Astronomy | Answers in Genesis

It is not commonly known that many of the Bibles statements about astronomy went against the generally accepted teachings of the time. Modern science, however, has confirmed what the Bible has taught. As in all things, the Bible is absolutely correct when it teaches about the universe.

Some professing Christians accept the claim that God used naturalistic processes, including the big bang, to create the universe. Unfortunately, such views deny what the Creator Himself has said about the creation of the universe.

There are many problems with the naturalistic explanations of the formation of our solar system. Because the naturalistic ideas are not based on the foundation of Gods perfect Word, they fall short. Will you trust Gods Word or mans reasoning when it comes to the formation of the solar system?

Creationists have good models accounting for why we see distant starlight so soon after creationmodels that avoid problematic atheistic assumptions (e.g., the Copernican principle) and explain the divine origin of the cosmos.

Christians should uphold the highest standards of excellence in their science, questioning all quirky claims and avoiding hasty conclusions, such as the examples described in this article.

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Astronomy | Answers in Genesis

Space & Astronomy news – Technology Org

Three Earth-Sized Planets Found Orbiting a Tiny Nearby Star

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An international team of astronomers, including UC San Diego astrophysicists, has discovered three Earth-sized planets orbiting near the

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Tailless Manx comet from Oort Cloud brings clues about the origin of the Solar System In a paper

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This striking NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the galaxy UGC 477, located just over 110 million light-years

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This newest shaded relief view of the region surrounding the left side of Plutos heart-shaped feature informally

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A powerful combination of observations and computer simulations is giving new clues to how the moon got its

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A biological detection system developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists that has found more than a

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Scientists are getting closer to finding worlds that resemble our own blue marble of a planet. NASAs Kepler

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Nearly 10 billion years ago, the black hole at the center of a galaxy known as PKS B1424-418

An international team of astronomers, including UC San Diego astrophysicists, has discovered three Earth-sized planets orbiting near the

Tailless Manx comet from Oort Cloud brings clues about the origin of the Solar System In a paper

A powerful combination of observations and computer simulations is giving new clues to how the moon got its

Europes latest navigation satellites, launched last December, have been officially commissioned into the Galileo constellation, and are now

53,410 science & technology articles

What if a map of the brain could help us decode peoples inner thoughts? UC Berkeley scientistshave taken

Scientists are getting closer to finding worlds that resemble our own blue marble of a planet. NASAs Kepler

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Space & Astronomy news - Technology Org

New Jersey Department of State – NJ State Museum

Contact The NJ State Museum

Museum & Auditorium Galleries: 205 West State Street Trenton, NJ

Tel: (609) 292-6464 (recorded message) Email: Feedback@sos.nj.gov

Astronaut Edwin Buzz Aldrin, a native of Montclair, New Jersey, was the second man to stand on the surface of the moon. The visor in his helmet shows a reflection of Astronaut Neil Armstrong (first man on the moon), taking this picture as well as one footpad of the Lunar Module Eagle and the United States flag planted next to it.

The largest planetarium in New Jersey, it seats 150 visitors in specially-designed reclining seats that transport an audience to any astronomical destination.

Now featuring state-of-the-art Full DomeVideo, visitors will feel the sensation of zooming through the Solar System and beyond. The Planetarium offers something for everyone; with both traditional sky and laser programs, it is the only planetarium of its kind in New Jersey.

Made possible by the generous support of the Prudential Foundation.

General Admission: $7 adult; $5 child (twelve & under) Groups of 15 or more: $5 per person. Camps and birthday parties welcome. For more information, call (609) 292-6464.

PLEASE NOTE: Planetarium shows are offered to the public on Weekends only during the school year. Weekday shows are held by reservation for school or community groups. During the summer months, winter break, and spring break there are special weekday shows offered to the public. Please check the current schedule for detailed public showtimes.

Saturday and Sunday - January 9 through April 10, 2016

One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure begins on Sesame Street when Elmo's friend, Hu Hu Zhu, visits from China. Big Bird, Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu take viewers on an exciting discovery of the sun, moon, and stars. Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu then take an imaginary trip to the Moon where they learn that the Moon is a very different place from the Earth.

Recommended for ages 3-6 with adults.

A mysterious M sends the intrepid Jack and Annie on a fun-filled journey to discover the secrets of the Sun, Moon, planets, and more. Aligned with early elementary information skills learning objectives, this beautifully-produced show is a winner with Magic Tree House book series fans of all ages and school audiences.

Suitable for families with young children preschool and up.

Asteroid: Mission Extreme takes audiences on an epic journey to discover how asteroids are both a danger and an opportunity. The danger lies in the possibility of a cataclysmic collision with Earth; the opportunity is the fascinating idea that asteroids could be stepping stones to other worlds. Explore what it would take for astronauts to reach an asteroid and how such an adventure could benefit humankind.

Suitable for general audiences

The latest laser art and music come together in a sensational, eye-popping show that will have your heart thumping and your feet tapping! Our newest show features the music of sizzling stars, both past and present, choreographed in brilliant laser light. Our laser system illuminates the full dome in millions of dazzling colors, floating beams for an immersive audio-visual experience thats fun for the entire family!

Special Weekday Spring Break Presentations: March 29, 30, 31, and April 1, 2016

Shows and times are subject to change.

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New Jersey Department of State - NJ State Museum

HobbySpace – Astronomy

Astronomy is obviously the oldest and most popular of space hobbies. Even the occasional backyard skywatching by unaided eye or a small telescope can be a marvelous experience.

There are innumerable web sites already devoted to general astronomy and so we start below with just a guide to some introductory sites and a few of the major astronomy link lists.

We will focus here more on sites related to astronomy projects where amateurs can make significant contributions.

One of the most wonderful aspects of astronomy is that amateurs still make significant contributions. Comets, for example, are often discovered by non-professional astronomers.

We put many topics involving near-earth and solar system based phenomena, e.g. meteor show observation, aurora investigation, etc., into the Space Science section. (This is an arbitrary division but is consistent with the HobbySpace emphasis on our solar system.)

Note that the Satellite Watching section also includes astronomy related information and links such as tracking programs, utilities and references. In addition, the offline and online software sections include some star chart program links.

Astronomy related sections at HobbySpace

ASTRONET Carl Koppeschaar's ASTRONET provides links to astronomy and space sites. Also, daily news reports available. Sections include

Astronomy Cafe Sten Odenwald's cafe offers you some exploration with your coffee:

"Have you ever wondered what it might be like to be an astronomer? Do you have any questions that you would like an astronomer to answer? Would you like to hear the latest about hyperspace, black holes, time travel and quantum cosmology? Well, at the Astronomy Cafe you've come to the right place! Sit down, grab a cup of coffee, and have a far-out adventure at the outer frontier of space and time." - web site.

Astronomical Society of the Pacific A very large and active organization with members worldwide. Their Mercury Magazine is a bi-monthly with articles accessible by a wide audience. A selection of the articles are online. There is also an online shop for posters, software, globes, etc.

Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews Great site with lots of resources such as:

An astronomy addition to Google Earth.

Griffith Observatory This observatory & planetarium is dedicated to public education in astronomy and space exploration. Sky Information

Guide to the Universe Annemie Maertens takes you on trips through our galaxy and on out into the universe. Beautiful images and descriptions of the sights along the way. (In both Dutch and English)

Inconstant Moon Beautifully designed site that offers multimedia tours of the lunar surface. Includes "maps, photos, explanations, animations, selected links and even music".

Que tal in the Current Skies An entertaining and readable monthly newsletter for the casual backyard astronomer. Gives the highlights of night skys for the coming month.

Rose Center for Earth & Space New York's famous Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History has been replaced with the $210 million Rose Center. The center includes a new Planetarium and much more. The web site describes the new facility and also offers many online activities and resources.

SEDS Galaxy The website for the Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) provides a broad array of astronomical related links. Also, see the astronomy images in their archive.

Stig's Sky Calendar Stig Ottosen's site is dedicated to his Java astronomy and space events calendar program that provides info on happenings both celestial and on the ground (e.g. upcoming conferences.)

"Use the Sky Calendar to keep yourself up to date on local and global sky events. It will display sunrise/sunset, twilight and lunar phase and visibility at a glance, and also includes a Planisphere, Planet Finder and Planet Round-up display. You can even customize your sky calendar setup with My Sky Calendar."

There is both an online and offline version.

SkyLights Professor Jim Kaler provides this site for amateur astronomers. Includes weekly updates and astronomy news.

StarDate The University of Texas McDonald Observatory presents the popular StarDate radio show about skywatching. This web site provides lots of astronomy links and useful tips, especially for the backyard astronomer.

The Starpages An enormous searchable database for space and astronomy web resources. Called the "astronomy yellow pages". Sections nclude:

The Telson Spur -- The Snark Hunter's Page Link list site with an enormous number of astronomy and space & astronautics links, arranged in an innovative classification scheme. See, for example, sections on Amateur Astronomy, Sky&Weather.

John Walker's Fourmilab Programs John Walker offers several online and offline (freeware) astronomy programs, as well as interesting information. See, for example,

Microsoft will release this tool in the spring of 2008. It sounds like it will be a powerful competitor to Google Sky

Astronomy Magazines The websites for astronomy magazines typically provide lots of information and resources for astronomers ranging from the beginner to the pro.

Astronomy Day (April 16th) + Globe at Night April 16th each year is the time to celebrate our cosmos and the hobby of astronomy and to participate in astronomical observations.

They developed a very elaborate website with many resources that are still available.

to go outside, look skywards after dark, count the stars they see in certain constellations, and report what they see online. This Windows to the Universe Citizen Science Event is designed to encourage learning in astronomy!

It is part of the Citizen Science program at Windows to the Universe.

Dark Sky Preservation Light pollution has caused most of the cosmos to fade from view for people who live in urban/suburban areas. Extraneous night time illumination, e.g. streetlights that send wasted light upward rather than reflecting it downward, reduces the sensitivity of not only scientific telescopes but of our own eyes to see the dimmer stars and Milky Way from your back yard.

Here are resources that discuss the problem and efforts to combat it.

