Astronomy, AST-CAN
Human beings have long been fascinated by the celestial sphere above, whose twinkling lights have inspired not only scientific theories but also many artistic endeavors. Humankind's fascination with the world beyond Earth has led to many landmark moments in history, as when space exploration took a giant step forward with the advent of technology that allowed humans to successfully travel to the Moon and to build spacecraft capable of exploring the rest of the solar system and beyond.
Astronomy Encyclopedia Articles By Title
astronomy, science that encompasses the study of all extraterrestrial objects and phenomena. Until the invention......
- Introduction
- Solar System, Planets, Stars
- Asteroids, Comets, Meteors
- Extrasolar, Planetary, Systems
- Star Formation, Evolution, Processes
- Galactic Centre, Observations, Stars
- Cosmology, Universe, Stars
- Techniques, Observations, Measurements
- Multi-Messenger, Gravitational Waves, Neutrinos
- Ancient, Celestial, Observations
- Ancient Greece, Stars, Planets
- India, Islamic, Medieval
- Copernicus, Heliocentric, Revolution
- Enlightenment, Celestial Bodies, Observations
- Herschel, Milky Way, Stars
- Stars, Galaxies, Cosmology
- Relativity, Space-Time, Cosmology
- Galaxies, Expansion, Universe
- Steady State, Cosmology, Big Bang
- Satellite, Observatories, Exploration
astrophysics, branch of astronomy concerned primarily with the properties and structure of cosmic objects, including......
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), radio telescope system located on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile’s Atacama......
ataxite, any iron meteorite containing more than 16 percent nickel. Ataxites, containing taenite as their main......
Atlas, series of American launch vehicles, designed originally as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs),......
Aton, in ancient Egyptian religion, a sun god, depicted as the solar disk emitting rays terminating in human hands,......
Atum, in ancient Egyptian religion, one of the manifestations of the sun and creator god, perhaps originally a......
Auriga, constellation in the northern sky, at about 6 hours right ascension and 45° north in declination. The brightest......
Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), uncrewed European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft that carried supplies to the......
automatic picture transmission station, in meteorology, any of several hundred installations, located in most of......
autumnal equinox, two moments in the year when the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal......
Arthur von Auwers was a German astronomer known for his star catalogs. After receiving a Ph.D. in astronomy (1862)......
zone of avoidance, region characterized by an apparent absence of galaxies near the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy......
azimuth, the angular distance from the north or south point of the horizon to the foot of the vertical circle through......
Harold Delos Babcock was an astronomer who, with his son Horace Welcome Babcock, invented (1951) the solar magnetograph,......
Horace Welcome Babcock was an American astronomer who, with his father, Harold Delos Babcock, invented the solar......
Henry Bacon was an American architect, best-known as the designer of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. Bacon......
Jean-Sylvain Bailly was a French statesman noted for his role in the French Revolution, particularly in leading......
Francis Baily was an astronomer who detected the phenomenon called “Baily’s beads” during an annular eclipse of......
Baily’s beads, arc of bright spots seen during total and annular eclipses of the Sun. They are named for Francis......
John Bainbridge was an astronomer noted for his observations of comets. Bainbridge practiced medicine at Ashby-de-la-Zouch......
Benjamin Banneker was a mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, inventor, and writer, one of the first......
Edward Emerson Barnard was an astronomer who pioneered in celestial photography and who was the leading observational......
Barnard’s star, second nearest star to the Sun (after the triple system of Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri’s......
Kayla Barron is an American astronaut who spent six months on the International Space Station (ISS) from November......
John D. Barrow was a British astrophysicist who received the 2006 Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research......
al-Battānī was an Arab astronomer and mathematician who refined existing values for the length of the year and......
Johann Bayer was a German astronomer whose book Uranometria promulgated a system of identifying all stars visible......
Alan Bean was an American astronaut and lunar module pilot on the Apollo 12 mission (November 14–22, 1969), during......
Wilhelm Beer was a German banker and amateur astronomer who (with Johann Heinrich von Mädler) constructed the most......
Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a British astronomer who discovered pulsars, the cosmic sources of peculiar radio pulses.......
Ivan Bella is a Slovak pilot and air force officer and the first Slovak citizen to go into space. Bella graduated......
Bellatrix, the 26th brightest star in the sky and the third brightest star in the constellation of Orion. Bellatrix......
Pavel Belyayev was a cosmonaut who served as the commander of the Voskhod 2 spacecraft during the Soviet Union’s......
Bendis, Thracian goddess of the moon; the Greeks usually identified her with the goddess Artemis. She is often......
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel was a German astronomer whose measurements of positions for about 50,000 stars and rigorous......
Beta Centauri, second brightest star (after Alpha Centauri) in the southern constellation Centaurus and the 10th......
Beta Crucis, second brightest star (after Alpha Crucis) in the southern constellation Crux (the Southern Cross)......
Beta Lyrae, eclipsing binary star, the two component stars of which are so close together that they are greatly......
Beta Pictoris, fourth-magnitude star located 63 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Pictor and......
Betelgeuse, second brightest star in the constellation Orion, marking the eastern shoulder of the hunter. Its name......
Hans Bethe was a German-born American theoretical physicist who helped shape quantum physics and increased the......
Star of Bethlehem, celestial phenomenon mentioned in the Gospel According to Matthew as leading “wise men from......
Bhaskara I was an Indian astronomer and mathematician who helped to disseminate the mathematical work of Aryabhata......
Wilhelm, Freiherr von Biela was an Austrian astronomer who is noted for his discovery (1826) that a certain comet,......
