Portal:Astronomy

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Astronomy Portal

Introduction

Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole.

Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the past, astronomy included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars.

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...)

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various astronomy-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Hubble Space Telescope (from History of astronomy)
Image 2Arabic astrolabe from 1079 to 1080 AD (from History of astronomy)
Image 3The Nebra sky disk, Germany, 1800 - 1600 BC (from History of astronomy)
Image 4Historical Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, India (from History of astronomy)
Image 5Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (from Observational astronomy)
Image 6Segment 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 7Places like Paranal Observatory offer crystal clear skies for observing astronomical objects with or without instruments. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 8Babylonian tablet in the British Museum recording Halley's comet in 164 BC (from History of astronomy)
Image 9Sunset at the equinox from the prehistoric site of Pizzo Vento at Fondachelli Fantina, Sicily (from History of astronomy)
Image 10An amateur astrophotography setup with an automated guide system connected to a laptop (from Observational astronomy)
Image 11An 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 12Calendrical functions of the Berlin Gold Hat c. 1000 BC (from History of astronomy)
Image 13Ultra HD photography taken at La Silla Observatory (from Observational astronomy)
Image 14Artist 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 15History of the Universe – gravitational waves are hypothesized to arise from cosmic inflation, a rapidly accelerated expansion just after the Big Bang (from Physical cosmology)
Image 16The Oort cloud, one of the most successful theoretical model about the Solar System (from Theoretical astronomy)
Image 17The Crab Nebula as seen in various wavelengths (from Observational astronomy)
Image 18A voting session is conducted in 2006 International Astronomical Union's general assembly for determining a new definition of a planet (from Astronomer)
Image 199th-century diagram of the positions of the seven planets on 18 March 816, from the Leiden Aratea (from History of astronomy)
Image 20ALMA is the world's most powerful telescope for studying the Universe at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 21Overview of types of observational astronomy by observed wavelengths and their observability. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 22"El Caracol" observatory temple at Chichen Itza, Mexico (from History of astronomy)
Image 23Historical accuracy of atomic clocks from NIST. (from Theoretical astronomy)
Image 24Portrait 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 25The Northern Hemisphere page from Johann Bayer's 1661 edition of Uranometria - the first atlas to have star charts covering the entire celestial sphere (from History of astronomy)
Image 26Comparison of CMB (Cosmic microwave background) results from satellites COBE, WMAP and Planck documenting a progress in 1989–2013 (from History of astronomy)
Image 27Sir Patrick Moore was one of the world's leading popularisers of astronomy. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 28Map of the Milky Way Galaxy, with the constellations that cross the galactic plane in each direction and the known prominent components annotated including main arms, spurs, bar, nucleus/bulge, notable nebulae and globular clusters (from History of astronomy)
Image 29One of the Oldest Observatories in South America is the Quito Astronomical Observatory, founded in 1873 and located 12 minutes south of the Equator in Quito, Ecuador. The Quito Astronomical Observatory is the National Observatory of Ecuador and is located in the Historic Center of Quito and is managed by the National Polytechnic School. (from Observational astronomy)
$Image 3050 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory (from Observational astronomy)$

Image 3050 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory (from Observational astronomy)
Image 31Southern Hemisphere (from History of astronomy)
Image 32The main platform at La Silla hosts a huge range of telescopes with which astronomers can explore the Universe. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 33The Antikythera Mechanism was an analog computer from 150 to 100 BC designed to calculate the positions of astronomical objects. (from History of astronomy)
Image 34An assembly in Estonia to observe meteors (from Observational astronomy)
Image 35Amateur astronomy groups are often involved in outreach in order to introduce astronomy to the general public (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 36Amateur astronomer recording observations of the sun. (from Amateur astronomy)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Featured article - show another

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

Comet Hale–Bopp, shortly after passing perihelion in April 1997

Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) is a comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades.

Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discovered Comet Hale–Bopp separately on July 23, 1995, before it became visible to the naked eye. It is difficult to predict the maximum brightness of new comets with any degree of certainty, but Hale–Bopp exceeded most predictions when it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997, reaching about magnitude −1.8. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, due to its massive nucleus size. This is twice as long as the Great Comet of 1811, the previous record holder. Accordingly, Hale–Bopp was dubbed the great comet of 1997. (Full article...)

List of featured articles

edit

Did you know - show different entries

... that Jerry Nelson is the principal designer and project scientist for the Keck telescopes?
... that five supernovae have been found in the Messier 100 spiral galaxy?
... that the Antlia Dwarf galaxy may have distorted the shape of its neighbour NGC 3109 one billion years ago?
... that AP Columbae, the closest young star known, formed after the dinosaurs became extinct?
... that a planet was discovered around the star MOA-2009-BLG-387L after it eclipsed a background star, refracting the star's light in a process called gravitational microlensing?

More Did you know facts

More Did you know (auto generated)

... that examples of artificial planets in science fiction include Riverworld, the Well World, and the Death Star?
... that in early depictions of Uranus in fiction, the planet was portrayed as solid
... that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's "cli-fi" thrash metal album addresses a mix of current ecological threats and attempts to find another planet to live on?
... that the Springfield Science Museum is home to the oldest operating projection planetarium in the United States?
... that Susan Murabana created Africa's first permanent planetarium?
... that fictional depictions of Jupiter have portrayed human habitation on the planet and its moons both by altering the environment to suit humans and altering humans to be suited to the environment?

edit

WikiProjects

WikiProject Astronomy	WikiProject Solar System



WikiProject Cosmology	WikiProject Spaceflight

edit

Selected image - show another

Credit: NASA / ESA / Michael E. Brown

Eris (minor planet designation 136199 Eris) is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. Image of Eris (center) and Dysnomia (left of center), taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

More selected pictures

Read more

edit

Astronomy News

20 February 2024 –: Astronomers identify the most luminous object ever observed, QSO J0529-4351, a quasar that accretes around one solar mass per day. (The Guardian) (Nature.com)

edit

June anniversaries

2 June 1966 – Surveyor 1 lands on the moon, first US spacecraft to do so
3 June 1966 – Gemini 9 (Gemini Titan 9A) launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida
19 June 1976 – The Viking 1 orbiter arrives in Mars orbit
24 June 2004 – First private spaceflight, SpaceShipOne piloted by Mike Melvill
27 June 1996 – Galileo probe, flyby of Ganymede (Jupiter's largest moon)
30 June 2001 – The NASA Explorer mission, MAP (Microwave Anisotropy Probe), is launched to measure the temperature of cosmic background radiation (remnant heat from the Big Bang)

More anniversaries

edit

Space-related Portals

edit

Astronomical events

All times UT unless otherwise specified.

1 June, 02:54	Moon occults Neptune
2 June, 07:23	Moon at perigee
4 June, 15:12	Venus at superior conjunction; occultation
6 June, 12:38	New moon
14 June, 13:36	Moon at apogee
14 June, 16:15	Mercury at superior conjunction
20 June, 20:51	Earth northern solstice
22 June, 01:08	Full moon
27 June, 11:45	Moon at perigee
27 June, 15:00	Moon occults Saturn
28 June, 08:58	Moon occults Neptune