Organizations for amateurs and students

Astronomy Tourism - Eclipses, Northern Lights, Meteor Showers, etc. It is becoming more and more popular to travel to some exotic location to observe an astronomy related event. The most common such trips are to areas where eclipses will be visible, but now these also include expeditions to view aurora and meteor showers.

Orrery (Solar System Simulator) An Orrery shows the planets and their orbit around the sun. Mechanical Orreries have been around for centuries, typically as beautiful, clockwork-like devices in brass and wood.

Here's a big orrey project meant to run for a long, long time: Long Now > Projects > Clock > Orrery

Now one can find them simulated in software but there are still mechanical versions around. The software versions offer a lot more options but a mechanical Orrery offer a more tangible, intuitive and esthetic experience.

Miscellaneous lunar info and resources:

Science Topics Here are some miscellaneous astronomy related science topics of interest

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HobbySpace - Astronomy

Awesome Library – Science – Astronomy

Provides answers to commonly asked questions about astronomy. 3-02

Provides short descriptions of contributions of key astronomers.

Provides 10 sources of information on astronomy. 2-03

The CERES Project provides educational resources by topic.

Provides resources in astronomy for children. Includes a night sky map, the solar system, ask an expert, and more. 10-00.

Provides an astronomy search engine (in partnership with Google). 8-01

Provides scripts from Jack Horkheimer's television show on astronomy. (Formerly called Star Hustler). 1-01

Provides a description of the virus, as well as common complications arising from it, such as glandular fever or infectious mononucleosis. Known as EBV. Sometimes visitors misspell as Epstene Bar or Barr. 9-00

Provides a short biography of the Indian-American Nobel laureate, after whom the Chandra X-ray Observatory is named. 9-00

Provides pictures and information for teachers and kids. 1-01

Includes pictures, articles, and links.

Provides theoretical papers related to the nature of the universe.

"Louis Allamandola and his colleagues at the NASA Ames Research Center have created primitive cells of a sortempty, two-layer membranes (see image)from elementary chemicals, exposed to conditions like those in interstellar clouds. 'Scientists believe the molecules needed to make a cell's membrane, and thus for the origin of life, are all over space,' Allamandola says. 'This discovery implies that life could be everywhere in the universe.' " 12-05

Starts in 1898 with a history of discovery and understanding of the neutrino. 6-01

Provides 10 factsheets related to exploration of space. 3-00

"One of the primary concerns in astronomy throughout history was the positioning of the heavenly bodies, for which spherical trigonometry was required. The diagrams below show trihedrals, polyhedra with triangular sides. For astronomy, V is the position of the observer, and PQR are points on a sphere centred at V, the celestial sphere." 8-05

Provides games for kids to learn more about planets and the sun. Uses Flash software. 6-02

Provides activities and games to encourage children to explore astronomy. 11-00.

Provides classroom resources to encourage students to study science and math through astronomy. 1-01

Provides projects for children, with adult supervision. 1-05

Provides directions for creating a rocket at home, made of paper, a canister, tape, water, and an antacid. 3-00

Provides directions for creating a land rover at home, made of paper, a canister, tape, water, and an antacid. 3-00

Provides 12 activities related to exploration of space. 9-01

Provides 11 activities related to science or the exploration of space. 9-01

Provides activities to help understand science. 3-00

Provides interactive projects in science in topics such as robotics, lasers, earthquakes, space exploration, and DNA. 12-02

Provides 8 projects to build related to exploration of space. 3-00

Provides 10 projects to build related to exploration of space. 3-00

Provides a game for kids to learn the location of states. Uses Flash software. 6-02

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Awesome Library - Science - Astronomy

History of astronomy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy, and not completely disentangled from it until a few centuries ago in the Western World (see astrology and astronomy). In some cultures, astronomical data was used for astrological prognostication.

Ancient astronomers were able to differentiate between stars and planets, as stars remain relatively fixed over the centuries while planets will move an appreciable amount during a comparatively short time.

Early cultures identified celestial objects with gods and spirits.[1] They related these objects (and their movements) to phenomena such as rain, drought, seasons, and tides. It is generally believed that the first astronomers were priests, and that they understood celestial objects and events to be manifestations of the divine, hence early astronomy's connection to what is now called astrology. Ancient structures with possibly astronomical alignments (such as Stonehenge) probably fulfilled astronomical, religious, and social functions.

Calendars of the world have often been set by observations of the Sun and Moon (marking the day, month and year), and were important to agricultural societies, in which the harvest depended on planting at the correct time of year.[2] The most common modern calendar is based on the Roman calendar, which broke the traditional link of the month to the phases of the moon and divided the year into twelve months, alternately comprising thirty and thirty-one days. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar instigated calendar reform and adopted what is now known as the Julian calendar, based upon the 36514 day year length originally proposed by the 4th century BC Greek astronomer Callippus.

Since 1990 our understanding of prehistoric Europeans has been radically changed by discoveries of ancient astronomical artifacts throughout Europe. The artifacts demonstrate that Neolithic and Bronze Age Europeans had a sophisticated knowledge of mathematics and astronomy.

Among the discoveries are:

The origins of Western astronomy can be found in Mesopotamia, the "land between the rivers" Tigris and Euphrates, where the ancient kingdoms of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia were located. A form of writing known as cuneiform emerged among the Sumerians around 35003000 BC. Our knowledge of Sumerian astronomy is indirect, via the earliest Babylonian star catalogues dating from about 1200 BC. The fact that many star names appear in Sumerian suggests a continuity reaching into the Early Bronze Age. Astral theology, which gave planetary gods an important role in Mesopotamian mythology and religion, began with the Sumerians. They also used a sexagesimal (base 60) place-value number system, which simplified the task of recording very large and very small numbers. The modern practice of dividing a circle into 360 degrees, of 60 minutes each, began with the Sumerians. For more information, see the articles on Babylonian numerals and mathematics.

Classical sources frequently use the term Chaldeans for the astronomers of Mesopotamia, who were, in reality, priest-scribes specializing in astrology and other forms of divination.

The first evidence of recognition that astronomical phenomena are periodic and of the application of mathematics to their prediction is Babylonian. Tablets dating back to the Old Babylonian period document the application of mathematics to the variation in the length of daylight over a solar year. Centuries of Babylonian observations of celestial phenomena are recorded in the series of cuneiform tablets known as the Enma Anu Enlil. The oldest significant astronomical text that we possess is Tablet 63 of the Enma Anu Enlil, the Venus tablet of Ammi-saduqa, which lists the first and last visible risings of Venus over a period of about 21 years and is the earliest evidence that the phenomena of a planet were recognized as periodic. The MUL.APIN, contains catalogues of stars and constellations as well as schemes for predicting heliacal risings and the settings of the planets, lengths of daylight measured by a water clock, gnomon, shadows, and intercalations. The Babylonian GU text arranges stars in 'strings' that lie along declination circles and thus measure right-ascensions or time-intervals, and also employs the stars of the zenith, which are also separated by given right-ascensional differences.[15]

A significant increase in the quality and frequency of Babylonian observations appeared during the reign of Nabonassar (747733 BC). The systematic records of ominous phenomena in Babylonian astronomical diaries that began at this time allowed for the discovery of a repeating 18-year cycle of lunar eclipses, for example. The Greek astronomer Ptolemy later used Nabonassar's reign to fix the beginning of an era, since he felt that the earliest usable observations began at this time.

The last stages in the development of Babylonian astronomy took place during the time of the Seleucid Empire (32360 BC). In the third century BC, astronomers began to use "goal-year texts" to predict the motions of the planets. These texts compiled records of past observations to find repeating occurrences of ominous phenomena for each planet. About the same time, or shortly afterwards, astronomers created mathematical models that allowed them to predict these phenomena directly, without consulting past records. A notable Babylonian astronomer from this time was Seleucus of Seleucia, who was a supporter of the heliocentric model.

Babylonian astronomy was the basis for much of what was done in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy, in classical Indian astronomy, in Sassanian Iran, in Byzantium, in Syria, in Islamic astronomy, in Central Asia, and in Western Europe.[16]

Astronomy in the Indian subcontinent dates back to the period of Indus Valley Civilization during 3rd millennium BCE, when it was used to create calendars.[17] As the Indus Valley civilization did not leave behind written documents, the oldest extant Indian astronomical text is the Vedanga Jyotisha, dating from the Vedic period.[18] Vedanga Jyotisha describes rules for tracking the motions of the Sun and the Moon for the purposes of ritual. During 6th century AD, astronomy was influenced by the Greek and Byzantine astronomical traditions.[17][19]

Aryabhata (476550), in his magnum opus Aryabhatiya (499), propounded a computational system based on a planetary model in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and the periods of the planets were given with respect to the Sun. He accurately calculated many astronomical constants, such as the periods of the planets, times of the solar and lunar eclipses, and the instantaneous motion of the Moon.[20][21][pageneeded] Early followers of Aryabhata's model included Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II.

Astronomy was advanced during the Shunga Empire and many star catalogues were produced during this time. The Shunga period is known as the "Golden age of astronomy in India". It saw the development of calculations for the motions and places of various planets, their rising and setting, conjunctions, and the calculation of eclipses.

Bhskara II (11141185) was the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain, continuing the mathematical tradition of Brahmagupta. He wrote the Siddhantasiromani which consists of two parts: Goladhyaya (sphere) and Grahaganita (mathematics of the planets). He also calculated the time taken for the Earth to orbit the sun to 9 decimal places. The Buddhist University of Nalanda at the time offered formal courses in astronomical studies.

