 Carpenter's Flight 50 years ago today, Scott Carpenter flew the second American manned orbital flight on May 24, 1962. He piloted his Aurora 7 spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth. In this photo, taken on May 24, 1962, Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter looks into his Mercury-Atlas 7 spacecraft, the Aurora 7, before being inserted to begin the launch. Image Credit: NASA 
 Galileo and 400 Years of Telescopic Astronomy Astronomy.co.uk has teamed up with Amazon.co.uk to bring you the finest selection of astronomy related books at the best prices. Browse through our bookstore and check out our fine selection of books from star charts and astrophotography to mathematical astronomy. We are sure you will find the book that best suits your needs. 
Sky View Café is a Java applet that lets you use your web browser to see many types of astronomical information, in both graphical and numerical form. You can see which stars and planets will be out tonight in the sky above your home town, see how the next solar or lunar eclipse will look from London, or find out when the Moon rose over Sydney on your birthday ten years ago. Sky View Café includes star charts, a 3-D orrery, displays of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, an astronomical event calendar, an ephemeris generator, and many other features. Enter Sky View Café now! |
 
Take a look at this month's Sky Map to help you explore the wonders of the night sky! Ideal for all sky watchers including beginners to astronomy. The Sky Map will help you identify planets, bright stars, constellations and nebulae! 
Astronomy.co.uk Star Naming Service  Get ready for the transit of Venus! - Read more > Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT  Scientists and amateur astronomers around the world are preparing to observe the rare occurrence of Venus crossing the face of the Sun on 5-6 June, an event that will not be seen again for over a hundred years.Cygnus-X: the cool swan glowing in flight - Read more > Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT  Chaotic networks of dust and gas signpost the next generations of massive stars in this stunning new image of the Cygnus-X star-nursery captured by ESA’s Herschel space observatory.Europe delivers first JWST instrument - Read more > Wed, 09 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT  The first instrument to be completed for the James Webb Space Telescope, MIRI, was handed over by the European consortium that built it to ESA at a ceremony held in London today, and will now be delivered to NASA aiming for launch in 2018.Hubble to Use Moon as Mirror to See Venus Transit Fri, 04 May 2012 11:00:00 -0400  This mottled landscape showing the impact crater Tycho is among the most violent-looking places on our Moon. Astronomers didn't aim NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study Tycho, however. The image was taken in preparation to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun's face on June 5-6. Signs of ancient flowing water on Mars - Read more > Fri, 04 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT  ESA’s Mars Express has returned images of a region on the Red Planet that appears to have been sculpted in part by flowing liquid. This again adds to the growing evidence that Mars had large volumes of water on its surface in the distant past.Black Hole Caught Red-handed in a Stellar Homicide Wed, 02 May 2012 13:00:00 -0400  Astronomers have gathered the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, a space-based observatory, and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on the summit of Haleakala in Hawaii were the first to the scene of the crime, helping to identify the stellar remains. JUICE is Europe’s next large science mission - Read more > Wed, 02 May 2012 14:50:00 GMT  PR 13 2012 - Jupiter’s icy moons are the focus of Europe’s next large science mission, ESA announced today.ESA contracts Astrium UK to build Solar Orbiter - Read more > Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT  ESA has awarded the contract to build its next-generation Sun explorer to Astrium UK. Solar Orbiter will investigate how the Sun creates and controls the heliosphere, the extended atmosphere of the Sun.First Mars Express gravity results plot volcanic history - Read more > Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT  Five years of Mars Express gravity mapping data are providing unique insights into what lies beneath the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes. The results show that the lava grew denser over time and that the thickness of the planet's rigid outer layers varies across the Tharsis region.Cassini movie shows blazing trails in Saturn’s F-ring - Read more > Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:00:00 GMT  New images from the Cassini spacecraft reveal rogue kilometre-sized objects punching through Saturn’s F-ring as the source of ‘mini-jets’ seen emanating from the ring.Hubble Spots Aurorae on the Planet Uranus Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:00:00 -0400  These are among the first clear images, taken from the distance of Earth, to show aurorae on the planet Uranus. This composite image combines 2011 Hubble observations of the aurorae in visible and ultraviolet light, 1986 Voyager 2 photos of the cyan disk of Uranus as seen in visible light, and 2011 Gemini Observatory observations of the faint ring system as seen in infrared light. Far-off cousin of part-time African lake found on Titan - Read more > Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT  A region on Saturn’s moon Titan has been found to be similar to the Etosha Pan in Namibia, Africa. Both are ephemeral lakes – large, shallow depressions that sometimes fill with liquid.Bepi Colombo mission to Mercury - Read more > Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:30:00 GMT  Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, remains somewhat of a mystery to us.Rings, Titan and Enceladus - Read more > Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:01:00 GMT  Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus hangs below the gas giant’s rings while Titan lurks in the background, in this new image taken by the Cassini spacecraft.Hubble's 22nd Anniversary Image Shows Turbulent Star-making Region Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:00:00 -0400  Several million young stars are vying for attention in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a raucous stellar breeding ground in 30 Doradus, located in the heart of the Tarantula Nebula. 30 Doradus is the brightest star-forming region visible in a neighboring galaxy and home to the most massive stars ever seen. The nebula resides 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small, satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. No known star-forming region that is inside our Milky Way is as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Space Astronomy Archive and Distant Supernova Are Named in Honor Of U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:00:00 -0400  One of the world's largest astronomy archives, containing a treasure trove of information about myriad stars, planets, and galaxies, has been named in honor of the United States Senator from Maryland Barbara Mikulski. Space Telescope Science Institute Announces the 2012 Hubble Fellows Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:00:00 -0400  The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) announces today the selection of 17 new candidates for the Hubble Fellowship Program. This is one of the three prestigious postdoctoral fellowship programs funded by NASA. The other programs are the Sagan and the Einstein Fellowships. STScI administers the Hubble Fellowship Program for NASA. Help Find Hubble's Hidden Treasures Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:30:00 -0400  NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made over one million observations during its
more than two decades in orbit. New images are published nearly every week, but
hidden in Hubble's huge data archives are some truly breathtaking images that have
never been seen. They're called Hubble's Hidden Treasures, and between now and May 31, 2012, the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA's partner in the Hubble mission, invites you to help bring them to light. Just explore the Hubble
Legacy Archive (HLA) at http://hla.stsci.edu/, dig out a great dataset, adjust the
contrast and colors using the simple online tools, and submit to the Hubble's
Hidden Treasures Contest Flickr group. For more information about the competition,
visit the Hubble's Hidden Treasures webpage at Astronomers Using NASA's Hubble Discover Quasars Acting as Gravitational Lenses Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:00:00 -0400  Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found several examples of galaxies containing quasars, which act as gravitational lenses, amplifying and distorting images of galaxies aligned behind them. Dark Matter Core Defies Explanation in Hubble Image Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:00:00 -0500  Astronomers observed what appeared to be a clump of dark matter left behind during a bizarre wreck between massive clusters of galaxies. The dark matter collected into a "dark core" containing far fewer galaxies than would be expected if the dark matter and galaxies hung together. Most of the galaxies apparently have sailed far away from the collision. This result could present a challenge to basic theories of dark matter, which predict that galaxies should be anchored to the invisible substance, even during the shock of a collision. NASA's Hubble Reveals a New Class of Extrasolar Planet Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0500  Observations of the extrasolar planet GJ1214b by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have come up with a new class of planet, a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere. It's smaller than Uranus but larger than Earth. A paper reporting these results has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and is available online.
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