Asronomy
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Carl Sagan
Astronomy
Universe
Spaceflight
Satellite Tracking
Asteroids, Meteors and Comets
Extrasolar Planets
Solarsystem
Astronomy, Solar System and Earth
Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy
One of the most fascinating questions that occurs when contemplating the universe is whether there other life exists, equally or more intelligent than we. Are there alien eyes looking at our star or our galaxy and do these creatures ask the same cosmological questions we ask? Nobody knows, although the straightforward application of the Copernican Principle suggests that we cannot be unique in the universe. Is there other life in the universe? How can we begin to answer that question, in the absence of direct evidence to answer the question in the affirmative? One way is through something known as the Drake equation, named after the astronomer Frank Drake.
A New Explanation
Photos
Penn State Live - Nearby supernovas may aid in understanding of star lifecycles
This large Chandra image shows the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way, a mere 7,500 light years from Earth. For a larger version, click on the image above. Credit: ASA/CXC/PSU/L.Townsley et al. University Park, Pa. — According to a wealth of new data from NASA's X-ray Observatory , what scientists are calling a "supernova factory" has come to life in the Carnia Nebula, located a mere 7,500 light years from Earth. This discovery may help astronomers to better understand how some of the Milky Way Galaxy's heaviest and youngest stars race through their lives and release newly-forged elements into their surroundings. "The Carina Nebula is one of the best places we know about to study how young massive stars live and die," said Leisa Townsley of Penn State, who led the large Chandra campaign to observe Carina.
Last modified September 2008 by rwo Text copyright © 1998-2008 Robert W. O'Connell. All rights reserved.
ASTR 1230, Whittle [Fall 2009]. Lecture Notes
Around a black hole 12 billion light years away, there's an almost unimaginable vapor cloud of water--enough to supply an entire planet's worth of water for every person on earth, 20,000 times over. Researchers found a lake of water so large that it could provide each person on Earth an entire planet’s worth of water--20,000 times over. Yes, so much water out there in space that it could supply each one of us all the water on Earth--Niagara Falls, the Pacific Ocean, the polar ice caps, the puddle in the bottom of the canoe you forgot to flip over--20,000 times over. The water is in a cloud around a huge black hole that is in the process of sucking in matter and spraying out energy (such an active black hole is called a quasar), and the waves of energy the black hole releases make water by literally knocking hydrogen and oxygen atoms together.
Scientists Discover The Oldest, Largest Body Of Water In Existence--In Space | Fast Company
Gliese 581d is the outlying planet in the Gliese 581 system, and orbits its parent star every 66.8 days. It may be covered by a large and deep ocean and is the first serious 'waterworld' candidate discovered beyond our Solar System. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
First 'habitable' exoplanet confirmed | COSMOS magazine
German astronauts A special website presenting all the German astronauts that have flown in space, and the latest German astronaut candidate – Alexander Gerst. In 1978, Sigmund Jähn, a citizen of the German Democratic Republic, became the first German to travel to space. In addition to Jähn, this astronaut special contains brief biographies of Ulf Merbold, Reinhard Furrer, Ernst Messerschmid, Ulrich Walter, Klaus-Dietrich Flade, Reinhold Ewald, Gerhard Thiele and Thomas Reiter.
DLR - German Aerospace Center
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It operates three sites in Chile — La Silla , Paranal and Chajnantor — on behalf of its fifteen member states.
ESO
The line of sight from Earth to Mars pinpoints how Mars moves against the distant background of fixed stars. This motion is identical in the Ptolemaic and Copernican models (simplified here to circular orbits.) The toggle buttons show the line of sight, and the Ptolemaic Martian orbit.