Tag: How To Name A Star

Venus factfile

  Venus is named after the Roman goddess of Love – Venus. Venus is almost the same size as Earth. It has a diameter of 12,104 km. It is thought that Venus is made up of a central iron core, a rocky mantle and a silicate crust. A year on Venus is 225 Earth days. Ve...

The Different Types of Satellites

There are two major types of satellites; natural and man-made. Natural satellites would be, for example, our moon. However, within the scope of man-made satellites, there are several different types. Man-made satellites are classified according to the type of orbit they are in, as this then dict...

The life cycle of a star

Nebula Stars start of life in a nebula, a cloud of hydrogen gas and dust. Here all the elements necessary for making a star are blown around and chemically react with each other. There are several different types of nebula. The Orion nebula, for example, is an Emission Nebula. This means that it...

Humans are made of stardust

It is a commonly known myth that people are made of stardust and now a study has confirmed it. The survey conducted on 150,000 stars has revealed that the galaxy and humans share 97% of the same atoms. The elements of life on earth, which are usually found towards the centre of the galaxy, can...

Cassini Enters Its Grand Finale!

The Cassini Spacecraft (launched in 1997) has been orbiting the planet Saturn since 2004. Its full name is the Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft since it was named after the astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. A collaboration between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), E...

The Weird and Wonderful IAU Naming Conventions

The IAU is the international organisation which is charge of designating celestial bodies and their features. To assist in the process of naming these objects and features the IAU has developed an incredible list of rules and conventions. Here are just a few of these, sometimes odd, rules. Enjoy!...

Taurid’s Meteor Shower

This Saturday night you might be looking forward to heading out, sitting by a fire and watching some incredible fireworks. It’s not just the man made fireworks you might see though, on 4th and 5th November the annual Taurid meteor shower reaches its peak. This has been going on since September...

Schiaparelli

Yesterday at approximately 2:42 GMT the Italian built Schiaparelli module separated from its carrier (the trace gas orbiter – TGO) around Mars. Named after the 19th century astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli – best known for his descriptions of the surface of Mars – it is due to drop down onto the r...

Constellations and Mythology

Constellations and Mythology The familiar constellations we see in the night sky are steeped with history and mythology. Cultures from across the world have always placed great importance in the night sky and this in turn inspired their myths, legends and stories. In this post we’ll explore some o...