Portal:Astronomy

The Astronomy Portal

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

Astronomy portal

Astronomy (from Greek: ἀστρονομία) is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets; the phenomena also includes supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, all phenomena that originate outside Earth's atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology, which is the study of the Universe as a whole.

Astronomy is one of the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas, performed methodical observations of the night sky. Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars, but professional astronomy is now often considered to be synonymous with astrophysics.

Professional astronomy is split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, which 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. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain observational results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results.

Astronomy is one of the few sciences in which amateurs still play an active role, especially in the discovery and observation of transient events. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, such as finding new comets.

edit

Selected article

Triton is the largest moon of the planet Neptune, discovered on October 10, 1846 by William Lassell. It is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit, which is an orbit in the opposite direction to its planet's rotation. At 2700 km in diameter, it is the seventh-largest moon in the Solar System. Because of its retrograde orbit and composition similar to Pluto's, Triton is thought to have been captured from the Kuiper belt. Triton consists of a crust of frozen nitrogen over an icy mantle believed to cover a substantial core of rock and metal. The core makes up two-thirds of its total mass. Triton has a mean density of 2.061 g/cm³ and is composed of approximately 15–35% water ice.

Triton is one of the few moons in the Solar System known to be geologically active. As a consequence, its surface is relatively young, with a complex geological history revealed in intricate and mysterious cryovolcanic and tectonic terrains. Part of its crust is dotted with geysers believed to erupt nitrogen.

The moon was discovered by British astronomer William Lassell just 17 days after Neptune itself was discovered by German astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, who were following co-ordinates given them by French astronomer and mathematician Urbain Le Verrier.

...Archive/Nominations

Read more...

edit

Did you know...

... that although color-blind, Nicholas U. Mayall was better able to detect faint galaxies than most other astronomers?
... that The Man in the Moone, a 1638 book by the English bishop Francis Godwin, is considered one of the first science fiction books?
... that the galaxy Markarian 501 produces very high energy gamma rays?
... that the Near-Earth object and Mars-crosser asteroid 2007 WD5 is estimated to have a 1-in-75 chance of colliding with Mars?
... that hydroxyl megamasers were used to make the first detection of Zeeman splitting in a galaxy other than the Milky Way?

Read more...

edit

Subcategories

Select [►] to view subcategories

▼ Astronomy

► Astronomy by location

► Astronomical objects

► Astronomical sub-disciplines

► Outer space

► Space art

► Astronomers

► Astronomical controversies

► Astronomical hypotheses

► Celestial coordinate system

► Astronomical clocks

► Constellations

► Cosmogony

► Dark-sky preserves

► Astronomy data and publications

► Astronomical dynamical systems

► Astronomy education

► Astronomical events

► Astronomy events

► History of astronomy

► Astronomical instruments

► Astronomy-related lists

► Astronomical myths

► Astronomy organizations

► People associated with astronomy

► Philosophy of astronomy

► Astronomy prizes

► Astronomy projects

► Sky regions

► Space observatories

► Time in astronomy

► Units of measurement in astronomy

► Unsolved problems in astronomy

► Works about astronomy

► Wikipedia books on astronomy

► Astronomy stubs

edit

Projects

WikiProject Astronomy	WikiProject Solar System



WikiProject Cosmology	WikiProject Spaceflight

edit

Space-related Portals

Star	Spaceflight	Moon


Space	Solar System	Mars

X-ray astronomy	Cosmology	Jupiter

edit

Selected image

Credit: NASA/ESA/AURA/Caltech

In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

More selected pictures...

Read more...

edit

December anniversaries

14 December 1962 - Mariner 2 becomes the first space probe to perform a flyby of a planet, when it passes within 35,000 kilometers of Venus
19 December 2013 - Gaia was launched. Its mission is to study billions of stars in the Milky Way
21 December 1968 - Apollo 8, the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Moon, orbit it, and return safely to Earth, is launched

More anniversaries

edit

Things you can do

Here are some Open Tasks :

Copyedit: Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, Europa (moon) More...
Wikify: More...
Merge: More...
Requests: Borde-Vilenkin-Guth Theorem, Antigalaxy, Sunspot index, undefined names in the List of astronomers, More...
Stubs: D Ring, Diffraction spike More...
Discuss deletion: No deletion requests

Astronomy featured article candidates:

No current candidates

Astronomy articles for which peer review has been requested:

edit

Wikibooks

These books may be in various stages of development. See also the related Science and Mathematics bookshelves.

Wikijunior

Solar System

edit

Wikiversity

Hypervelocity stellar "meteors"

The Hubble Space Telescope image shows four high-velocity, runaway stars plowing through their local interstellar medium. Credit: NASA - Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.{{free media}}

Def. a star moving faster than 65 km/s to 100 km/s relative to the average motion of the stars in the Sun's neighbourhood is called a high-velocity star.

Def. a high-velocity star moving through space with an abnormally high velocity relative to the surrounding interstellar medium is called a runaway star.

Def. a star whose elliptical orbit takes it well outside the plane of its galaxy at steep angles is called a halo star.

...Archive

Read more...

edit

Astronomical events

All times UT unless otherwise specified.

7 December, 07:20	New moon
9 December, 05:18	Moon occults Saturn
10 December, 03:33	Moon occults Pluto
12 December, 12:30	Moon at apogee
14 December, 10:00	Geminids peak
15 December	Comet 46P/Wirtanen at maximum brightness
15 December, 11:30	Mercury at greatest western elongation
21 December, 22:23	Earth at southern solstice
22 December, 17:49	Full moon
24 December, 09:56	Moon at perigee