Interesting Astronomy Facts

Why do stars twinkle? Which flags contain the Southern Cross? Which astronomer is traveling to Pluto? When will Halley's comet return? For these answers and more, read these astronomy facts:

Stars

Stars appear to twinkle when viewed from Earth, but viewed from space they do not twinkle. Stars do not naturally twinkle, but rather it is the light from the star being distorted by the Earth's atmosphere that makes them seem to us as if they are twinkling.

The nearest star to the Earth is 4.22 light years away. It is called Proxima Centauri.

Sirius is the brightest star. Sirius is also referred to as the dog star. It is apart of the Canis Major constellation. Another star apart of the Canis Major constellation is the VY Canis Majoris. The VY Canis Majoris is the largest star.

Constellations

While VY Canis Majoris is the largest star, the largest constellation is the constellation Hydra. The smallest constellation is Crux, which means cross in Latin. Most people probably know it better as the Southern Cross.

The constellation Crux is apart of the national flag of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa.

Observatories and Telescopes

Many people have heard of the Hubble telescope. But did you know the Hubble telescope is named after U.S. astronomer Edwin Hubble? The idea for the telescope actually started with a scientist named Hermann Oberth. He had the idea of rocketing a telescope into space. But the man who might have had the most influence and involvement in the Hubble telescope being brought to life was actually the astrophysicists Lyman Spitzer Jr.

Discoveries

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. He died in 1997 and, according to Wikipedia, a small portion of Mr. Tombaugh's ashes are on the NASA robotic spacecraft called New Horizons which is traveling to Pluto.

The planet Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in 1781. Its rings were discovered in 1976.

The first asteroid was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801. The asteroid was first named Ceres Ferdinandea but later was changed to just Ceres. Giuseppe Piazzi had named the asteroid partly after King Ferdinand IV.

Comets

The first person to prove that comets travel in orbits was astronomer Edmond Halley. Halley's comet is named after Edmond Halley. It was Halley who saw the comet in 1682 and predicted correctly that it would appear again. Unfortunately Edmond Halley had died about fifteen years prior to its return.

It will be another 50 years from now before Halley's comet is thought to appear again for observers on Earth.

Astronomy Facts Sources:

Wikipedia.com, "Clyde Tombaugh." URL: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tom Baugh)

Hubblesite.org, "HubbleSite - The Telescope." URL: (http://hubblesite.org)