I remember the first time I peered through a telescope, marveling at the distant specks of light scattered across the night sky. Among those are the rocky remnants from the dawn of our solar system, collectively known as the asteroid belt. This vast expanse lies between Mars and Jupiter, home to millions of asteroids orbiting…
The outer reaches of our solar system are an utterly fascinating place. The region beyond Neptune is an area stretching far beyond the orbit of Neptune and have some of the most enigmatic and least understood objects in our Solar System. Here, the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud hint at the primordial matter that…
After Sputnik the Soviet Union turned its attention to the Moon in 1958. The United States then followed. There is a story behind all these early space craft of the late 1950’s. These early probes that led the way to what would be Man’s outstanding achievement in Apollo 11 and later missions to the Moon….
Stargazing Tips: Your Complete Guide to Planning a Night Under the Stars Going stargazing is almost like planning a holiday. You need to decide where you’re going, how you’ll get there, and what you’ll do once you arrive. While stargazing might not seem like a typical vacation, it requires similar planning. However, before heading out,…
Nicholas Copernicus was born in Thorn, in what is now modern day Poland, in 1473. He was a man whose ideas revolutionized the way we understand the universe today. Copernicus was not just an astronomer but a polymath. He had interests in economics, mathematics and other sciences. The period that Copernicus lived, straddling the 15th…
Beyond the Asteroid Belt lies the realm of the giant planets. These behemoths of the outer Solar System are chiefly made up of gas. Percentage of these gases vary from planet to planet and mostly contain large amounts of hydrogen and helium. There are two classes of the Giant Planets, the Gas Giants and the…
Cold and Eccentric: A Dive into Uranus and Neptune Uranus Uranus from Voyager 2 Moving on out our next visit is to Uranus the seventh planet from the Sun. Uranus is the third largest planet in the Solar System after Jupiter and Saturn. But unlike Jupiter and Saturn, which are gas giants, Uranus is described…
The Oort Cloud: A Spherical Shell of Mysteries Imagine a vast, spherical shell encasing our solar system’s periphery, home to icy objects and potential comets – that’s the Oort Cloud. Unlike the flattened disk of the Kuiper Belt, which you can read about in my article ‘Where is the Kuiper Belt?’, the Oort Cloud forms…
Please note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Now you have a taste of what Astronomy is all about you will start to consider whether you want to buy a telescope or a pair of binoculars. It’s at this point my suggestion is to buy a pair of binoculars first, about 10…
Our fascination with the Universe has led us to unlock the very many ways that we can observe it. The key to further unlocking its secrets are radio telescopes. Unlike their optical counterparts that rely on visible light, radio telescopes detect radio waves emitted by celestial objects. This allows astronomers to observe the universe in…