Other important astronomers from India include Madhava of Sangamagrama, Nilakantha Somayaji and Jyeshtadeva, who were members of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics from the 14th century to the 16th century. Nilakantha Somayaji, in his Aryabhatiyabhasya, a commentary on Aryabhata's Aryabhatiya, developed his own computational system for a partially heliocentric planetary model, in which Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn orbit the Sun, which in turn orbits the Earth, similar to the Tychonic system later proposed by Tycho Brahe in the late 16th century. Nilakantha's system, however, was mathematically more effient than the Tychonic system, due to correctly taking into account the equation of the centre and latitudinal motion of Mercury and Venus. Most astronomers of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics who followed him accepted his planetary model.[22][23]

The Ancient Greeks developed astronomy, which they treated as a branch of mathematics, to a highly sophisticated level. The first geometrical, three-dimensional models to explain the apparent motion of the planets were developed in the 4th century BC by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Callippus of Cyzicus. Their models were based on nested homocentric spheres centered upon the Earth. Their younger contemporary Heraclides Ponticus proposed that the Earth rotates around its axis.

A different approach to celestial phenomena was taken by natural philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. They were less concerned with developing mathematical predictive models than with developing an explanation of the reasons for the motions of the Cosmos. In his Timaeus, Plato described the universe as a spherical body divided into circles carrying the planets and governed according to harmonic intervals by a world soul.[24] Aristotle, drawing on the mathematical model of Eudoxus, proposed that the universe was made of a complex system of concentric spheres, whose circular motions combined to carry the planets around the earth.[25] This basic cosmological model prevailed, in various forms, until the 16th century AD.

In the 3rd century BC Aristarchus of Samos was the first to suggest a heliocentric system, although only fragmentary descriptions of his idea survive.[26]Eratosthenes, using the angles of shadows created at widely separated regions, estimated the circumference of the Earth with great accuracy.[27]

Greek geometrical astronomy developed away from the model of concentric spheres to employ more complex models in which an eccentric circle would carry around a smaller circle, called an epicycle which in turn carried around a planet. The first such model is attributed to Apollonius of Perga and further developments in it were carried out in the 2nd century BC by Hipparchus of Nicea. Hipparchus made a number of other contributions, including the first measurement of precession and the compilation of the first star catalog in which he proposed our modern system of apparent magnitudes.

The Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek astronomical observational device for calculating the movements of the Sun and the Moon, possibly the planets, dates from about 150100 BC, and was the first ancestor of an astronomical computer. It was discovered in an ancient shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete. The device became famous for its use of a differential gear, previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century AD, and the miniaturization and complexity of its parts, comparable to a clock made in the 18th century. The original mechanism is displayed in the Bronze collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, accompanied by a replica.

Depending on the historian's viewpoint, the acme or corruption of physical Greek astronomy is seen with Ptolemy of Alexandria, who wrote the classic comprehensive presentation of geocentric astronomy, the Megale Syntaxis (Great Synthesis), better known by its Arabic title Almagest, which had a lasting effect on astronomy up to the Renaissance. In his Planetary Hypotheses, Ptolemy ventured into the realm of cosmology, developing a physical model of his geometric system, in a universe many times smaller than the more realistic conception of Aristarchus of Samos four centuries earlier.

The precise orientation of the Egyptian pyramids affords a lasting demonstration of the high degree of technical skill in watching the heavens attained in the 3rd millennium BC. It has been shown the Pyramids were aligned towards the pole star, which, because of the precession of the equinoxes, was at that time Thuban, a faint star in the constellation of Draco.[29] Evaluation of the site of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, taking into account the change over time of the obliquity of the ecliptic, has shown that the Great Temple was aligned on the rising of the midwinter sun.[30] The length of the corridor down which sunlight would travel would have limited illumination at other times of the year.

Astronomy played a considerable part in religious matters for fixing the dates of festivals and determining the hours of the night. The titles of several temple books are preserved recording the movements and phases of the sun, moon and stars. The rising of Sirius (Egyptian: Sopdet, Greek: Sothis) at the beginning of the inundation was a particularly important point to fix in the yearly calendar.

Writing in the Roman era, Clement of Alexandria gives some idea of the importance of astronomical observations to the sacred rites:

And after the Singer advances the Astrologer (), with a horologium () in his hand, and a palm (), the symbols of astrology. He must know by heart the Hermetic astrological books, which are four in number. Of these, one is about the arrangement of the fixed stars that are visible; one on the positions of the sun and moon and five planets; one on the conjunctions and phases of the sun and moon; and one concerns their risings.[31]

The Astrologer's instruments (horologium and palm) are a plumb line and sighting instrument[clarification needed]. They have been identified with two inscribed objects in the Berlin Museum; a short handle from which a plumb line was hung, and a palm branch with a sight-slit in the broader end. The latter was held close to the eye, the former in the other hand, perhaps at arms length. The "Hermetic" books which Clement refers to are the Egyptian theological texts, which probably have nothing to do with Hellenistic Hermetism.[32]

From the tables of stars on the ceiling of the tombs of Rameses VI and Rameses IX it seems that for fixing the hours of the night a man seated on the ground faced the Astrologer in such a position that the line of observation of the pole star passed over the middle of his head. On the different days of the year each hour was determined by a fixed star culminating or nearly culminating in it, and the position of these stars at the time is given in the tables as in the centre, on the left eye, on the right shoulder, etc. According to the texts, in founding or rebuilding temples the north axis was determined by the same apparatus, and we may conclude that it was the usual one for astronomical observations. In careful hands it might give results of a high degree of accuracy.

The astronomy of East Asia began in China. Solar term was completed in Warring States period. The knowledge of Chinese astronomy was introduced into East Asia.

Astronomy in China has a long history. Detailed records of astronomical observations were kept from about the 6th century BC, until the introduction of Western astronomy and the telescope in the 17th century. Chinese astronomers were able to precisely predict eclipses.

Much of early Chinese astronomy was for the purpose of timekeeping. The Chinese used a lunisolar calendar, but because the cycles of the Sun and the Moon are different, astronomers often prepared new calendars and made observations for that purpose.

Astrological divination was also an important part of astronomy. Astronomers took careful note of "guest stars" which suddenly appeared among the fixed stars. They were the first to record a supernova, in the Astrological Annals of the Houhanshu in 185 A.D. Also, the supernova that created the Crab Nebula in 1054 is an example of a "guest star" observed by Chinese astronomers, although it was not recorded by their European contemporaries. Ancient astronomical records of phenomena like supernovae and comets are sometimes used in modern astronomical studies.

The world's first star catalogue was made by Gan De, a Chinese astronomer, in the 4th century BC.

Maya astronomical codices include detailed tables for calculating phases of the Moon, the recurrence of eclipses, and the appearance and disappearance of Venus as morning and evening star. The Maya based their calendrics in the carefully calculated cycles of the Pleiades, the Sun, the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and also they had a precise description of the eclipses as depicted in the Dresden Codex, as well as the ecliptic or zodiac, and the Milky Way was crucial in their Cosmology.[33] A number of important Maya structures are believed to have been oriented toward the extreme risings and settings of Venus. To the ancient Maya, Venus was the patron of war and many recorded battles are believed to have been timed to the motions of this planet. Mars is also mentioned in preserved astronomical codices and early mythology.[34]

Although the Maya calendar was not tied to the Sun, John Teeple has proposed that the Maya calculated the solar year to somewhat greater accuracy than the Gregorian calendar.[35] Both astronomy and an intricate numerological scheme for the measurement of time were vitally important components of Maya religion.

The Arabic and the Persian world under Islam had become highly cultured, and many important works of knowledge from Greek astronomy and Indian astronomy and Persian astronomy were translated into Arabic, used and stored in libraries throughout the area. An important contribution by Islamic astronomers was their emphasis on observational astronomy[36] This led to the emergence of the first astronomical observatories in the Muslim world by the early 9th century.[37][38]Zij star catalogues were produced at these observatories.

In the 10th century, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) carried out observations on the stars and described their positions, magnitudes, brightness, and colour and drawings for each constellation in his Book of Fixed Stars. He also gave the first descriptions and pictures of "A Little Cloud" now known as the Andromeda Galaxy. He mentions it as lying before the mouth of a Big Fish, an Arabic constellation. This "cloud" was apparently commonly known to the Isfahan astronomers, very probably before 905 AD.[39] The first recorded mention of the Large Magellanic Cloud was also given by al-Sufi.[40][41] In 1006, Ali ibn Ridwan observed SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, and left a detailed description of the temporary star.

In the late 10th century, a huge observatory was built near Tehran, Iran, by the astronomer Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi who observed a series of meridian transits of the Sun, which allowed him to calculate the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the Sun. He noted that measurements by earlier (Indian, then Greek) astronomers had found higher values for this angle, possible evidence that the axial tilt is not constant but was in fact decreasing.[42][43] In 11th-century Persia, Omar Khayym compiled many tables and performed a reformation of the calendar that was more accurate than the Julian and came close to the Gregorian.

Other Muslim advances in astronomy included the collection and correction of previous astronomical data, resolving significant problems in the Ptolemaic model, the development of the universal latitude-independent astrolabe by Arzachel,[44] the invention of numerous other astronomical instruments, Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ms ibn Shkir's belief that the heavenly bodies and celestial spheres were subject to the same physical laws as Earth,[45] the first elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena, the introduction of exacting empirical observations and experimental techniques,[46] and the introduction of empirical testing by Ibn al-Shatir, who produced the first model of lunar motion which matched physical observations.[47]

Natural philosophy (particularly Aristotelian physics) was separated from astronomy by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in the 11th century, by Ibn al-Shatir in the 14th century,[48] and Qushji in the 15th century, leading to the development of an astronomical physics.[49]

After the significant contributions of Greek scholars to the development of astronomy, it entered a relatively static era in Western Europe from the Roman era through the 12th century. This lack of progress has led some astronomers to assert that nothing happened in Western European astronomy during the Middle Ages.[50] Recent investigations, however, have revealed a more complex picture of the study and teaching of astronomy in the period from the 4th to the 16th centuries.[51]

Western Europe entered the Middle Ages with great difficulties that affected the continent's intellectual production. The advanced astronomical treatises of classical antiquity were written in Greek, and with the decline of knowledge of that language, only simplified summaries and practical texts were available for study. The most influential writers to pass on this ancient tradition in Latin were Macrobius, Pliny, Martianus Capella, and Calcidius.[52] In the 6th Century Bishop Gregory of Tours noted that he had learned his astronomy from reading Martianus Capella, and went on to employ this rudimentary astronomy to describe a method by which monks could determine the time of prayer at night by watching the stars.[53]

