Latest astronomer Stories

Though the universe is filled with billions upon billions of stars, the discovery of a single variable star in 1923 altered the course of modern astronomy. And, at least one famous astronomer of the time lamented that the discovery had shattered his world view.The star goes by the inauspicious name of Hubble variable number one, or V1, and resides in the outer regions of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, or M31. But in the early 1900s, most astronomers considered the Milky Way a single...

The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks this year on Dec. 13th and 14th, is the most intense meteor shower of the year. It lasts for days, is rich in fireballs, and can be seen from almost any point on Earth. It's also NASA astronomer Bill Cooke's favorite meteor shower"”but not for any of the reasons listed above."The Geminids are my favorite," he explains, "because they defy explanation."Most meteor showers come from comets, which spew ample meteoroids for a night of 'shooting stars.' The...

Amateur astronomers working with professional astronomers have spotted two fireballs lighting up Jupiter's atmosphere this summer, marking the first time Earth-based telescopes have captured relatively small objects burning up in the atmosphere of the giant planet. The two fireballs "“ which produced bright freckles on Jupiter that were visible through backyard telescopes "“ occurred on June 3, 2010, and August 20, 2010, respectively.A new paper that includes both pros and amateurs, led...

Hundreds of extrasolar planets have been found over the past decade and a half, most of them solitary worlds orbiting their parent star in seeming isolation. With further observation, however, one in three of these systems have been found to have two or more planets. Planets, it appears, come in bunches. Most of these systems contain planets that orbit too far from one another to feel each other's gravity. In just a handful of cases, planets have been found near enough to one another to...

Without warning, a mystery object struck Jupiter on July 19, 2009, leaving a dark bruise the size of the Pacific Ocean. The spot first caught the eye of an amateur astronomer in Australia, and soon, observatories around the world, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, were zeroing in on the unexpected blemish.Astronomers had witnessed this kind of cosmic event before. Similar scars had been left behind during the course of a week in July 1994, when more than 20 pieces of Comet...

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so University of California, Berkeley, astronomer Paul Kalas found out when he published a Hubble Space Telescope image of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut.Since it appeared in the journal Science in November 2008, "the image of Fomalhaut, its visually striking belt of comet dust and its planet has become an iconic image of a planetary system," said Kalas, an adjunct associate professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley.National...

Amateur astronomers, enthusiasts and the general public will be taking part in a three-day sky watching party this week in order to celebrate the achievements of Galileo.Dubbed the "Galilean Nights," the party will last from October 22 to 24. The purpose of the celebration is to allow people in countries across the globe to gaze into the sky, many of them for their first time.The event is being promoted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). It is said to include more than 1,000...

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New data from the Deep Impact spacecraft and the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an instrument aboard India's recently ended Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, provide, for the first time, clear evidence that water exists on the surface of the Moon. "The Deep Impact observations of the Moon not only unequivocally confirm the presence of OH/H2O on the lunar surface, but also reveal that the entire lunar surface is hydrated during at least some...

ESO has released a striking new image of a nearby galaxy that many astronomers think closely resembles our own Milky Way. Though the galaxy is seen edge-on, observations of NGC 4945 suggest that this hive of stars is a spiral galaxy much like our own, with swirling, luminous arms and a bar-shaped central region. These resemblances aside, NGC 4945 has a brighter centre that likely harbors a supermassive black hole, which is devouring reams of matter and blasting energy out into space.As NGC...

Light pollution compromises the ability of astronomers everywhere to see the stars clearly, which has prompted the International Astronomical Union to fight for the public's "right to starlight."Founded in 1919, the union is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, who are active in professional research and education in astronomy. Their mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international...