Space / Astronomy July 2004 Archive

Do you have a space enthusiast or amateur astonomer at home? Is there someone on your gift list who loves astronomy or is fascinated by thoughts of exploring the solar ... Read More

An old Chinese proverb says, "When you see what is right, have the courage to do it." Through the years of space exploration, many people have seen what was right ... Read More

The red planet Mars has inspired wild flights of imagination over the centuries, as well as intense scientific interest. Whether fancied to be the source of hostile invaders of Earth, ... Read More

On July 31, some people believe we'll see a blue moon. Maybe. Read more about blue moons and why you may not see one this month. Read More...

So, you think you're pretty smart, do you? Find out just how smart you are with these two new quizzes from About Astronomy and Space. We're starting off with a stars ... Read More

The most famous thing Neil Armstrong left on the moon 35 years ago is a footprint, a boot-shaped depression in the gray moondust. Millions of people have seen pictures of ... Read More

Did NASA Fake the Moon Landings? Some people claim that NASA lied about the Apollo program and faked the landings. There have been disbelievers ever since Apollo 11, but the most ... Read More

It started with a dream: "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are ... Read More

While it's a great thing that all of our space exploration has provided us with so much great information about the planets of our solar system, it sometimes seems that ... Read More

The Pioneer series of spacecraft performed first-of-their-kind explorations of the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. The different missions had little in common except that they all paved the way for ... Read More

Asteroids are rocky fragments left over from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. Most of these fragments of ancient space rubble - sometimes referred to ... Read More

Discover Eclipses, Meteor Showers, Planetary Transits and Other Astronomy Events. Find out about space exploration missionad, meetings and conferences. This astronomy and space events calendar from your About Astronomy and ... Read More

Explorer 1 was the first satellite launched by the United States when it was sent into space on January 31, 1958. Following the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 ... Read More

Our Sun has inspired mythology in almost all cultures, including ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, Native Americans, and Chinese. We now know that the Sun is a huge, bright sphere of mostly ... Read More

From our Basics series: There are different definitions of Astronomy. Some define it as a branch of science dedicated to the study of the motions and natures of celestial bodies, like ... Read More

This week's Featured Astronomy Image (Formerly Space - Astronomy Picture of the Day), shares preliminary science results which are already beginning to show a complex and fascinating planetary system, just ... Read More

"Shooting stars" or meteors are bits of material falling through Earth's atmosphere; they are heated to incandescence by the friction of the air. The bright trails as they are coming ... Read More

At first glance, if Earth had a twin, it would be Venus. The two planets are similar in size, mass, composition, and distance from the Sun. But there the similarities ... Read More

Take a tour of our neighborhood, at least on a Galactic scale. Discover information and pictures of planets and objects in our solar system. Learn more about Mercury, Venus, Earth, ... Read More

The small and rocky planet Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun; it speeds around the Sun in a wildly elliptical (non-circular) orbit that takes it as close as ... Read More