In the 7th Century the English monk Bede of Jarrow published an influential text, On the Reckoning of Time, providing churchmen with the practical astronomical knowledge needed to compute the proper date of Easter using a procedure called the computus. This text remained an important element of the education of clergy from the 7th century until well after the rise of the Universities in the 12th century.[54]

The range of surviving ancient Roman writings on astronomy and the teachings of Bede and his followers began to be studied in earnest during the revival of learning sponsored by the emperor Charlemagne.[55] By the 9th century rudimentary techniques for calculating the position of the planets were circulating in Western Europe; medieval scholars recognized their flaws, but texts describing these techniques continued to be copied, reflecting an interest in the motions of the planets and in their astrological significance.[56]

Building on this astronomical background, in the 10th century European scholars such as Gerbert of Aurillac began to travel to Spain and Sicily to seek out learning which they had heard existed in the Arabic-speaking world. There they first encountered various practical astronomical techniques concerning the calendar and timekeeping, most notably those dealing with the astrolabe. Soon scholars such as Hermann of Reichenau were writing texts in Latin on the uses and construction of the astrolabe and others, such as Walcher of Malvern, were using the astrolabe to observe the time of eclipses in order to test the validity of computistical tables.[57]

By the 12th century, scholars were traveling to Spain and Sicily to seek out more advanced astronomical and astrological texts, which they translated into Latin from Arabic and Greek to further enrich the astronomical knowledge of Western Europe. The arrival of these new texts coincided with the rise of the universities in medieval Europe, in which they soon found a home.[58] Reflecting the introduction of astronomy into the universities, John of Sacrobosco wrote a series of influential introductory astronomy textbooks: the Sphere, a Computus, a text on the Quadrant, and another on Calculation.[59]

In the 14th century, Nicole Oresme, later bishop of Liseux, showed that neither the scriptural texts nor the physical arguments advanced against the movement of the Earth were demonstrative and adduced the argument of simplicity for the theory that the earth moves, and not the heavens. However, he concluded "everyone maintains, and I think myself, that the heavens do move and not the earth: For God hath established the world which shall not be moved."[60] In the 15th century, cardinal Nicholas of Cusa suggested in some of his scientific writings that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and that each star is itself a distant sun. He was not, however, describing a scientifically verifiable theory of the universe.

The renaissance came to astronomy with the work of Nicolaus Copernicus, who proposed a heliocentric system, in which the planets revolved around the Sun and not the Earth. His De revolutionibus provided a full mathematical discussion of his system, using the geometrical techniques that had been traditional in astronomy since before the time of Ptolemy. His work was later defended, expanded upon and modified by Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler.

Galileo was considered the father of observational astronomy. He was among the first to use a telescope to observe the sky and after constructing a 20x refractor telescope he discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1610. This was the first observation of satellites orbiting another planet. He also found that our Moon had craters and observed (and correctly explained) sunspots. Galileo noted that Venus exhibited a full set of phases resembling lunar phases. Galileo argued that these observations supported the Copernican system and were, to some extent, incompatible with the favored model of the Earth at the center of the universe.[61] He may have even observed the planet Neptune in 1612 and 1613, over 200 years before it was discovered, but it is unclear if he was aware of what he was looking at.[62][63]

Although the motions of celestial bodies had been qualitatively explained in physical terms since Aristotle introduced celestial movers in his Metaphysics and a fifth element in his On the Heavens, Johannes Kepler was the first to attempt to derive mathematical predictions of celestial motions from assumed physical causes.[64][65] Combining his physical insights with the unprecedentedly accurate naked-eye observations made by Tycho Brahe,[66][67][68] Kepler discovered the three laws of planetary motion that now carry his name.[69]

Isaac Newton developed further ties between physics and astronomy through his law of universal gravitation. Realising that the same force that attracted objects to the surface of the Earth held the moon in orbit around the Earth, Newton was able to explain in one theoretical framework all known gravitational phenomena. In his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he derived Kepler's laws from first principles. Newton's theoretical developments lay many of the foundations of modern physics.

Outside of England, Newton's theory took some time to become established. Descartes' theory of vortices held sway in France, and Huygens, Leibniz and Cassini accepted only parts of Newton's system, preferring their own philosophies. It wasn't until Voltaire published a popular account in 1738 that the tide changed.[70] In 1748, the French Academy of Sciences offered a reward for solving the perturbations of Jupiter and Saturn which was eventually solved by Euler and Lagrange. Laplace completed the theory of the planets towards the end of the century.

Edmund Halley succeeded Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal in England and succeeded in predicting the return in 1758 of the comet that bears his name. Sir William Herschel found the first new planet, Uranus, to be observed in modern times in 1781. The gap between the planets Mars and Jupiter disclosed by the TitiusBode law was filled by the discovery of the asteroids Ceres and Pallas in 1801 with many more following.

At first, astronomical thought in America was based on Aristotelian philosophy,[71] but interest in the new astronomy began to appear in Almanacs as early as 1659.[72]

In the 19th century it was discovered that, when decomposing the light from the Sun, a multitude of spectral lines were observed (regions where there was less or no light). Experiments with hot gases showed that the same lines could be observed in the spectra of gases, specific lines corresponding to unique elements. It was proved that the chemical elements found in the Sun (chiefly hydrogen and helium) were also found on Earth. During the 20th century spectroscopy (the study of these lines) advanced, especially because of the advent of quantum physics, that was necessary to understand the observations.

Although in previous centuries noted astronomers were exclusively male, at the turn of the 20th century women began to play a role in the great discoveries. In this period prior to modern computers, women at the United States Naval Observatory (USNO), Harvard University, and other astronomy research institutions began to be hired as human "computers," who performed the tedious calculations while scientists performed research requiring more background knowledge. [1] A number of discoveries in this period were originally noted by the women "computers" and reported to their supervisors. For example, at the Harvard Observatory Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered the cepheid variable star period-luminosity relation which she further developed into a method of measuring distance outside of our solar system. Annie Jump Cannon, also at Harvard, organized the stellar spectral types according to stellar temperature. In 1847, Maria Mitchell discovered a comet using a telescope. According to Lewis D. Eigen, Cannon alone, "in only 4 years discovered and catalogued more stars than all the men in history put together."[73] Most of these women received little or no recognition during their lives due to their lower professional standing in the field of astronomy. Although their discoveries and methods are taught in classrooms around the world, few students of astronomy can attribute the works to their authors or have any idea that there were active female astronomers at the end of the 19th century.

Most of our current knowledge was gained during the 20th century. With the help of the use of photography, fainter objects were observed. Our sun was found to be part of a galaxy made up of more than 1010 stars (10 billion stars). The existence of other galaxies, one of the matters of the great debate, was settled by Edwin Hubble, who identified the Andromeda nebula as a different galaxy, and many others at large distances and receding, moving away from our galaxy.

Physical cosmology, a discipline that has a large intersection with astronomy, made huge advances during the 20th century, with the model of the hot big bang heavily supported by the evidence provided by astronomy and physics, such as the redshifts of very distant galaxies and radio sources, the cosmic microwave background radiation, Hubble's law and cosmological abundances of elements.

In the 19th century, scientists began discovering forms of light which were invisible to the naked eye: X-Rays, gamma rays, radio waves, microwaves, ultraviolet radiation, and infrared radiation. This had a major impact on astronomy, spawning the fields of infrared astronomy, radio astronomy, x-ray astronomy and finally gamma-ray astronomy. With the advent of spectroscopy it was proven that other stars were similar to our own sun, but with a range of temperatures, masses and sizes. The existence of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as a separate group of stars was only proven in the 20th century, along with the existence of "external" galaxies, and soon after, the expansion of the universe seen in the recession of most galaxies from us.

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History of astronomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Astronomy – University of Washington

Department Overview

C319 Physics-Astronomy Building

Modern research in astronomy and astrophysics encompasses a large number of disciplines and specialties. Research areas include planetary systems and astrobiology, stellar structure and evolution, interstellar matter, binaries and compact objects, galactic structure and dynamics, galaxies and quasars, and large scale structure and cosmology.

Adviser C319 Physics-Astronomy, Box 351580 (206) 543-2888 office@astro.washington.edu

The Department of Astronomy offers the following undergraduate program:

Suggested First-Year Courses: MATH 124, MATH 125, MATH 126, MATH 308, MATH 324; PHYS 121, PHYS 122, PHYS 123. At community colleges it is better to take courses in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science rather than the usual introductory astronomy courses.

PHYS 121, PHYS 122, PHYS 123 (or full transfer equivalent) with a 2.00 cumulative GPA for the three courses.

89 credits as follows:

Of Special Note: The first required astronomy course, ASTR 321, must be preceded by at least one year of college physics and mathematics. Any lower-division astronomy courses count as electives and not as part of the major. To finish in four years, the student must have completed PHYS 123 before winter quarter of the sophomore year. Students are encouraged to take the capstone sequence: spring: ASTR 480; summer: ASTR 481 or ASTR 499 or an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program; autumn: ASTR 482.

Graduate Program Coordinator C319 Physics-Astronomy, Box 351580 (206) 543-2888 grad@astro.washington.edu

A series of graduate courses in solar system, stellar, galactic, and extragalactic astrophysics is offered. The heart of the graduate program is the collaboration of students and faculty members in research at the frontiers of astronomy. Students work collaboratively with members of the faculty to develop the techniques and insight necessary for successful research and, subsequently, to define a thesis topic. The student's thesis research may use theoretical, computational, or observational material (obtained through the facilities of the UW or one of the national ground- or space-based observatories, or a combination). Active research programs in observations and theory are being carried out in a variety of areas, including astrobiology and extrasolar planets, interplanetary dust and comets, stellar atmospheres and interiors, stellar evolution and populations, interacting binary stars and compact objects, interstellar matter and nebulae, computational astrophysics and data mining, galaxies and quasars, large scale structure and cosmology, and dark matter and energy.

