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The Astronomy Portal

Introduction

Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole.

Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the past, astronomy included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars.

Professional astronomy is split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects. This data is then analyzed using basic principles of physics. Theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. These two fields complement each other. Theoretical astronomy seeks to explain observational results and observations are used to confirm theoretical results.

Astronomy is one of the few sciences in which amateurs play an active role. This is especially true for the discovery and observation of transient events. Amateur astronomers have helped with many important discoveries, such as finding new comets. (Full article...)

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various astronomy-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The main platform at La Silla hosts a huge range of telescopes with which astronomers can explore the Universe. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 2An amateur astrophotography setup with an automated guide system connected to a laptop (from Observational astronomy)
Image 3The Oort cloud, one of the most successful theoretical model about the Solar System (from Theoretical astronomy)
Image 4Sunset at the equinox from the prehistoric site of Pizzo Vento at Fondachelli Fantina, Sicily (from History of astronomy)
Image 5Portrait of the Flemish astronomer Ferdinand Verbiest who became Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory of the Chinese emperor in 1669 (from Astronomer)
Image 6The Antikythera Mechanism was an analog computer from 150 to 100 BC designed to calculate the positions of astronomical objects. (from History of astronomy)
Image 7The Hubble Space Telescope (from History of astronomy)
Image 8Artist conception of the Big Bang cosmological model, the most widely accepted out of all in physical cosmology (neither time nor size to scale) (from Physical cosmology)
Image 9Sir Patrick Moore was one of the world's leading popularisers of astronomy. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 10Calendrical functions of the Berlin Gold Hat c. 1000 BC (from History of astronomy)
Image 11Overview of types of observational astronomy by observed wavelengths and their observability. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 12Amateur astronomy groups are often involved in outreach in order to introduce astronomy to the general public (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 13Babylonian tablet in the British Museum recording Halley's comet in 164 BC (from History of astronomy)
Image 149th-century diagram of the positions of the seven planets on 18 March 816, from the Leiden Aratea (from History of astronomy)
Image 15ALMA is the world's most powerful telescope for studying the Universe at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 16A voting session is conducted in 2006 International Astronomical Union's general assembly for determining a new definition of a planet (from Astronomer)
Image 17An assembly in Estonia to observe meteors (from Observational astronomy)
Image 18The Nebra sky disk, Germany, 1800 - 1600 BC (from History of astronomy)
Image 19Historical Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, India (from History of astronomy)
Image 20Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (from Observational astronomy)
Image 21Segment of the astronomical ceiling of Senenmut's Tomb (circa 1479–1458 BCE), depicting constellations, protective deities, and twenty-four segmented wheels for the hours of the day and the months of the year (from History of astronomy)
Image 22The Crab Nebula as seen in various wavelengths (from Observational astronomy)
$Image 2350 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory (from Observational astronomy)$

Image 2350 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory (from Observational astronomy)
Image 24One of the Oldest Observatories in South America is the Quito Astronomical Observatory, founded in 1873 and located 12 minutes south of the Equator in Quito, Ecuador. The Quito Astronomical Observatory is the National Observatory of Ecuador and is located in the Historic Center of Quito and is managed by the National Polytechnic School. (from Observational astronomy)
Image 25Ultra HD photography taken at La Silla Observatory (from Observational astronomy)
Image 26The Northern Hemisphere page from Johann Bayer's 1661 edition of Uranometria - the first atlas to have star charts covering the entire celestial sphere (from History of astronomy)
Image 27Comparison of CMB (Cosmic microwave background) results from satellites COBE, WMAP and Planck documenting a progress in 1989–2013 (from History of astronomy)
Image 28History of the Universe – gravitational waves are hypothesized to arise from cosmic inflation, a rapidly accelerated expansion just after the Big Bang (from Physical cosmology)
Image 29Places like Paranal Observatory offer crystal clear skies for observing astronomical objects with or without instruments. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 30Historical accuracy of atomic clocks from NIST. (from Theoretical astronomy)
Image 31"El Caracol" observatory temple at Chichen Itza, Mexico (from History of astronomy)
Image 32Amateur astronomer recording observations of the sun. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 33An image of the Cat's Paw Nebula created combining the work of professional and amateur astronomers. The image is the combination of the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope of the La Silla Observatory in Chile and a 0.4-meter amateur telescope. (from Amateur astronomy)
Image 34Southern Hemisphere (from History of astronomy)
Image 35Map of the Milky Way Galaxy, with the constellations that cross the galactic plane in each direction and the known prominent components annotated including main arms, spurs, bar, nucleus/bulge, notable nebulae and globular clusters (from History of astronomy)
Image 36Arabic astrolabe from 1079 to 1080 AD (from History of astronomy)

