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Sir Christopher Wren
The Constellations
There were originally 48 ancient constellations. The naming of the constellations began in the Middle East many centuries ago, but all societies named constellations, and the origins are mostly shrouded in time.
The ancient Greeks added stories and verses, and the ancient Romans gave the constellations Latin names. The ancient constellations are made up of only the brightest stars in the sky. Astronomers later broke the constellation Argo into three parts, so there are now 50 ancient constellations.
It was during the early part of the twentieth century, and astronomers of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted another 38 modern constellations. (This is the same group who recently decided that Pluto is not a planet.)
The members of the IAU drew rectangular borders around all of the 88 constellations. There are informal constellations, or "asterisms" -- like Ursa Major holding the "Big Dipper" -- that young people who are interested in astronomy first learn to identify.
The names of the 88 constellations:
1. Andromeda
2. Antlia
3. Apus
4. Aquarius
5. Aquila
6. Ara
7. Aries
8. Auriga
9. Boötes
10. Caelum
11. Camelopardalis
12. Cancer
13. Canes Venatici
14. Canis Major
15. Canis Minor
16. Capricornus
17. Carina
18. Cassiopeia
19. Centaurus
20. Cepheus
21. Cetus
22. Chamaeleon
23. Circinus
24. Columba
25. Coma Berenices
26. Corona Austrina
27. Corona Borealis
| 28. Corvus
29. Crater
30. Crux
31. Cygnus
32. Delphinus
33. Dorado
34. Draco
35. Equuleus
36. Eridanus
37. Fornax
38. Gemini
39. Grus
40. Hercules
41. Horologium
42. Hydra
43. Hydrus
44. Indus
45. Lacerta
46. Leo
47. Leo Minor
48. Lepus
49. Libra
50. Lupus
51. Lynx
52. Lyra
53. Mensa
54. Microscopium
| 55. Monoceros
56. Musca
57. Norma
58. Octans
59. Ophiuchus
60. Orion
61. Pavo
62. Pegasus
63. Perseus
64. Phoenix
65. Pictor
66. Pisces
67. Piscis Austrinus
68. Puppis
69. Pyxis
70. Reticulum
71. Sagitta
72. Sagittarius
73. Scorpius
74. Sculptor
75. Scutum
76. Serpens
77. Sextans
78. Taurus
79. Telescopium
80. Triangulum
81. Triangulum Australe
82. Tucana
83. Ursa Major
84. Ursa Minor
85. Vela
86. Virgo
87. Volans
88. Vulpecula
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A few of the constellations do actually resemble what they are supposed to represent, but most of them don't. The purpose of the names for constellations is not usually to name them for what they portray, but rather to honor or represent.
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Famous Astronomy Quotes
The Planet Venus
Back in 1686, a French scholar by the name of Bernard de Fontenelle, wrote, "I can tell from here...what the inhabitants of Venus are like; they resemble the Moors of Granada; a small black people, burned by the sun, full of wit and fire, always in love, writing verse, fond of music, arranging festivals, dances, and tournaments every day."
Nice try, Bernard, but you had it all wrong. Back in those days, it was generally accepted that Venus was much like Earth. Venus is about the size of Earth, but that's pretty much where all resemblance ends.
Almost all of the planets in our solar system travel around the sun in a counterclockwise direction…all of them except Venus and Uranus, that is. Venus (as well as Uranus) travels clockwise. All of the planets except Venus and Uranus rotate on their axis in a counterclockwise direction. Venus and Uranus rotate clockwise.
Venus also rotates really slowly, too. A "day" on Venus would equal about 243 Earth days. Venus is covered by a thick layer of clouds that make studying the surface very difficult. In the last 30 years, however, astronomers have learned how to "see" through the thick cloud cover.
In 1962, Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to go by Venus. Since then, there have been 20 more missions. The first hard landing on Venus was done by Venera 4 in 1967. The first soft landing was done by Venera 7 in 1970.
In 1989, the Magellan spacecraft probe was launched. Magellan rotated around Venus from 1990 to 1995. It then burned up in the atmosphere of Venus. Magellan bounced radar signals off the surface of Venus and transmitted the data back to Earth. |
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More articles:
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Astronomy Clubs world wide
Mars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mystery Heavenly Body Discovered, a front page story
Famous Astronomy Quotes
Our Sun
There is nothing remarkable about our sun in the scheme of things. It is very similar to millions of other stars (and our sun is a star) in the universe. You might even call our sun an "average" star.
The energy source for our sun is nuclear fusion. If the total energy output of the sun for just one second could be captured, it would provide the United States with enough energy at the current level of usage for nine million years.
There is a hard core at the center of the sun. The core is so dense and the sun is so large that energy released in the center of the sun takes 50 million years to reach the surface. That means that if the sun suddenly stopped producing any energy at all at the core today, it would be another 50 million years before we noticed it here on earth.
Our sun has been producing radiant and thermal energy for the last four or five billion years. There is enough hydrogen for it to continue producing energy for at least another hundred billion years. In about 10-20 billion years, the sun will begin to expand. It will engulf the closest planets (including Earth), and then it will be a giant red star. In another few billion years after that, our sun will become what is known as a dwarf star.
Most people think of the sun as this large (huge), constant featureless fireball in the sky. The large part is right, but the constant (or steady) and the featureless parts are all wrong. Sunspots are a feature of the sun that was first noted by Theophrastus about 325 BC. A moderate-size sunspot is about the size of Earth. Sunspots come and go over a period of days or weeks.
Related Topics: The Demotion of Pluto,
The First Seven Astronauts, Guide to Buying a Telescope
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