Salem-News.com News Feed for articles tagged with astronomy www.salem-news.com 2010 Dr. Iosif Samuilovich Shklovsky calculated the orbital motion of Martian satellite Phobos and came to the jaw-dropping conclusion that the moon is artificial, hollow, and basically a titanic spaceship. He's world-renown for co-authoring, "Intelligent Life in the Universe" with the late Carl Sagan. http://salem-news.com/articles/april072011/mars-spacecraft-ta.php http://salem-news.com/articles/april072011/mars-spacecraft-ta.php Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:21:00 PDT A rare meteorological event occurring over the Chinese skies has left scientists scratching their heads. Two brilliant suns suddenly appeared in the sky. One sun, the normal, bright cheerful one that warms the Earth and lights the countryside continued to slide towards the horizon as dusk approached. The other "sun" suddenly flared to life. http://salem-news.com/articles/march072011/chinese-sun-ta.php http://salem-news.com/articles/march072011/chinese-sun-ta.php Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:50:00 PST The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced the discovery of a "giant underground chamber" not far from the Lunar equator. The mysterious chamber is located in the Oceanus Procellarum region of the Moon. The gigantic, sublunar cavern was spotted by India's Chandrayaan-1 space probe. http://salem-news.com/articles/march052011/moon-cavern-ta.php http://salem-news.com/articles/march052011/moon-cavern-ta.php Sat, 05 Mar 2011 13:32:00 PST Perhaps the greatest scientific discovery in the last 15 years has been the identification of planets revolving around stars outside our solar system. Over 500 extrasolar planets or exoplanets have been discovered orbiting nearby stars. Virtually everywhere astronomers look carefully at nearby stars, planets are observed. http://salem-news.com/articles/november292010/star-best-tb.php http://salem-news.com/articles/november292010/star-best-tb.php Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:24:00 PST World renowned astrobiologist Chandra Wickramasinghe is spitting mad. The eminent scientist recently reiterated the charge he made against the National Aeronautics and Space Administration back in 2008. "The discovery of liquid water on Mars combined with earlier discoveries of organic substances in a meteorite that came from Mars, and also of methane in the Martian atmosphere all point to the existence of life—contemporary life—on the Red Planet," the scientist asserted. http://salem-news.com/articles/october262010/mars-nasa-ta.php http://salem-news.com/articles/october262010/mars-nasa-ta.php Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:03:00 PDT NASA today released data that the Moon has at least enough water to fill 1,500 swimming pools. Although there'll be no rush by pool manufacturers to fill the lunar void—the Moon is virtually airless and its surface pressure is zero; but the presence of water does pave the way for colonization. http://salem-news.com/articles/october212010/moon-water-ta.php http://salem-news.com/articles/october212010/moon-water-ta.php Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:51:00 PDT Ragbir Bhathal, an astrophysicist at the University of Western Sydney claims the light pulses he detected in December 2008 is from the region of space where the extrasolar planet Gliese 581g orbits a red dwarf star. Recently, Gliese 581g was declared 100 percent certain to have life. Now the question has been raised, is it intelligent life? http://salem-news.com/articles/october112010/planet-gliese-ta.php http://salem-news.com/articles/october112010/planet-gliese-ta.php Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:17:00 PDT The solar system has eight “official” planets although some still consider Pluto to be a planet. Looking only at the “official” list, from the Sun outwards, there is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. All eight are readily visible to the naked eye or binoculars Right now Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn are too close to the Sun to be visible. Venus is bright enough so that if you know where to look it can be spotted with the naked eye during the day. http://salem-news.com/articles/october062010/planet-uranus-dj.php http://salem-news.com/articles/october062010/planet-uranus-dj.php Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:30:00 PDT Spiral galaxies are among the most beautiful and familiar objects in the heavens, but a working explanation as to why galaxies evolve into spirals has eluded astronomers for decades. Now, two independent researchers have published a compelling solution to this eighty year old problem, which appears in the November 2009 issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society A. http://salem-news.com/articles/december102009/milk_way.php http://salem-news.com/articles/december102009/milk_way.php Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:17:00 PST The Geminid meteor shower will peak December 14th and 15th (Sunday 9:10 p.m. PST). The Moon will be close to a new Moon which will help keep skies dark for a good display. Unfortunately the clear cold weather is expected to be gone, replaced by cold and wet. http://salem-news.com/articles/december082009/geminid_2009.php http://salem-news.com/articles/december082009/geminid_2009.php Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:39:00 PST Despite the fact that about a third of Americans don’t believe in evolution, we and they still live in a world dominated by science. In 1962 Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India said: “It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste or a rich country inhabited by starving people..." http://salem-news.com/articles/october212009/life_shrinkers_dj.php http://salem-news.com/articles/october212009/life_shrinkers_dj.php Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:06:00 PDT I was 11 years old when I