Most, though not all, entering students have a bachelor's degree in physics. Entering students are not required to have a background in astronomy, although some knowledge of general astronomy is expected of those to whom a teaching assistantship is offered. Undergraduates interested in a graduate program in astronomy are urged to concentrate on preparation in physics and mathematics before entering.

Visit http://www.astro.washington.edu/grad for details on admission requirements. Most application material is submitted through the Graduate School online application.

90 credits minimum, to include the following:

Typically PhD students take formal courses during their first two years at the UW while at the same time sampling research projects with various faculty. The department offers a full set of graduate astronomy courses covering every major research area in astrophysics. Areas covered include planetary astronomy, stellar interiors and atmospheres, interstellar medium, galaxies, dynamics, cosmology, physical processes, observational astronomy, and a variety of special topics. Even in their first year, students are encouraged to embark on faculty-supervised research programs so they can make informed decisions about a thesis topic and a professional research career.

Core Curriculum: Each quarter of their first two years, students usually take at least two graduate-level core courses in astronomy, along with a third course emphasizing additional physical or mathematical science study or astronomical research. Typical core courses include ASTR 507, ASTR 519, ASTR 521, ASTR 531, ASTR 557, ASTR 561 in one year, and ASTR 508, ASTR 509, ASTR 511, ASTR 512, ASTR 513, ASTR 541 in the alternate year, along with ASTR 500 and ASTR 581 (latter two often offered annually).

Students must pass two examinations, the qualifying examination and the general examination, before being admitted to PhD candidacy. The qualifying examination, a written examination covering general knowledge, must be passed by the end of the third year of matriculation. The general examination is an oral examination on a topic related to a student's proposed PhD research topic. Students embark on their PhD research program after passing the general examination, typically in their third or fourth year at UW. Most students complete their PhD thesis and defense two to three years later.

A Master of Science degree is offered but the department is not currently accepting students for a master's-only program. Students typically earn the master's degree as part of the PhD program. The departmental requirements for a master's degree are either (1) adequate performance on the qualifying exam or (2) an approved and supervised master's thesis.

Normally all students making satisfactory academic progress receive financial support. More than three-quarters of the department's graduate students hold fellowships or research assistantships. A number of teaching assistantships are available, primarily in the elementary astronomy courses.

Department Overview

Undergraduate Program

Graduate Program

Time Schedule

Academic Planning Worksheet

Departmental Web Page

Departmental Faculty

Course Descriptions

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Astronomy - University of Washington

Astronomy News — ScienceDaily

Feb. 18, 2016 Incredibly dense and powerful objects beyond our Milky Way Galaxy may prevent the escape of high-energy gamma rays that accompany the production of the cosmic neutrinos detected on Earth by the ... read more Feb. 17, 2016 Astronomers have discovered a new source that confirmed the fact that binary systems with strong colliding stellar winds comprise a separate new population of high-energy gamma-ray ... read more Feb. 17, 2016 For two decades it was thought that most near-Earth objects (NEOs) -- asteroids and comets that may pose a hazard to life on Earth -- end their existence in a dramatic final plunge into the Sun. A ... read more Dynamical Systems Theory Enhances Knowledge of Jupiter's Atmosphere Feb. 17, 2016 Scientists use video footage to analyze Jupiter's transport barriers and examine prior conclusions about Jupiter's ... read more Feb. 16, 2016 The first successful detection of gases in the atmosphere of a super-Earth reveals the presence of hydrogen and helium, but no water vapor. The exotic exoplanet, 55 Cancri e, is over eight times the ... read more Feb. 13, 2016 Using ALMA, astronomers have taken a new, detailed look at the very early stages of planet formation around a binary star. Embedded in the outer reaches of a double star's protoplanetary disk, ... read more Feb. 12, 2016 University of Washington astronomers have identified a rare type of supernova 'impostor' in a nearby galaxy, with implications for how scientists look at the short, complex lives of massive ... read more Feb. 11, 2016 A first-ever computer simulation shows that, contrary to previous understandings, objects approaching a rotating black hole would not be crushed by the increasing gravity -- supporting some popular ... read more Feb. 11, 2016 The placid appearance of NGC 4889 can fool the unsuspecting observer. But the elliptical galaxy, seen in a new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, harbors a dark secret. At its heart ... read more Feb. 10, 2016 A newly formed star lights up the surrounding clouds in this new image from ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. Dust particles in the vast clouds that surround the star HD 97300 diffuse its ... read more Feb. 9, 2016 Hundreds of hidden nearby galaxies have been studied for the first time, shedding light on a mysterious gravitational anomaly dubbed the Great Attractor. Despite being just 250 million light years ... read more Feb. 8, 2016 Messages from around the world are to be beamed into space at the speed of light as part of a cultural project to create a celestial time ... read more Feb. 5, 2016 Stars do not accumulate their final mass steadily, but in a series of violent events manifesting themselves as sharp stellar brightening. Stellar brightening can be caused by fragmentation due to ... read more Feb. 4, 2016 Astrophysicists are using new methods to simulate the common-envelope phase of binary stars, discovering dynamic irregularities that may help to explain how supernovae ... read more Feb. 4, 2016 Astronomers have revealed the detailed structure of a massive ionized gas outflow streaming from the starburst galaxy NGC 6240. The light-collecting power and high spatial resolution of Subaru ... read more New Study Challenges Jupiter's Role as Planetary Shield, Protecting Earth from Comet Impacts Feb. 3, 2016 Not only is the 'Jupiter as shield' concept, implying that the planet shields Earth from comet impacts, not true, but perhaps Jupiter's most important role in fostering the development ... read more Feb. 3, 2016 Studies by two independent groups from the US and the Netherlands have found that gamma ray signals from the inner galaxy come from a new source rather than from the collision of dark matter ... read more Bright Sparks Shed New Light on the Dark Matter Riddle Feb. 1, 2016 The origin of matter in the universe has puzzled physicists for generations. Today, we know that matter only accounts for 5 percent of our universe; another 25 percent is constituted of dark matter. ... read more Jan. 30, 2016 Scientists have turned to a combination of real time observations and computer simulations to best analyze how material courses through the ... read more Jan. 29, 2016 Promising new calibration tools, called laser frequency combs, could allow astronomers to take a major step in discovering and characterizing earthlike planets around other stars. These devices ... read more

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Astronomy News -- ScienceDaily

Astronomy – ScienceDaily

Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere (such as the cosmic background radiation).

It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe.

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences.

Astronomers of early civilizations performed methodical observations of the night sky, and astronomical artifacts have been found from much earlier periods.

However, the invention of the telescope was required before astronomy was able to develop into a modern science.

Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, the making of calendars, and even, at one time, astrology, but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be identical with astrophysics.

Since the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches.

Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring and analyzing data, mainly using basic principles of physics.

Theoretical astronomy is oriented towards the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena.

The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the observational results, and observations being used to confirm theoretical results.

Amateur astronomers have contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, and astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can still play an active role, especially in the discovery and observation of transient phenomena.

The most frequently studied star is the Sun, a typical main-sequence dwarf star of stellar class G2 V, and about 4.6 Gyr in age.

The Sun is not considered a variable star, but it does undergo periodic changes in activity known as the sunspot cycle.

The study of stars and stellar evolution is fundamental to our understanding of the universe.

The astrophysics of stars has been determined through observation and theoretical understanding; and from computer simulations of the interior.

Star formation occurs in dense regions of dust and gas, known as giant molecular clouds.

When destabilized, cloud fragments can collapse under the influence of gravity, to form a protostar.

A sufficiently dense, and hot, core region will trigger nuclear fusion, thus creating a main-sequence star.

Almost all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were created inside the cores of stars.

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Astronomy - ScienceDaily

Astronomy | Physics and Astronomy | University of South Carolina

Astronomy, as a science, was born the day our ancestors started wondering about the skies overhead. And yet, Astronomy still remains one of the most active branches of Science. Research Astronomy/ Astrophysics is in a golden era at present, with many fundamental discoveries (e.g., dark energy, dark matter, black holes, extrasolar planets) shaping our understanding of the size and future of the universe, and of our place in the universe.

Astrophysical environments offer unique opportunities to study the behavior of matter under extreme conditions that are often impossible to attain in Earth-based laboratories. To understand the objects and events in the cosmos, astrophysicists combine knowledge from diverse areas of physics, mathematics, statistics, and image processing. Research students in Astrophysics thus obtain a broad and well-rounded education.

The Astrophysics group at USC is engaged in research in extragalactic astrophysics and observational cosmology. Our work focusses on quasars, distant galaxies, intergalactic matter, and the evolution of these objects with cosmic time. Some of the key scientific questions we are trying to address are: how did the cosmic abundances of the chemical elements build up with time? How did the processes of star formation and gas consumption progress in galaxies? How did the structure and shapes of galaxies get established over billions of years?

Our research uses primarily optical, infrared, and ultraviolet facilities, and is funded by the NSF and NASA. We use a wide range of observing facilities in Chile, Hawaii, Arizona, and New Mexico, especially the Magellan Clay telescope, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the Gemini telescopes, the Keck telescopes, and the Apache Point Observatory (APO), In addition, we use the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope to access parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are attenuated by the Earth's atmosphere. Our group has attracted several USC students, and includes close collaborators at a number of institutions worldwide.

Faculty Varsha Kulkarni

Steven Rodney

Excerpt from:

Astronomy | Physics and Astronomy | University of South Carolina

Top New York Astronomy Schools – Online Education

Astronomy Schools in New York

New York contains four schools that offer astronomy programs. Columbia University in the City of New York, the highest-ranking astronomy school in NY, has a total student population of 24,230 and is the 4th highest ranked school in America.

Of the 4 astronomy schools in New York, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Union College comes out as the most expensive ($27,619/yr), with Columbia University in the City of New York as the lowest recorded at only $18,132/yr.

Astronomy students from New York schools who go on to become astronomers, astrophysicistss, lunar and planetary institute directors, national radio astronomy observatory directors, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 1,240 people working as astronomers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $102,740. Also, Atmospheric and space scientists make on average $85,160 per year and there are about 8,320 of them employed in the US today.

