NASA’s twin unmanned Voyager spacecraft which was launched in 1977, has found a rolling sea of huge magnetic bubbles at the edge of the solar system known as Heliosheath. It is the region between the solar system and the interstellar space known as the Heliosphere.
Pluto, the icy dwarf planet has five known moons. According to International Astronomical Union (IAU) rules, Pluto’s natural satellites are named for characters associated with the underworld of Greek and Roman mythology. The Plutonian system is highly compact. The Plutonian satellite system was created by a massive collision. The five discovered satellites orbit within the 3% of the region. In order of distance from Pluto, they are Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Read More
On 5 December 2011, NASA’s Kepler mission confirmed the discovery of the planet Kepler-22b which was spied by NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
Space is filled with dangerous radiations. It has no air to breathe and is extremely cold. The astronaut needs protection to survive and work in space.
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Aurora (red dawn light) Borealis (North), Polar Lights or the Northern Lights are the natural astronomical phenomena. They are luminous arches, curtains or shafts of colored light visible in the night sky in the Northern region of the earth. They are found in the northern and southern hemispheres. They occur at higher latitudes (3° to 6° latitude) close to the poles in Canada, Antarctica, Norway, and Alaska. Northern lights are called aurora borealis and southern lights are called aurora australis. They have discharged particles from the sun that passes through the magnetic shield of earth and create light when they mix with atoms and molecules of oxygen and nitrogen gases while entering the earth’s atmosphere. Read More
Moon is the only known natural satellite of the earth. It is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun. The moon travels around the earth in the orbit elliptically. It orbits around the earth counterclockwise from west to east at 2,300 miles per hour. It is 1/4th the size of the earth. The moon does not have the light of its own. It reflects the light of the sun. The temperature of the moon ranges between 123 degrees C to 233 degree C.The moon is cold and dry as it has no atmosphere. Read More
The word “Nebula” is derived from the Latin word meaning ‘cloud’. Nebulae are the basic building blocks of the universe. They are huge and diffused clouds of dust and gases such as helium, hydrogen formed by the gravitational collapse of gases in the interstellar medium. In the universe, they are seen as the most beautiful, colorful and glowing objects. Stars inside these nebulae (cloud) make them glow with the swirl of light. Most nebulae are composed of 10% hydrogens, 10% helium and 0.1% elements like carbon, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, and iron.
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The Virgo Cluster is the massive and nearest galaxy cluster to our Local Group with approximately 2000 galaxies which are connected by mutual gravity. It is the discovery by Charles Messier. The cluster is named Virgo cluster as it is seen in the direction of the constellation Virgo.It is located at a distance of 5 107 light-years. The cluster is filled with stars and hot gases many of which are visible with the telescope. It subtends an arc of approximately 7.5 degrees centered at 53.8±0.3 Mly in the constellation Virgo. It has a diameter of 15 million (approx) light-years. It holds the total mass of approximately 1.2 quadrillion times the mass of the Sun. The giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 is the largest member of the cluster. Read More
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Act) is an Executive Branch agency of the US government established on July 29, 1958. The agency became operational on October 1, 1958. NASA headquarters is in Washington, D.C. It was previously known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) which was created in effect on the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik in 1957. NASA’s motto is: “For the benefit of all”. Read More
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to Sun. Alpha Centauri system seems to have formed earlier than our Solar System. It is the third brightest star in the sky. Alpha Centauri is located in the constellation Centaurus. It lies 4.35 light-years from the Sun. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system that includes:
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