Portal:Astronomy
Astronomy portal
Astronomy (from Greek: ἀστρονομία) is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates outside Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy. It studies the Universe as a whole.
Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the past, astronomy included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars. Nowadays, professional astronomy is often said to be the same as astrophysics.
Professional astronomy is split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects. This data is then analyzed using basic principles of physics. Theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. These two fields complement each other. Theoretical astronomy seeks to explain observational results and observations are used to confirm theoretical results.
Amateurs play an active role in astronomy. It is one of the few sciences in which this is the case. This is especially true for the discovery and observation of transient events. Amateur astronomers have helped with many important discoveries, such as finding new comets.
Selected article
Covered by numerous impact craters reaching 210 km (130 mi) in diameter, Umbriel is the second most heavily cratered satellite of Uranus after Oberon. The most prominent surface feature is a ring of bright material on the floor of Wunda crater. This moon, like all moons of Uranus, probably formed from an accretion disk that surrounded the planet just after its formation. The Uranian system has been studied up close only once, by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in January 1986. It took several images of Umbriel, which allowed mapping of about 40% of the moon’s surface.
Did you know...
- ... that the asteroid 2011 XC2 missed the Earth by less than 1 lunar distance on 3 December 2011?
- ... that the mass-luminosity relation, first derived by Arthur Eddington in 1924, helps astronomers find the distances to binary star systems?
- ... that the planetary nebula Abell 39 is unusually spherical, yet its central star is offset from the center?
- ... that data from Mariner 10 led to the discovery of Mercury's magnetic field in 1974?
- ... that the Toronto Magnetic Observatory had to be moved as the University of Toronto's electric lighting was interfering with observations?
Subcategories
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Projects
Selected image
Messier 82, also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy, and M82, is the prototype starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The starburst galaxy is five times more luminous than the whole Milky Way, and one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy's center. This mosaic image, taken by the Hubble Telescope, is the sharpest wide-angle view ever obtained of Messier 82.
Astronomy News
- 12 September 2019 – Interstellar objects
- C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), a second interstellar comet after ʻOumuamua in 2017, is discovered by an amateur astronomer. (BBC)
- 19 August 2019 –
- Astronomers led by a team from McGill University in Montreal announce the detection of eight new repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope. The astronomers report they also found complex morphologies and downward-drifting sub-bursts in some of the eight new FRBs. (Phys.org)
- 1 August 2019 – List of nearest exoplanets
- Astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy announce the discovery of red dwarf star GJ 357 and its three confirmed exoplanets in the Hydra constellation, one of which (GJ 357 d) is highly likely to be a super-Earth planet located in the system's circumstellar habitable zone where life can exist. The discovery was made using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). (The Independent)
- 17 July 2019 –
- Astronomers rule out the chances of ~30-meter asteroid 2006 QV89's impacting Earth in September 2019 by eliminating the possibility of its passing through an area where it would have to be if it were on an impacting orbit. Prior to this, the asteroid had been given a one-in-7,000 chance of impacting Earth. (phys.org)
- 31 January 2019 –
- Astronomers announce, through the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal, the accidental discovery of dwarf spheroidal galaxy Bedin I in the Pavo constellation in September 2018. (Space Telescope)
- 17 December 2018 –
- Astronomers announce the discovery of trans-Neptunian object 2018 VG18, the most distant object in the Solar System ever observed at a distance of ~120 AU. (Space.com)
September anniversaries
- 5 September 1977 – Space probe Voyager 1 is launched on a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn
- 23 September 1846 – The planet Neptune is discovered by Johann Gottfried Galle using mathematical equations from John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier
- 12 September 2013 – NASA announces that 19 days earlier, Voyager 1 had become the first man-made object to cross the heliopause and enter interstellar space
Things you can do
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Wikibooks
These books may be in various stages of development. See also the related Science and Mathematics bookshelves.
- Astronomy
- GAT: A Glossary of Astronomical Terms
- Introduction to Astrophysics
- General relativity
- Observing the Sky from 30°S
- Observing the Sky from 40°N
Wikijunior
Astronomical events
All times UT unless otherwise specified.
| 2 September, 10:42 | Mars at conjunction |
| 4 September, 01:42 | Mercury at superior conjunction |
| 8 September, 13:42 | Moon occults Saturn |
| 9 September, 03:05 | Moon occults Pluto |
| 10 September | Neptune at opposition |
| 13 September, 13:16 | Moon at apogee |
| 14 September, 04:33 | Full moon |
| 23 September, 07:50 | Earth southward equinox |
| 28 September, 02:17 | Moon at perigee |
| 28 September, 18:26 | New moon |
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Basics
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