Observing the transit of Venus was no easy task, it required careful observations and measurement. 250 years ago expeditions went out across the world to measure this amazing and rare event in order to help us understand the size of the known universe.
James Cook’s voyage to Tahiti in 1769 was the culmination of 130 years of work to observe and understand the Transit of Venus. Edmund Halley was instrumental in laying the foundations for the successful observations in 1769 and ultimately solving the Earth – Sun distance.
The amount of interstellar particles being detected by Voyager 2 may indicate that the spacecraft is about to pass through the heliopause into interstellar space.
The night sky is full of stars and some of the very brightest we see have some very interesting characteristics. Next time you’re looking at Sirius or Canopus you’ll be able to appreciate just how big they are compared to our very own star – the Sun.
Next year is the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s voyage to the Pacific Ocean. One the things he did was contribute to a more accurate calculation of the distance between the Earth and the Sun by observing the transit of Venus.
When observing the planets in astronomy it can be quite surprising to see the different sizes that appear in the eyepiece and how this can change over time.
Mars is getting closer this year and will at it’s closest by the end of July. But don’t worry it’ll still be about 58 million kilometres away.
Our Sun has had a few outbursts that have knocked out power grids and telegraph networks as well as disrupted satellite communications. These are nothing compared to what stars similar to our Sun have been observed doing.
Magnetars are a fascinating type of object that are really mind boggling. These incredibly powerful star remnants are worth giving a closer look.
TESS was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX on 18 April. The satellite will survey the whole sky to look for exoplanets that transit their stars.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is set for launch on 31 July to begin it’s journey to the Sun’s corona to help us understand more about the solar wind and why the corona is so hot.
We are getting a better and better at understanding how planetary systems are formed. This article tracks the historic development of the heliocentric model and how that relates to understanding the formation of our own Solar System.
Being able to describe where to find stuff in the sky is a very handy way of learning the night sky. You don’t need an expensive piece of equipment, just your arm and the hand at the end of it.
In this article in the Beginner Series we look at the size of the universe and our place in it to give some context to the amazing sights available to the budding astronomer.
Milky-Way.kiwi did some public outreach in the weekend with some sidewalk astronomy to show people the Sun through our solar telescope.
There is real science that you can contribute to right now, just with a smart phone or computer and your brain. You don’t need a PHD in astrophysics or cosmology or anything else, just some pattern recognition skills and a desire to contribute to a better understanding of the universe.
Have you ever been asked how far can you see in a telescope? This article helps answer that question and also covers how far you can see with the naked eye and a pair of binoculars.
Stars don’t last forever, it might seem like 10 billion years is almost forever but not every star lives as long as our Sun. This article covers what happens when stars die and shows some very awesome images from the European Space Observatory of the surface of some stars.
With the weather not being that great at the moment we thought it would be nice to spend some time appreciating the Sun. So here’s an article describing a bit about this very prominent star in our skies.