Category Archives: Instruments

includes telescopes and space probes

The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Chloe

When it comes to reflecting telescopes, bigger can mean better. The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC), located on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, Spain, is currently the largest single-aperture optical telescope in the world. Its primary mirror surface is made up of thirty-six hexagon segments; together these segments function as one primary mirror […] Continue reading →

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Want to Buy a Telescope?

Posted on February 7, 2016 by hallesolar

If you would love to see deeper into space from your own home, you may be interested in buying your very own telescope! Fortunately, Sky & Telescope has some guidelines to help you make this big purchase, as described by Kelly Beatty in her recent article, “How to Choose Your First Telescope.”  Here are some highlights […] Continue reading →

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Your Zodiac Sign is Wrong: 3 Misconceptions You Have About the Night-Sky

Posted on January 26, 2016 by harperastronomyblog

We all get it. You’re a Capricorn or a Taurus or a Sagittarius or a(n) [any other zodiac constellation]. You’ve read all of your horoscopes, and they fit your personality soooo well. “This is so me,” you might yell to your friends, completely disregarding the fact that they don’t care which vague internet prediction you identify with. […] Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Class, Dwarf Planets, Exoplanets, Galaxies, General, Historical, Instruments, Jovians, Light, Moons, Observables, Outreach, Physics, Planet Rings, Public Policy, Science, Small SS Objects, SolarSystem, Space Travel, Stars, Sun, Terrestrials, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Your Zodiac Sign is Wrong: 3 Misconceptions You Have About the Night-Sky

Human’s Fascination of the Solstices

Posted on January 26, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

If there was one thing that early humans revered most, it may have been the position of the Sun.  Ancient cultures around the world, before the first cities ever existed, built monuments to measure the Sun’s position (known as archaeoastronomy).  The most famous of which is Stonehenge in England, which has its entrances aligned to […] Continue reading →

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Public and private solutions to space exploration

Posted on April 29, 2015 by lindenmuthadam

I firmly believe that for space exploration to grow by leaps and bounds, there has to be economic incentives for entrepreneurs to create companies that explore the universe. Governmental agencies can do incredible things, but they are often held back by politics and budgetary shortfalls. Thankfully we are at the forefront of this change from […] Continue reading →

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Not faster than light, but still incredible

Posted on April 29, 2015 by lindenmuthadam

The use of ion thrusters (literally using ionized electrons and protons as a source of thrust!) in space has been floated around as a method for interstellar propulsion in science fiction for decades, yet was not a reality until the turn of the millennium. Scientists at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio developed […] Continue reading →

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Sending Chuck Berry to Space

Posted on April 29, 2015 by emilyksharp

In 1977, NASA launched the spacecraft Voyager 1 into space to observe Jupiter and Saturn and, eventually, to travel outside …

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Thoughts

Posted on April 28, 2015 by alephnulluniverse

People said that the current generation is born too early to explore space, yet born too late to explore Earth. I do not believe that to be true. Humans are learning and exploring space everyday through space probes, telescopes, and other instruments. While, the current generation will probably not be able to explore space physically, […] Continue reading →

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Hubble Telescope’s 25th Birthday

Posted on April 26, 2015 by pgolemanska

On April 24th, 2015, Hubble celebrated its 25th anniversary. It celebrated its birthday by taking some amazing images of some giant star clusters. The image above is one of Westerlund 2 which is a giant cluster of stars and dust – a breeding area for new stars. The dust pillars are the main areas where […] Continue reading →

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Voyager 2

Posted on April 26, 2015 by pgolemanska

Today Voyager 1 was on Earth just 38 years and now it’s more than 130 AU away. It is venturing into deep space and exploring areas of the Universe that we have never seen before. On September 12, 2013, the spacecraft left the Solar System. The spacecraft is unique and fascinating in many ways. We […] Continue reading →

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