdot book review of Astronomy Hacks - Tips & Tools for Observing the Night Sky, by Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, ISBN 0596100604 [2337]
• The first extra-solar planet's image has been confirmed [2336]
• An Einstein Ring, where the gravity of one galaxy bends light to produce a lens through which a more distant galaxy may be observed [2335]
• Asteroid 2004 MN4 may hit the earth in 2029 or later. [2334]
• Could a neutron star collision have lead to a mass extinction event? [2333]
• A star flung out of the galaxy [2332]
• Searching for gravity waves [2331]
• The brightest flash ever observed, and here [2330]
• A galaxy without any stars? [2329]
• The University of Arizona's large binocular telescope will have 10 times the resolution of Hubble [2328]
• The global internet telescope produces amazing resolution [2327]
• A Julian date calculator, this is based on an algorithm from Astronomical Formulae for Calculators, by Jean Meeus, ISBN: 0943396018. Published by Willmann-Bell who appear to specialize in astronomical tomes. [2326]
• Backyard Astornomy the web site for The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, Alan Dyer, ISBN 1-55209-507-X [2325]
• Building a Folded Newtonian Telescope [2324]
• keoz.com has an Astronomy Portal with lots of links [2323]
• Here's a page with an interesting way of mounting binoculars for sky viewing [2322]
• Binoculars from Celestron [2321]
• Travel through space using the gravity highways [2320]
• Heavens Above has a good searchable database for the long/latt coordinates cities around the globe [2319]
• The National Virtual Observatory, view the stars from your web browser [2318]
• The Leonids are back and 2002 is supposed to bring a very good show peaking on Nov 19. Here's more info from slashdot. The Leonids may be putting on a good show in 2006 in eastern North America.
  [2317]
• The Galileo probe keeps on running [2316]
• astronomy with a web cam as the digitizer [2315]
• The Hubble Heritage archive [2314]

Astronomy Software for the Palm Pilot

• AstroInfo which is freeware and has a night vision mode [2375]
• Planetarium (also called Pilot Planets) which is shareware, its more polished than AstroInfo and also has a night vision mode. I run a copy of this on my Sony SJ30 (which has a colour hi-res display) and the night vision mode (which sets the display to use shades of red) works very nicely (you just use the screen's brightness control to set the level that's right for you). I have used this in Rome (Italy), Calgary (Canada) and Kauai (Hawaii) (but only for naked-eye observing) so I'm confident the corrections for observing position and time zone work! Very nice software. By the way, Hawaii has great skys for naked eye observing, they are very clear and there is little light pollution to worry about. [2376]