FAQs
Do the Stars Change Position Each Year?
If you were to look up at the position of the stars on any particular day of the year from the same location on Earth and compared them to the same day a year earlier, …
FAQs
Astronomy Lists
Top 10 Deep-Sky Objects for Stargazers (Southern Hemisphere)
Dutch-American astronomer Bart Bok once famously stated that “the Southern Hemisphere holds all the good stuff,” and he was right. Counted amongst the riches that belong to the southern celestial sphere are an astonishing array …
FAQs
How Many Naked Eye Stars Can Be Seen in the Night Sky?
The night sky is filled with stars of different colors that astronomers rank in order of their luminosity, the brightest of which is Sirius in Canis Major, a blue-white star 8.611 light years distant with …
Astronomy History
Who Discovered the Sun is a Star?
In ancient Greece, early scientists such as Thales of Miletus (624-546 BC) first started to suspect that the Sun was not the deity Helios (Apollo) driving his chariot around the Earth, but was instead merely …
Astronomy Lists
Top 10 Deep-Sky Objects for Stargazers (Northern Hemisphere)
Here is a list of 10 top deep space objects to look for from the Northern Hemisphere. These objects exclude individual stars and refer to objects outside of our Solar System, with the main types …
FAQs
What are Star Magnitudes?
In astronomy, the magnitude of a star refers to its measure of brightness, and while absolute magnitude relates to the star’s intrinsic brightness, apparent magnitude, on the other hand, is a way of measuring how …
FAQs
Could Dead Astronauts Create New Life on Distant Planets?
We’ve all seen sci-fi movies and read books where it’s revealed that visitors from another world were responsible for sparking life on Earth. But, would they theoretically have been able to spread life to our …
Astronomy History
How were the Planets of our Solar System Discovered?
In ancient times, astronomers were able to distinguish between those stars which seemed to maintain a fixed position relative to one another, and the so-called wandering stars which changed their positions in the sky slightly …
FAQs
How Long Would a Spacecraft Take to Reach Proxima Centauri?
In science fiction movies, we see crews being frozen in cryogenic chambers so that they can make long trips across the universe. The crew being placed in an induced state of hibernation at the start …
FAQs
How Frequently Do Meteorites Strike The Earth?
A number of movies have been made about what would happen if a large enough meteor collided with the Earth. For instance, one like the 10 km (6.2 mile) Chicxulub asteroid that struck the Yucatán …