Andromeda Child

The Wonders of Andromeda

Published on 2012-01-30 16:57:17

How the Andromeda Galaxy reveals itself through standard sized binoculars (say 10x50s).  For reasons that are mainly due to the human eye's sensitivity to low colour light levels, deep sky objects such as galaxies and nebulae appear as in greyscale through both binoculars and telescopes.  This is due to their low surface brightness... we've all been spoilt by DSLR camera and CCD images! ANDY FLEMING takes a look at a constellation everyone can see without optical a

Mars The Wonderworld: We’re Just 3.5 Billion Years Too Late!

Published on 2011-12-24 14:33:16

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this snapshot of Mars 11 hours before the planet made its closest approach to Earth on August 26, 2003. The two planets were 34,648,840 miles (55,760,220 km) apart. This image was made from a series of exposures taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Photo credit: NASA/J. Bell (Cornell U.) and M. Wolff (SSI). Evidence is mounting that Mars was once a wet and warm world, similar to the early Earth. What went wrong with the R

Astronomy for Everyone: Jupiter-fest!

Published on 2011-12-02 11:06:04

The innermost of Jupiter's Galilean satellites, Io, superposed in front of the gas giant planet. To the left of Io is a dark spot that is Io's own shadow. A solar eclipse would be seen from within the shadow spot on Jupiter. Viewed from planet Earth, similar shadows of Jupiter's large moons can often be seen crossing the giant planet's disk. (Credit: NASA/Cassini spacecraft imaging, 2004) In this edition of Astronomy for Everyone, ANDY FLEMING reports that our solar system’s largest planet rig