discovered astronomy. Early one autumn evening, high in the western twilight, was a bright, white object. Was it a star or a planet? I believed it to be Venus, second planet from the sun, but how to know for sure? Sitting at a table in our enclosed front veranda, I watched it sink towards the horizon as I wrote a little "essay", in which I argued that Venus was known to be cloud covered, had a high reflection of sunlight and would, by definition, be very bright. It could also only be seen as a morning or evening “star”, close to the sun. There were other points, but those were the main ones. I gave the "essay" (perhaps 100 words) to my teacher, Miss Snaith, looking for support and confirmation. http://salem-news.com/articles/september102009/formalhaut_mystery_dj_9-10-09.php http://salem-news.com/articles/september102009/formalhaut_mystery_dj_9-10-09.php Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:41:00 PDT A special visual display for people in the Northwest tonight; a total lunar eclipse was visible around 7:00 PM. Salem-News.com Photojournalist Kevin Montgomery snapped this shot from the McMinnville area, far from the city lights which obstruct visibility in the sky at night. An eclipse of the moon takes place when the sun, earth and moon line up exactly in a straight line. The result is that the full moon slowly disappears, as the earth’s shadow, or umbra, apparently moves slowly across the moon from left to right. http://salem-news.com/articles/february202008/eclipse_2-20-08.php http://salem-news.com/articles/february202008/eclipse_2-20-08.php Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:12:00 PST Star-gazing, planet-searching and constellation viewing are just a leisurely drive away at the Pine Mountain Observatory located about an hour's drive southeast of Bend. The observatory, operated by the physics department of the University of Oregon, will be open through Sept. 29th for visitors to drop in on Friday and Saturday evenings, from dusk until late night, weather permitting. PMO facility consists of three Cassegrain reflecting telescopes, with mirrors of 15-inch, 24-inch, and 32-inch diameters, each in its own domed building. http://salem-news.com/articles/may262007/observatory_open_052607.php http://salem-news.com/articles/may262007/observatory_open_052607.php Sat, 26 May 2007 07:39:00 PDT An exploding star first observed last September is the largest and most luminous supernova ever seen, according to University of California, Berkeley, astronomers, and may be the first example of a type of massive exploding star rare today but probably common in the very early universe. UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellows Nathan Smith and David Pooley estimate the star's mass at between 100 and 200 times that of the sun. http://salem-news.com/articles/may072007/super_supernova_050707.php http://salem-news.com/articles/may072007/super_supernova_050707.php Mon, 07 May 2007 17:00:00 PDT That's the tentative conclusion of Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, after his team observed two Leonids hitting the Moon on Nov. 17, 2006. "We've now seen 11 and possibly 12 lunar impacts since we started monitoring the Moon one year ago," says Cooke. "That's about four times more hits than our computer models predicted." http://salem-news.com/articles/december012006/lunar-strikes.php http://salem-news.com/articles/december012006/lunar-strikes.php Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:16:00 PST But you know that direct transmissions won't work--not always. As seen from Shackleton Crater, Earth is below the horizon for two to three weeks each month (depending on the base's location). This blocks all radio signals, which travel line of sight. The solution seems obvious. Simply place a satellite in a high, circular orbit going almost over the Moon's poles. Better yet, place three satellites into the same orbit 120 degrees apart. Two would always be above the lunar horizon to relay messages to and from Earth. There's just one problem. http://salem-news.com/articles/november302006/lunar-orbits.php http://salem-news.com/articles/november302006/lunar-orbits.php Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:18:00 PST Saturday night, our family got together and caravanned from Salem to the “Star Party” at Silver Creek Falls’ Old Ranch site to experience what the summer’s night sky might reveal. The youngest of the group, 7-year old Ciana, and 5-year old Moria, were excited at this new adventure. Amazingly, the adults were too. We were not disappointed. http://salem-news.com/articles/august202006/lela_stars_82006.php http://salem-news.com/articles/august202006/lela_stars_82006.php Sun, 20 Aug 2006 22:31:00 PDT For me, watching the sky for falling meteors has always been a potentially exciting event, but unfortunately they usually happen at night – late at night! I am usually asleep, forgetting to set the alarm, and upon awaking in the early morning dawn, realize I had slept through yet another meteor shower. I was determined to make last night an exception. http://salem-news.com/articles/august132006/lela_stars_81306.php http://salem-news.com/articles/august132006/lela_stars_81306.php Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:40:00 PDT The Evergreen Aviation Museum will soon display a portion of Oregon`s famous Willamette Meteorite. The meteorite, originally found on a West Linn hillside and sold to a New York City Museum in 1906, will return 100 years later, in part, to its Oregon beginnings. With recommendation from Oregon Congressman David Wu, Evergreen International Aviation owner and founder Delford M. Smith purchased a piece of the famed meteorite at Bonhams Auction House in New York City on Tuesday and donated the artifact to the Museum on behalf of the Evergreen family of companies. http://salem-news.com/articles/april142006/meteorite_41406.php http://salem-news.com/articles/april142006/meteorite_41406.php Fri, 14 Apr 2006 16:07:00 PDT