Also, within the astronomy schools in New York, the average student population is 2,856 and average student-to-faculty ratio is 16 to 1. Aside from astronomy, there are 10195 total degree (or certificate) programs in the state, with 3,318 people on average applying for a school. Undergraduate tuition costs are normally around $4,933, but can vary widely depending on the type of school.

Program ID: 44067

Levels offered: Certificate, Bachelors, Masters, PhD

Program ID: 195098

Levels offered: Bachelors

Program ID: 18726

Levels offered: Bachelors

Program ID: 171665

Levels offered: Bachelors

New York Interesting Facts

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Top New York Astronomy Schools - Online Education

Planetariums, Observatories – Florida Astronomy

FLORIDA OBSERVATORIES (many have public viewing nights, check their websites for details)

Belen Observatory at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Miami

Crosby Observatory at Orlando Science Center - 10" Refractor - admission fee to Science Center.

Eastern Florida State College Observatory - 24" Ritchey- Chrtien telescope available for public viewing Friday and Saturday nights from sunset until 10 p.m..

Egan Observatory at Florida Gulf Coast University - 16" Ritchey-Chrtien telescope and 5 smaller computer guided go-to telescopes. Here's a google maps satellite view of the observatory dome, and here's a link with more info about the observatory. Public access through Southwest Florida Astronomical Society.

Embry Riddle Creekside Observatory - They have a 20-inch reflector Dall-Kirkham telescope by Planewave Instruments , three 12-inch reflectors, a 4-inch refractor, and a pair of giant binoculars and a new observatory with a 1 meter Ritchey-Chrtien telescope (see images on this page.) Free public viewing open houses are to be held approximately ~6 times per year. During open houses there will be a public lecture at 7 p.m. and observations from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. During open houses there will also be additional presentations such as Gravity Well Simulator, Solar System Tour, Space Posters, and a Photography Gallery. Amateur Astronomers will be also be invited to set up telescopes outside for public viewing.

The Embry-Riddell Telescope is the largest public accessible telescope in Florida with a 1 meter (39.4") primary mirror, a 40 cm (15.7" secondary mirror), with an 8 meter focal length (f/8). The primary mirror weighs 700 lbs, and the total scope weighs 5500 lbs (not including the massive 6 story pier that it sits on that is separate from the building!) The largest refractor riding as an outrigger scope is an 8" APM. There are also a number of other outriggers that are Takahashi's and Vixen.

The Student control room can be seen in one of the images below (which is not the same as the local control near the scope, and I've got a shot of the Infra Red dome surveillance cameras too.

Farrout Observatory, Dade City, FL ("Where Tampa's Astronomers Cluster")

Florida Atlantic Observatory, (14" Celestron Edge HD SCT on a Losmandy Titan 50, and Daystar filter for live Sun Prominences), Boca Raton

Fox Observatory (16"), Sunrise, FL

Kissimmee Park Observatory, Kissimmee and Facebook link, I believe he's using a 17.5", contact Dave Hearn for group or private visits.

Nicholas Copernicus Observatory at University of Miami

Ortega Telescope (32"/.8 meter) at FIT

Rosemary Hill Observatory (30"), Bronson FL

Stocker AstroScience Center at FIU, Miami - Under construction, 24" telescope from ACE ordered (they currently have 12" Meade.)

Star Fields Observatory (private), Chiefland

Univ. of Florida Campus Teaching Observatory, Gainsville FL - Clark 8-inch Refractor by Alvan Clark & Sons - 203 mm / 2920 mm = f/14 12.5-inch Cassegrain Reflector by Army Map Service - 318 mm / 5220 mm = f/16 with a photoelectric photometer; small auxiliary telescope for imaging Moon with CCD. 12-inch Schmidt- Cassegrain by Meade Instruments - 305 mm / 3048 mm = f/10, on movable tripod; computer controlled. 8 inch Schmidt- Cassegrain by Meade Instruments - 200 mm / 2000 mm = f/10 Six telescopes that can be mounted on permanent piers outside the observatory building. 5-inch Schmidt- Cassegrain by Celestron International - 127 mm / 1200 mm = f/10

University of Central Florida's Robinson Observatory, Orlando, FL - 20" Richey Chretien telescope and a bunch of 8" Meade Schmidt Cassegrains, here's The Robinson Observatory website, and their Open House Schedule

University of Florida Radio Jove Observatory

Weintraub Observatory in Miami at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science. __________________________________________________ FLORIDA PLANETARIA

Bishop Planetarium - Bradenton

Broward College Buehler Planetarium - Davie

Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium - Fort Myers

Planetarium at Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences

Eastern Florida State College Planetarium - Cocoa

Florida Southern College Miller Planetarium - Lakeland, currently closed, and their website was taken down in 2014 (after they had been closed for several years.) They are trying to get funds together to re-open it, possibly within a year? Their structure is the only observatory in the world designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was founded in 1959.

Florida State University Pat Thomas Planetarium - Tallahassee

Indian River State College Halstrom Planetarium - Fort Pierce

Miami Science Museum Space Transit Planetarium CLOSED (their old location is now closed, watch for their new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science and planetarium opening in Summer of 2016!)

Santa Fe College Kika Silva Pla Planetarium - Gainesville

Seminole State College Planetarium - Sanford (Also known as the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium at Seminole State College of Florida).

St. Petersburg College Planetarium

Tampa Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) The Saunders Planetarium

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Amateur astronomer's observatory domes at Chiefland Florida

IR surveillance cams at Embry-Riddle Observatory.

Student data access room below the Embry-Riddle Observatory.

The Robinson Observatory at University of Central Florida has a 20" Ritchey-Chrtien telescope, and public observing nights through smaller telescopes too.

(Top of page images from left to right: a private observatory with telescope peeking through the dome in Chiefland Florida, Seminole State College Planetarium SETI Engineer Presentation, Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex Floating Celestial Sphere, The Rocket Thrower outside the Orlando Science Center (which has a public observatory) based on a World's Fair Statue, Robinson Observatory at University of Central Florida; all images by Jason Higley)

The 1 meter telescope at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Sept, 2014

The new 1 meter telescope at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Sept, 2014

Embry-Riddle 1 meter telescope

Here's the public-accessible 10" refractor telescope at the Orlando Science Center. The operator says that this was Mr. Byers last 10" refractor (the optics were also by him.) There is significant vibration from the surrounding visitor floor (even though they tried to isolate the pier from the gantry.) People can access it on clear Friday and Saturday nights (when visiting the science center with paid admission, however there are sometimes ways to get significant discounts, up to free access.)

Software Bisque mounts at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

Takahashi telescopes ready to be rolled out at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ. in Daytona.

This is the new Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) 1 meter telescope. Open to public viewing up to ~6 nights per year.

A different angle of the fork mount and 1 meter telescope at ERAU.

This is the new dome of the ERAU observatory.

Above you can get a sense of how high up the new 1 meter telescope is at Embry Riddle in Daytona, Florida (my estimate being around ~6 stories.) Photo by me on 7 July, 2013.

Notice how the giant telescope pier directly under the dome angles off at the last level of the new Embry Riddle Observatory..

They are installing the windows to the left as of 7 July 2013.

This is the amazing massive pier to isolate the new 1 meter telescope from the building being constructed around it.

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Planetariums, Observatories - Florida Astronomy

Museum Astronomical Resource Society

Welcome to the Museum Astronomical Resource Society, also known as the M.A.R.S. astronomy club. M.A.R.S. is sponsored by the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), in Tampa, Florida. We are also members of both the Astronomical League and Night Sky Network. This site provides club news and astronomical information to our membership and to the public.

There's only one thing the people of M.A.R.S. enjoy more than observing the heavens... that's sharing it with others! Whether you are new to astronomy and curious about how to experience it, or a seasoned veteran looking for an active club to spend observation time with. We invite you to attend one of our monthly meetings as our honored guest.

Monthly meetings are normally held on the 3rd floor of MOSI in the Science Works Theater, and take place on the 2nd Friday of each month from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. Meetings are free and open to the public.

If you are interested in joining MARS, you will need to complete and return this Membership Application to the Membership Chairman. The current cost to join is $27.50 for an individual membership, and $37.50 dollars for family membership. Click here to find out the benefits of membership

February 13 @ 7:00 PM Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Our own Dr. Greg Shanos will discuss this ever important topic this month; the 100th anniversary of the publishing of General Relativity.

March 12 @ 4:30 PM FarrOut Observatory The Star Party is a great opportunity get in some dark sky observing and to see many types of telescopes in use. There is a $10 per person fee to attend this event. A buffet dinner will be served at 5:30. Children are welcome and there is no charge for children under the age of 10. Please be aware that there is a lot of expensive equipment in the field and it will be dark so it is imperative that everyone is conscious of their actions. Members in good standing (dues paid) pay nothing. You may pay your dues at the event and enter as a member in good standing.

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Museum Astronomical Resource Society

Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Well now, this is an interesting discovery: astronomers have found what looks like a "super-Earth" a planet more massive than Earth but still smaller than a gas giant orbiting a nearby star at the right distance to have liquid water on it! Given that, it might might be Earthlike.

This is pretty cool news. Weve found planets like this before, but not very many! And it gets niftier: the planet has at least five siblings, all of which orbit its star closer than it does.

Now let me be clear: this is a planet candidate; it has not yet been confirmed. Reading the journal paper (PDF), though, the data look pretty good. It may yet turn out not to be real, but for the purpose of this blog post Ill just put this caveat here, call it a planet from here on out, and fairly warned be ye, says I.

The star is called HD 40307, and its a bit over 40 light years away (pretty close in galactic standards, but I wouldnt want to walk there). Its a K2.5 dwarf, which means its cooler, dimmer, and smaller than the Sun, but not by much. In other words, its reasonably Sun-like. By coincidence, it appears ot be about the age as the Sun, too: 4.5 billion years. It was observed using HARPS, the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (I know, it should be HARVPS, but thats harvd to pronounce). This is an extremely sensitive instrument that looks for changes in the starlight as a planet (or planets) orbits a star. The gravity of the star causes the planet to orbit it, but the planet has gravity too. As it circles the star, the star makes a littler circle too (I like to think of it as two kids, one bigger than the other, clasping hands and swinging each other around; the lighter kid makes a big circle and the bigger kid makes a smaller circle). As the star makes its circle, half the time its approaching us and half the time its receding. This means its light is Doppler shifted, the same effect that makes a motorcycle engine drop in pitch as it passes you.

