The FAS Astronomers Blog

  • Reclassifying Pluto

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 18. Remember Pluto? Yes, Pluto. It was a planet for a long time. Then it wasn’t a planet (and many people were not happy). Pluto was discovered in 1930 and for many years was thought to be the only object in the distant reaches of the Solar System. That…

  • Observing the Stars

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 17. After becoming familiar with the Night Sky and observing the Moon and planets, you might try to find a few stars. You will notice that some stars can have several names. The brighter stars in the night sky usually have proper names such as Betelgeuse, Vega, Rigel, and…

  • Moons of the Solar System

    Young Astronomers Blog Volume 29, Number 16. On many nights when you look up into the night sky you can see a bright object known simply as the Moon. It is Earth’s only natural satellite and is unusual in that it is one of the seven largest moons of the solar system. This is not…

  • The Sun

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 15. If you travel far enough north (or south) and look up at the night sky, you might see some swirly patterns of light. These are the northern (or southern) lights, more correctly called Aurora Borealis (or Aurora Australis). Auroras start with the Sun. The Sun is huge ball…

  • Observing the Moon and Planets

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 14. Saturday, October 16, 2021, is International Observe the Moon Night, so this is a great time to go outside, look up, and do some observing. Many amateur astronomers begin their tour of the night sky by viewing the constellations. For more on this, see the Night Sky. Once…

  • Unidentified Flying Objects (The Beginning)

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 13. Unidentified Flying Objects … UFOs … Hmmm … I might be stretching things a bit with this article. Or am I a bit out on “the fringe” of things? … Hmmm … First, do unidentified flying objects exist? Probably yes. Any flying object that is unidentified is technically…

  • Mercury

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 12. Mercury is the closest of our Solar System’s eight official planets to the Sun. It speeds around the Sun in just 88 days. Its orbit is the most elliptical of the eight planets (eccentricity .205), with a perihelion of 28.6 million miles (.3 AU) and an aphelian of…

  • Viruses and Vaccines

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 11. A pandemic has engulfed the world! Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a virus that can produce a respiratory disease called COVID-19. Viruses A virus is a microscopic germ made up of genetic material (DNA or RNA. It is covered by a capsid (shell) of protein.…

  • Neptune

    Young Astronomers Blog, Volume 29, Number 10. If we were to travel out in the Solar System, we would eventually reach the last of the official planets. I know, many would argue there is still one more planet out there, but that’s another story. Neptune is the only planet to be discovered through mathematical analysis.…