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.
Astronomy is one of the few sciences in which amateurs play an active role. 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. (Full article...)
Image 6An amateur astrophotography setup with an automated guide system connected to a laptop. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 7Segment of the astronomical ceiling of Senenmut's Tomb (circa 1479–1458 BCE), depicting constellations, protective deities, and twenty-four segmented wheels for the hours of the day and the months of the year (from History of astronomy)
Image 8Comparison of CMB (Cosmic microwave background) results from satellites COBE, WMAP and Planck documenting a progress in 1989–2013 (from History of astronomy)
Image 10An image of the Cat's Paw Nebula created combining the work of professional and amateur astronomers. The image is the combination of the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope of the La Silla Observatory in Chile and a 0.4-meter amateur telescope. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 13Amateur astronomy groups are often involved in outreach in order to introduce astronomy to the general public (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 14Amateur astronomer recording observations of the sun. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 15Artist conception of the Big Bang cosmological model, the most widely accepted out of all in physical cosmology (neither time nor size to scale) (from Physical cosmology)
Image 18ALMA is the world's most powerful telescope for studying the Universe at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 21Portrait of the Flemish astronomer Ferdinand Verbiest who became Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory of the Chinese emperor in 1669 (from Astronomer)
Image 23Places like Paranal Observatory offer crystal clear skies for observing astronomical objects with or without instruments. (from Amateur astronomy)
The Kuiper belt is named in honor of Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who conjectured the existence of a similar belt in 1951. However, it was not until 1980 that astronomer Julio Angel Fernandez published a paper suggesting the existence of a comet belt beyond Neptune, which could serve as a source for short-period comets. Although the Kuiper belt is named after Gerard Kuiper, Fernandez was the researcher who first predicted its existence. (Full article...)
... that pushbacks of migrants in the Aegean Sea have been described as "a human rights violation that encapsulates a will to eliminate a person's presence on the face of the planet"?
... that by naming her album Planet Her, Doja Cat was "just trying to be cute" and was not promoting a feminist agenda nor a planet exclusively for women?
... that Nandivada Rathnasree, who ran Delhi's planetarium, proposed that astronomers could be taught using India's stone-built observatories?
... that it took five years of observations to find the planet orbiting the star HD 175167?
Credit: Nathan Smith (University of California, Berkeley) / NASA
Gamma-ray burst progenitors are the types of celestial objects that can emit gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). GRBs show an extraordinary degree of diversity. They can last anywhere from a fraction of a second to many minutes. Image is Eta Carinae, in the constellation of Carina, one of the nearer candidates for a hypernova.
Astronomers report that the presence of phosphates on Enceladus, moon of the planet Saturn, has been detected, completing the discovery of all the basic chemical ingredients for life on the moon. (New York Times)
8 September 1966 – The first episode of a new television science fiction series "Star Trek" is shown on NBC-TV
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
15 September 2017 – The Cassini spacecraft plunges into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet