Latest Astronomers Stories

At a major planetary defense conference in Flagstaff, AZ, last evening, the Planetary Society announced the winners of its 2013 Shoemaker Near Earth Object (NEO) grants and was recognized itself for the Society’s long history of international leadership in the detection and mitigation of threatening asteroids, and other planetary discoveries. “As the Chelyabinsk impact demonstrated, asteroid impacts happen; they are dangerous, destructive, with no regard for human life,” said Bill...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A paper written by the historian Michael Hoskin and published in the Journal for the History of Astronomy claims Sir William Herschel may not be a "Sir" after all. Hoskin says that William and John Herschel were both made a knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, an event that typically leads to someone earning themselves the title of "Sir." However, the historian said they were in fact not given the "Sir" titles at all....

SNAXPO 76TH Annual Exhibition & Conference to be held in Tampa, FL. at the Tampa Marriott Waterside - Tampa Convention Center. (PRWEB) March 08, 2013 Russell Associates CEO Jerry Van Oort and Senior Consultants Greg Jordan and Kevin Gilbert will exhibit at the 2013 Snaxpo Annual Exhibition & Conference. This year marks the 76 year anniversary of the event held March 16-19 at the Tampa Marriott Waterside – Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, FL. Van Oort sees his and others’...

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online On this day 540 years ago, the revolutionary mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Toruń, Poland. Throughout his life, he studied art, astronomy, economics, mathematics and physics. He is considered a founder of Heliocentrism, the belief the sun is at the center of the Solar System, a view which he presented in his iconoclastic book entitled “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” (“On the Revolutions of...

Science-writer Shaun Johnston has posted online the script for a 40-minute play designed to stimulate discussion among biology and philosophy student groups on the mechanism and meaning of evolution ROSENDALE, NY (PRWEB) August 31, 2012 Charles Darwin is in heaven, gazing down at Earth, when Galileo joins him to ask him, what’s so interesting down there? So begins a 40-minute dialogue between Darwin and Galileo that explores how and why we evolved. The central theme of Johnston’s...

NASA has selected six planet hunters as the recipients of the 2012 Carl Sagan Exoplanet Postdoctoral Fellowships, named after the late astronomer. The fellowship was created to inspire the next generation of explorers seeking to learn more about planets, and possibly life, around other stars. The Sagan Fellowship's primary goal is to support outstanding recent postdoctoral scientists in conducting independent research related to the science goals of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program....

Dr. Tony Phillips, Science@NASAOne day, years from now--or maybe billions of years, no one knows--aliens might be surprised to run across an old spaceship from Earth. Improbably far from home, the ancient probe is space cold, its nuclear power source spent long ago; an iconic white antenna points silently into the void, beaming no data to the species that made it. Yet this Voyager may speak to its finders. A golden record is fixed to the side of the probe, and if ET can decipher it, he might...

New agencies were abuzz Monday morning with reports that the head of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) had been elected to be the first point of contact for alien lifeforms. Different reports said that astrophysicist Mazlan Othman feels Earth needs a proper welcome mat for when extraterrestrials meet human life forms. The Australian reported that she recently told fellow scientists:  "The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the...

NASA has selected seven scientists as recipients of Carl Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowships in exoplanet exploration for 2010. The Sagan Fellowships support outstanding recent postdoctoral scientists in conducting independent research broadly related to the science goals of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. That program's primary goal is to discover and characterize planetary systems and Earth-like planets around other stars."The Sagan Fellowship identifies and supports the most...

Astronomers announced today that they have discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. They found the distant planet with a small fleet of ground-based telescopes no larger than those many amateur astronomers have in their backyards. Although the super-Earth is too hot to sustain life, the discovery shows that current, ground-based technologies are capable of finding almost-Earth-sized planets in warm, life-friendly orbits.The discovery is being...