Massive planets tug on their star harder, so theyre easier to find this way. Also, a planet closer in has a shorter orbit, so you dont have to look as long to find it. But in the end, by measuring just how the star is Doppler shifted, you can get the mass and orbital period of the planet. Or planets.

In this case, HD 40307 was originally observed a little while back by HARPS, and three planets were found. But the data are public, so a team of astronomers grabbed it and used a more sensitive method to extract any planetary signatures from the data. They found the three previously-seen planets easily enough, but also found three more! One of them is from a planet that has (at least) seven times the mass of the Earth, and orbits with a 198 day period. Called HD 40307g (planets are named after their host star, with a lower case letter after starting with b), its in the "super-Earth" range: more massive than Earth, but less than, say Neptune (which is 17 times our mass).

We dont know how big the planet is, unfortunately. It might be dense and only a little bigger than Earth, or it could be big and puffy. But if its density and size are just so, it could easily have about the same surface gravity as Earth that is, if you stood on it, youd weight the same as you do now!

But the very interesting thing is that it orbits the star at a distance of about 90 million kilometers (55 million miles) closer to its star than is is to the Sun but thats good! The star is fainter and cooler than the Sun, remember. In fact, at this distance, the planet is right in the stars "habitable zone", where the temperature is about right for liquid water to exist!

Thats exciting because of the prospect for life. Now, whenever I mention this I hear from people who get all huffy and say that we dont know you need water for life. Thats true, but look around. Water is common on Earth, and here we are. We dont know that you need water for life, but we do know that water is abundant and we need it. We dont know for sure of any other ways for life to form, so it makes sense to look where we understand things best. And that means liquid water.

Heres a diagram of the system as compared to our own:

Note the scales are a bit different, so that the habitable zones of the Sun and of HD 40307 line up better (remember, HD 40307g is actually closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun an AU is the distance of the Earth to the Sun, so HD 40307 is about 0.6 AU from its star). What makes me smile is that the new planet is actually better situated in its "Goldilocks Zone" than Earth is! Thats good news, actually: the orbit may be elliptical (the shape cant be determined from the types of observations made) but still stay entirely in the stars habitable zone.

And take a look at the system: the other planets all orbit closer to the star! We only have two inside Earths orbit in our solar system but all five of HD 40307s planets would fit comfortably inside Mercurys orbit. Amazing.

So this planet if it checks out as being real is one of only a few weve found in the right location for life as we know it. And some of those weve found already are gas giants (though they could have big moons where life could arise). So what this shows us is that the Earth isnt as out of the ordinary as we may have once thought: nature has lots of ways of putting planets the right distances from their stars for life.

Were edging closer all the time to finding that big goal: an Earth-sized, Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star at the right distance for life. This planet is a actually a pretty good fit, but we just dont know enough about it (primarily its size). So Im still waiting. And given the numbers of stars weve observed, and the number of planets we found, as always I have to ask: has Earth II already been observed, and the data just waiting to be uncovered?

Image credits: ESO/M. Kornmesser; Tuomi et al.

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Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

National Capital Astronomers, Washington, D.C. Metro Area

HOME | Telescope Making Workshops | Exploring the Sky | Contact Info | Star Dust Archive | Links

Serving science and society since 1937. The National Capital Astronomers (NCA) is a non-profit, membership supported, volunteer run, public service corporation dedicated to advancing space technology, astronomy, and related sciences through information, participation, and inspiration, via research, lectures and presentations, publications, expeditions, tours, public interpretation, and education. NCA is the astronomy affiliate of the Washington Academy of Sciences. We are also members of the Astronomical League, in fact NCA members helped form the Astronomical League a long time ago.

NCA has for many years published a monthly newsletter called Star Dust that is available for members. Besides announcement of coming NCA meetings and a calendar of monthly events Star Dust contains reviews of past meeting and articles on current astronomical events.

NCA is a very unusual astronomy organization. All are welcome to join. Everyone who looks up to the sky with wonder is an astronomer and welcomed by NCA. You do not have to own a telescope, but if you do own one that is fine, too. You do not have to be deeply knowledgeable in astronomy , but if you are knowledgeable in astronomy that is fine, too. You do not have to have a degree, but if you do that is fine, too. WE ARE THE MOST DIVERSE local ASTRONOMY CLUB anywhere. Come to our meetings and you will find this out. WE REALLY MEAN THIS!

NCA has regular monthly meetings September through June on the second Saturday of the month.

Public transportation: Directions/maps to the UMD Observatory Inclement weather: In case of severe weather (tornado/snow/impassable roads), a notice will be placed on the Observatory Website on the day of the meeting. (Be sure to refresh/reload the page to make sure you are seeing an updated page.)

Most meetings will be held at the University of Maryland Astronomical Observatory in College Park, Maryland.

7:30 pm at the University of Maryland Observatory on Metzerott Road.

Speaker: Dean Howarth and Jennifer Horowitz

Abstract: William Herschel moved from Hanover, Germany to Bath, England, to work as a musician and composer. He was quite successful there, and he pursuaded his sister Caroline to join him in Bath, both as a companion and to join in his musical endeavors. William became an avid amateur astronomer in his spare time. Caroline participated, too, and eventually became an enthusiastic and very skilled observer, participating in William's important discoveries, and then making many of her own. Discovery of Uranus, ending the fruitless attempts by Kepler and others to associate the five previously known planets with the five regular polyhedra.

William was the first to map out the uneven distribution of stars on the celestial sphere. The individual stars that we can see by eye through a telescope are all in our local neighborhood of the Galaxy, so this was the first rough map of the Galaxy, long before we knew that the Milky Way is only one island galaxy, and not the whole Universe.

The talk this evening will share some of the Herschels' stories regarding the discovery of Uranus and comets. But the talk will also point out ... and to speak on the importance of cooperation between like-minded men and women of science. How the primacy of discovery is balanced with peer review and even critique...and scientific societies (like the Royal Society, or even the NCA!) promote a community of discovery. This cosmopolitan ethos was peaking in the 18th century as scientists from across the globe were "citizens of the cosmos".

Bio: Dean Howarth is a veteran physics teacher from northern Virginia. He has created a unique living history program for his students, showing vividly how our understanding of the world has developed. He has extended this activity into a community service, with performances at museums and historic sites. As the Natural Philosopher, Dean recreates episodes in the history of science. His web site is http://www.livinghistoriesofscience.com .

Using a large repertoire of replica scientific devices, specimens, and demonstrations, his living history lessons have been performed at a number of regional museums, schools, historical sites, and festivals. Besides showing the roots of our present understanding, these performances also show how the public first heard about new discoveries.

Mr. Howarth will be joined by one of his former students, Jennifer Horowitz, who is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree from the College of William & Mary. As a student re-enactor, she has performed at Mount Vernon, the Smithsonian Castle, the USA Sci & Engineering Festival, and the Arlington Planetarium.

Weather-permitting, there will be observing through the telescopes after the meeting for members and guests.

Telescope-making and mirror-making classes with Guy Brandenburg at the Chevy Chase Community Center, at the intersection of McKinley Street and Connecticut Avenue, NW, a few blocks inside the DC boundary, on the northeast corner of the intersection, in the basement (wood shop), on Fridays, from 6:30 to 9:30 PM. For information visit Guy's Website To contact Guy, use this phone #: 202-262-4274 orEmail Guy.

Exploring the Sky is an informal program that for over sixty years has offered monthly opportunities for anyone in the Washington area to see the stars and planets through telescopes from a location within the District of Columbia. Sessions are held in Rock Creek Park once each month on a Saturday night from April through November, starting shortly after sunset. We meet in the field just south of the intersection of Military and Glover Roads NW, near the Nature Center. A parking lot is located next to the field. Beginners (including children) and experienced stargazers are all welcome-and it's free! Questions? Call the Nature center at (202) 895-6070 or check: Exploring the Sky @ Rock Creek. Download the flier!

NCA constitution and by-laws current as of August 28, 2005 they need some changes so we can continue to be a healthy organization. NCA constitution and by-laws revision as of October 25, 2005 proposal.

HOME | Telescope Making Workshops | Exploring the Sky | Contact Info | Star Dust Archive | Links

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National Capital Astronomers, Washington, D.C. Metro Area

Los Angeles Astronomical Society – Night Sky Network

The Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) has over 500 dedicated members who share a passionate interest in Astronomy andAstro Photography. Their ages range from children to adults with skills ranging from beginners to professionals in the fields of Astronomy and Space Science. Our members are helpful and enjoy teaching others about telescopes and how to use them. Our society offers the following:

Public Star Parties: Every month, hosted at the Griffith Observatory, LAAS members come from all parts of Los Angeles county to show the public the wonders of the night.

Dark Sky Site: For members and guests only. This special once a month activity allows our LAAS members a place to escape from the LA lights to darker territory where the bigger LAAS scopes, such as the 16 inch Newtonian and the 31 inch Clyde-O-Scope are used for observing. We also host Family Nights in the warmer monthswhen club members bring their families and friendsalong to enjoy a night of dark sky observation and even camp outunder the stars.

If you would like our members to bring telescopes to your school, please click on "Request An Event" above and complete the form that opens. Make sure you follow any instructions at the bottom of the form. Then click "Submit" to send us the form. Look through our calendar of events and make sure that the date you choose is available.

Mirror and Telescope Making: Extensive teaching and tools are available to help you build your very own telescope at the Garvey Ranch Observatory/Workshop. These classes are free to the public.

We encourageallyouth groups and Boy or Girl Scout troopsin Los Angeles County to join us for an evening of astronomy. Call: 213-673-7355 for info.