Biela’s Comet, short-period comet named for the Austrian astronomer Wilhelm, Freiherr (baron) von Biela (1782–1856).......
the Big Dipper, constellation of the seven brightest stars of the larger constellation Ursa...
big-bang model, widely held theory of the evolution of the universe. Its essential feature is the emergence of......
binary star, pair of stars in orbit around their common centre of gravity. A high proportion, perhaps one-half,......
Biosatellite, any of a series of three U.S. Earth-orbiting scientific satellites designed to study the biological......
black hole, cosmic body of extremely intense gravity from which nothing, not even light, can escape. A black hole......
blackbody radiation, energy radiated by any object or system that absorbs all incident radiation. The term usually......
Nathaniel Bliss was Britain’s fourth Astronomer Royal. Bliss graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford (B.A., 1720;......
blue moon, the second full moon in a calendar month. The period from one full moon to another is about 29 12 days,......
blue straggler star, star of bluish colour (and thus hot) that is found in old star clusters and that appears to......
Guion Bluford is an astronaut who was the first African American launched into space. Bluford received an undergraduate......
Johann Elert Bode was a German astronomer best known for his popularization of Bode’s law, or the Titius-Bode rule,......
Bode’s law, empirical rule giving the approximate distances of planets from the Sun. It was first announced in......
Boeing Company, American aerospace company—the world’s largest—that is the foremost manufacturer of commercial......
Bart J. Bok was a Dutch-born American astronomer known for his work on the structure and evolution of the Milky......
Charles Bolden is an American astronaut who served as the first African American administrator of the National......
William Cranch Bond was an American astronomer who, with his son George Phillips Bond (1825–65), discovered Hyperion,......
Roberta Bondar is a Canadian neurologist, researcher, and astronaut. She was the first Canadian woman and the first......
Sir Hermann Bondi was an Austrian-born British mathematician and cosmologist who, with Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold,......
Bonner Durchmusterung (BD), star catalog showing the positions and apparent magnitudes of 324,188 northern stars.......
Jean-Charles de Borda was a French mathematician and nautical astronomer noted for his studies of fluid mechanics......
Frank Borman was a U.S. astronaut who, in Apollo 8 with James A. Lovell and William A. Anders in December 1968,......
Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich was an astronomer and mathematician who gave the first geometric procedure for determining......
Lewis Boss was an American astronomer best known for his compilation of star catalogs. Boss worked for the U.S.......
Pierre Bouguer was a versatile French scientist best remembered as one of the founders of photometry, the measurement......
Alexis Bouvard was an astronomer and director of the Paris Observatory, who is noted for discovering eight comets......
Nathaniel Bowditch was a self-educated American mathematician and astronomer, author of the best American book......
I.S. Bowen was an American astrophysicist whose explanation of the strong green emission from nebulae (clouds of......
Boötes, constellation in the northern sky, at about 15 hours right ascension and 30° north in declination. The......
James Bradley was an English astronomer who in 1728 announced his discovery of the aberration of starlight, an......
Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer whose work in developing astronomical instruments and in measuring and fixing......
Brahmagupta was one of the most accomplished of the ancient Indian astronomers. He also had a profound and direct......
Vance Brand is an American astronaut who was command pilot for several historic space ventures, including the first......
Wernher von Braun was a German engineer who played a prominent role in all aspects of rocketry and space exploration,......
Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, Baronet was a British soldier and astronomical observer for whom the city of Brisbane,......
Dirk Brouwer was a Dutch-born U.S. astronomer and geophysicist known for his achievements in celestial mechanics,......
brown dwarf, astronomical object that is intermediate between a planet and a star. Brown dwarfs usually have a......
Ernest William Brown was a British-born American mathematician and astronomer known for his theory of the motion......
Harrison Brown was an American geochemist known for his role in isolating plutonium for its use in the first atomic......
Robert Hanbury Brown was a British astronomer and writer noted for his design, development, and use of the intensity......
Giordano Bruno was an Italian philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, and occultist whose theories anticipated......
Buran, Soviet orbiter similar in design and function to the U.S. space shuttle. Designed by the Energia aerospace......
Margaret Burbidge was an English-born American astronomer who was the first woman to be appointed director of the......
Valery Bykovsky was a Soviet cosmonaut who orbited Earth 81 times in the spacecraft Vostok 5, from June 14 to 19,......
al-Bīrūnī was a Muslim astronomer, mathematician, ethnographist, anthropologist, historian, and geographer. Al-Bīrūnī......
Caelum, constellation in the southern sky at about 5 hours right ascension and 40° south in declination. Caelum......
Callisto, outermost of the four large moons (Galilean satellites) discovered around Jupiter by the Italian astronomer......
Caloris, prominent multiringed impact basin on Mercury. The ramparts of Caloris are about 1,550 km (960 miles)......
Camelopardalis, constellation in the northern sky at about 6 hours right ascension and 70° north in declination.......
Giuseppe Campani was an Italian optical-instrument maker who invented a lens-grinding lathe. Of peasant origin,......
William Wallace Campbell was an astronomer known particularly for his spectrographic determinations of the radial......
Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Canadian government organization founded in 1989 that coordinates spaceflight activities.......
Cancer, in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying in the northern sky between Leo and Gemini, at about 8 hours......
Canes Venatici, constellation in the northern sky at about 13 hours right ascension and 40° north in declination.......
Canis Major, constellation in the southern sky, at about 7 hours right ascension and 20° south in declination.......