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Featured article - show another

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

GRB 970508 was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected on May 8, 1997, at 21:42 UTC; it is historically important as the second GRB (after GRB 970228) with a detected afterglow at other wavelengths, the first to have a direct redshift measurement of the afterglow, and the first to be detected at radio wavelengths.

A gamma-ray burst is a highly luminous flash associated with an explosion in a distant galaxy and producing gamma rays, the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation, and often followed by a longer-lived "afterglow" emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio). (Full article...)

List of featured articles

Did you know - show different entries

... that 12th-century Muslim scientist Al-Khazini, who proposed a theory of gravitation long before Isaac Newton, was, in his early life, a slave of the Seljuq Turks?
... that Kepler-47c is a circumbinary planet orbiting in the habitable zone of Kepler-47, a binary star system?
... that two high school students used the automated telescope at Leuschner Observatory to record the earliest images of supernova SN 1994I?
... that the Kuiper crater in the Kuiper quadrangle, named after Dutch American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, has the highest albedo recorded on Mercury?
...that Mt. Olympus Mons on Mars is the highest peak in the solar system?

More Did you know facts

More Did you know (auto generated)

... that examples of artificial planets in science fiction include Riverworld, the Well World, and the Death Star?
... that in early depictions of Uranus in fiction, the planet was portrayed as solid
... that the Passive Seismic Experiment Package recorded one of the first instances of humans littering on another planetary body?
... that in many works of fiction, the asteroid belt is the remnants of a destroyed planet?
... that Susan Murabana created Africa's first permanent planetarium?
... that Jessen's icosahedron has been used for both the "Skwish" children's toy and a NASA proposal for a "super ball bot" to cushion space landers on other planets?

WikiProjects

WikiProject Astronomy	WikiProject Solar System



WikiProject Cosmology	WikiProject Spaceflight

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Credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Messier 67 (also known as M67 or NGC 2682) is an open cluster in the southern, equatorial half of Cancer. It was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779. Image of Messier 67 (SDSS, optical and near-infrared).

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Astronomy News

20 February 2024 –: Astronomers identify the most luminous object ever observed, QSO J0529-4351, a quasar that accretes around one solar mass per day. (The Guardian) (Nature.com)

June anniversaries

2 June 1966 – Surveyor 1 lands on the moon, first US spacecraft to do so
3 June 1966 – Gemini 9 (Gemini Titan 9A) launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida
19 June 1976 – The Viking 1 orbiter arrives in Mars orbit
24 June 2004 – First private spaceflight, SpaceShipOne piloted by Mike Melvill
27 June 1996 – Galileo probe, flyby of Ganymede (Jupiter's largest moon)
30 June 2001 – The NASA Explorer mission, MAP (Microwave Anisotropy Probe), is launched to measure the temperature of cosmic background radiation (remnant heat from the Big Bang)

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Space-related Portals

Astronomical events

All times UT unless otherwise specified.

1 June, 02:54	Moon occults Neptune
2 June, 07:23	Moon at perigee
4 June, 15:12	Venus at superior conjunction; occultation
6 June, 12:38	New moon
14 June, 13:36	Moon at apogee
14 June, 16:15	Mercury at superior conjunction
20 June, 20:51	Earth northern solstice
22 June, 01:08	Full moon
27 June, 11:45	Moon at perigee
27 June, 15:00	Moon occults Saturn
28 June, 08:58	Moon occults Neptune