LAAS Library: Our library of books and magazines is available to members and to a limited extent, the public. We have afine source of booksrelated to astronomy from telescope making to supernovas.

NIGHT SKY NETWORK REGISTRATION INFORMATION

If you wish to register on the Night Sky Network (NSN), you MUST be a current member of the LAAS. Please do NOT complete a registration form if you are NOT a current member. Once your membership has been approved by our Board of Directors, you will receive an email from a club coordinator asking you to complete the registration form. If you are NOT a current member, your registration information will be deleted. You are welcome to explore the Night Sky Network and use many of the resources available for the public without being a registered member. If you have any questions, please write to Coordinator@LAAS.org for further information.

Filming the LAAS - Please contact Club President, Geo Somoza atgeovanni_somoza@hotmail.com.

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Los Angeles Astronomical Society - Night Sky Network

NRAO: Revealing the Hidden Universe

ALMA Trilateral Agreement Signing Ceremony

The ALMA partners signed an agreement for operation of ALMA for next 20 years. 

Associated Universities, Inc. has recently launched a brand new website. Click "Read more" to view it now!

Radar imagery of asteroid 1998 WT24 obtained by NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar and the GBT.

Observations requiring C34-7 will be made after the next austral summer.

ALMA observations find compelling evidence of planets in formation.

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and NRAO have successfully teamed to obtain first fringes on the Very Large Array (VLA) Low Frequency and Ionosphere Transient Experiment (VLITE).

Applications to become 2016 ACEAP ambassador are being accepted now.

ALMA discovers monstrous galaxies in dark matter cradle.

Clues to origin of Fast Radio Burst mined from GBT data.

Astronomers have made a significant step toward confirming a proposed explanation for how solar flares accelerate charged particles to speeds nearly that of light.

Associated Universities Inc. Has Been Selected as the Management Organization for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory: Largest NSF Cooperative Agreement Ever for Astronomical Research.

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NRAO: Revealing the Hidden Universe

NMSU Astronomy – New Mexico State University

We are excited and pleased to welcome two new faculty members to the Department of Astronomy in Fall 2015. Dr. Moire Prescott studies distant gas clouds and their connection to the formation of galaxies, and Dr. Kristian Finlator works with numerical simulations of gas around galaxies.

On the cusp of his retirement, Bernie McNamara, astronomy professor at New Mexico State University for 40 years, has won the top prize in this year's Joan and Arnold Seidel Griffith Observer Science Writing Contest. It is the oldest and most prestigious writing contest in astronomy.

McNamara won first prize in the contest, which comes with a $1,000 award. His article, Tsien Hsue-shen and China's First Satellite: A Collision between Politics and Technology, will be published in the Griffith Observer in August. The contest is open to scientists, writers and members of the public to encourage writing about astronomy, astrophysics, and space science for the average reader.

As a longtime professor in the College of Arts and Sciences who once shared an office with Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto, McNamara has numerous scholarly publications to his credit. However, the Griffith Observer contest is about writing for a broader audience.

Congratulations to recently Ph.D. student Nikole Nielsen, who received NMSU's Outstanding Graduate Student award for the 2014/15 academic year!

We also are excited to acknowledge graduate students Diane Feuillet, winner of the 2015 Murrell Award for outstanding research or professional development, Sean Markert, winner of the 2014 Pegasus Award for excellence in teaching, and to Kyle Degrave, who was recently awarded the 2014 Zia Award for excellence in research.

Our hats go off to our six astronomy graduate students (shown below) who participated in the NMSU College of Arts & Sciences Three-Minute Thesis Competition on April 5, 2014. Students had three minutes each to present a thesis project (on one slide) and make the case in as compelling a fashion as possible, in an event designed to encourage graduate students to polish their communication skills and engage an audience.

Our students did us all proud! Graduate research fellow Kyle Uckert (third from left) won first place in the competition with his solar system presentation, while Kyle Degrave (second from right) scored a third place win for his talk on helioseismology. Just imagine what they'll be able to cover in 45 minutes for a full PhD thesis presentation ...

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NMSU Astronomy - New Mexico State University

Stargazing at New Jersey Planetariums and Observatories

Where to go to see the sky's stars in NJ

By Mary Ann McGann and Vicky Valet

Published: June 4, 2015

Four hundred years ago, the Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist Galileo first used a simple telescope to study the skies. In 2009, we celebrated the International Year of Astronomy to commemorate that important anniversary of scientific history.

While the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City is always a superb option in your personal quest to reach for the skies, New Jersey also has some top-notch planetariums and observatories of its own.

There has been a lot of mention recently in the media about the sorry state of science education in the United States, says Kevin Conod, astronomer and planetarium manager at the Newark Museums Dreyfuss Planetarium. Astronomy is a great way to get kids interested in science, since it is so interdisciplinary. In our programs, we cover earth science, life science, astronomy, physics, and mythology.

The Dreyfuss Planetarium was built in 1953 and was the first of its kind in the state. Since then, approximately 1.5 million people have visited its 50-seat star theater, which boasts a Zeiss ZKP3 star projector, capable of projecting up to 7,000 stars.

The Planetarium at Raritan Valley Community College in North Branch uses new digital equipment to take visitors beyond the more traditional, earthbound view.

We can travel through our solar system more realistically, says Jerry Vinski, director of The Planetarium. We can recreate what Galileo saw.

Another facility offering cutting-edge technology is the Planetarium at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. The 150-seat facility with reclining seats features a Full Dome Video with the visual ability to soar into space to view other planets and Earth itself.

In addition, amateur astronomy clubs at facilities such as the Sperry Observatory at Union County College and the Robert A. Schommer Astronomical Observatory at Rutgers offer their time and telescopes to the general public, taking visitors on tours of the nighttime sky.

The sky is chock full of bright stars, says Newark Museums Conod. Not to mention planets, galaxies, nebulae, constellations, and much more. Which makes any clear night a perfect time for stargazing.

Here is a listing of New Jersey planetariums and observatories. Some offer shows that require reservations, so its a good idea to call ahead and check schedules. Admission prices at planetariums that are part of museums may be added to museum admission. If planetariums and observatories pique your interest in stargazing and you'd like to learn more, think about joining one of the United Astronomy Clubs in New Jersey.

The Longo Planetarium The County College of Morris 214 Center Grove Rd., Randolph, NJ 973-328-5755

Dreyfuss Planetarium The Newark Museum 49 Washington St., Newark, NJ 973-596-6550

New Jersey State Museum Planetarium 205 West State St., Trenton, NJ 609-292-6308

Raritan Valley Community College Planetarium 118 Lamington Rd., Branchburg, NJ 908-231-8805

Robert J. Novins Planetarium Ocean County College College Drive, Toms River, NJ 732-255-0343

Edleman Planetarium Science Hall, Rowan University 201 Mullica Hill Rd., Glassboro, NJ 856-256-4389

Peyton Hall Astronomical Observatory Temporarily relocated to Green Hall, Third Floor Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 609-258-3801

Many observatories dont open if its raining or cloudy, so call ahead if the weather is questionable. (Note: please call ahead to confirm all information such as times and dates.)

North Jersey Astronomical Group Montclair State University, Richardson Hall One Normal Ave., Montclair, NJ 973-655-4000

Paul H. Robinson Observatory Edwin E. Aldrin Astronomical Center Voorhees State Park, Lebanon Township, NJ 908-638-8500

Robert A. Schommer Astronomical Observatory Serin Physics Laboratories, Busch Campus of Rutgers University 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 848-445-8973

John W. H. Simpson Observatory Washington Crossing State Park 355 Washington Crossing, Titusville, NJ 609-737-2575

William Miller Sperry Observatory Union County College 1033 Springfield Ave., Cranford, NJ 908-276-2730

William D. McDowell Observatory 2DeKortePark Plaza,Lyndhurst, NJ 201-460-4623

United Astronomy Club of New Jersey 333 State Park Rd., Hope, NJ 908-459-4909

Mary Ann McGann is freelance writer from New Jersey. She has two children.

Whether its raining, snowing or just too hot to go outside, here are 50 places indoors where the kids can have fun in a climate controlled environment. From bookstores, to craft spots to gyms and pools, there's plenty to do.

Make treats the whole family will love long after trick-or-treating is over. Facebook: If trick-or-treating left you with more candy than you thought even existed, try out these great recipes to make it disappear in no time.

Our picks for the best things to do in NJ with kids this weekend.

Weve done all the work for youthis is the only list youll need for the best free family takes all over the state this month.

Here are the top 7 things to do with your under-5 cutie pies this month.

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Stargazing at New Jersey Planetariums and Observatories

Astronomy Store | Telescopes, Solar & Stargazing Scopes

The OpticsPlanet Astronomy Store is where you'll find great deals on astronomical products allowing the avid star-gazer to observe the galaxies above! Featuring a huge inventory of telescopes, astronomy binoculars and spotting scopes from world renowned brands like Celestron, Meade, Vixen Optics, Bushnell, TeleVue and many other top manufacturers. OpticsPlanet also has solarscopes for those who want to safely view the brilliant rays of the sun! Various astronomy accessories, including telescope eyepieces, filters, astronomical software, tripods and tripod accessories are also readily available to enhance your star-gazing experience!

Some of the superb astronomy products for sale online at Optics Planet include Meade telescopes, Oberwerk binoculars, Celestron binoculars, Celestron Telescopes and Galileo binoculars. If you have any questions regarding any of our astronomy telescopes, astronomy tools, or any particular astronomy product, please do not hesitate to contact us! If you have any questions and need some great astronomy information, please feel free to contact our product specialists! They will be able to guide you in the proper direction and help you figure out what particular astronomy products will be the most beneficial for your particular situation. Our product experts have decades of experience with astronomy equipment and with the varying astronomy technology that may have changed since the last time you picked up a telescope.

Our astronomy store is here to assist you in finding the best quality astronomy equipment online, at the best price! From telescope accessories, mounts and eyepieces, we have the best and broadest selection of astronomy products on the net! Optics Planet offers free ground shipping on most products in our astronomy store!

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Astronomy Store | Telescopes, Solar & Stargazing Scopes