Astronomy Reference Libraries
Tucana Constellation -- Location: Southern Hemisphere (polar region); Coordinates: Right Ascension: 24h; Declination: -65; Source: 17th century Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, with astronomer Johann Bayer Tucana is named for the Toucan, a brightly colored South American bird with a very large, thick bill. The shape of the constellation looks like the bird's...
Taurus (the bull) Constellation -- Location: Zodiac constellation, visible in both Hemispheres; Coordinates: Right Ascension: 04h; Declination: +15; Source: Bull legends from various ancient civilizations, also Greek mythology, Egyptian, Arab, other The constellations that are included in the Zodiac - the 12 constellations recognized by Babylonian astronomers through which our Sun, moon,...
Centaurus Constellation -- Centaurus (the centaur) was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and counts also among the 88 modern constellations. A constellation of the southern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.), Ptolemy catalogued thirty-seven stars in it. It contains Proxima Centauri, the red dwarf that is the nearest known star...
Terraforming -- Terraforming (literally, "Earth-shaping") is the process of modifying a planet, moon or other body to a more habitable atmosphere, temperature or ecology. The term was first used in a science fiction novel, 'Seetee Shock' (1940?) by Jack Williamson, but the actual concept is older than that. An example in fiction is 'First and Last Men' by Olaf Stapledon in which Venus is...
Tycho Brahe -- Tycho Brahe (December 14, 1546 - October 24, 1601) was a Danish astronomer. He had Uraniborg built; which become an early "research institute". For purposes of publication, Tycho owned a printing press and paper mill. His best known assistant was Kepler. Tycho realized that progress in the science of astronomy could be achieved, not by occasional haphazard observations, but...
X-Ray Astronomy -- Although the more energetic X-rays (E > 30 keV) can penetrate the air at least for distances of a few meters (they would never have been detected and medical X-ray machines would not work if this was not the case) the Earth's atmosphere is thick enough that virtually none are able to penetrate from outer space all the way to the Earth's surface. X-rays in the 0.5 - 5 keV...
Very Large Telescope -- The Very Large Telescope (VLT) consist of four optical telescopes that have 8.4 meter aperture. The VLT is a project of the European Southern Observatory organization. It is located at the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal, a 2,635-m high mountain in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. The VLT consists of a cluster four of large telescopes, and an...
Very Large Array -- The Very Large Array, one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles)...
UV Astronomy -- UV astronomy is the branch of astronomy and astrophysics which deals with objects visible in ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UV radiation ranges approximatively from 10nm (extreme UV) to 380nm (near UV). Ultraviolet line spectrum measurements are used to discern the chemical composition, densities, and temperatures of interstellar medium, and the temperature and composition...
Terrestrial Planet Finder -- The Terrestrial Planet Finder is a proposed NASA telescope system capable of detecting extrasolar terrestrial planets. In May 2002, NASA chose two TPF mission architecture concepts for further study and technology development. Each would use a different means to achieve the same goal - to block the light from a parent star in order to see its much smaller,...
