... ESO is building what will be the World's largest optical telescope array, The Very Large Telescope (VLT). The VLT Project organisation is responsible for the design and construction of the Unit Telescopes, including enclosures, optics, adapter-rotators and coating unit. ... Unit Telescopes Overview - This page is outdated, an update is in process. ... Secondary mirror (M2 Unit) - This page is outdated, an update is in process. ... Coating Unit - This page is outdated, an update is in process. ...

... Methane Rain Possible on Titan . ... Recent analyses of measurements taken by the Huygen's probe that landed on Titan in 2005 January indicate that the atmosphere is actually saturated with methane at a height of about 8 kilometers. The Milky Way over Utah . ... If sometimes it appears that the entire Milky Way Galaxy is raining down on your head, do not despair. ... The above image is a radar reflection from terrain near Titan's North Pole and spans a region about 200 kilometers across. ...

... 2014 November 30 . The Seahorse of the Large Magellanic Cloud . Image Credit: NASA , ESA , and M. Livio ( STScI ) . Explanation: It may look like a grazing seahorse , but the dark object toward the image right is actually a pillar of smoky dust about 20 light years long. The curiously-shaped dust structure occurs in our neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud , in a star forming region very near the expansive Tarantula Nebula . ... Now Available: APOD 2015 Wall Calendars . ... About APOD | ...

... Today this year's largest group of sunspots will cross the Sun's central meridian. ... The next day, the number of spots in the group reached five, and the day after, on June 2nd, it was possible to count thirteen sunspots on solar disk, which had been clear prior to this. ... This year's two most powerful active areas, which passed across the solar disk at the beginning of May, 2009, are set to appear in the Sun's eastern sector in two days, on June 6th. ...

... Most sources say that this warming is due to friction between the meteoroid and the Earth's atmosphere, and that is partially true. ... Most meteoroids are smaller than a grain of rice" Meteors are the bright trails left by fragments of natural space debris called meteoroids (usually chunks of rock and iron) falling through the Earth's atmosphere. ... These are called meteorites. ... Belonging to a rare class of meteorite called pallasites, it was discovered locally by Steve Arnold. ...

... November 12, 1996 . Comet Hale-Bopp Passes M14 . ... Explanation : Comet Hale-Bopp continues its slow trek across the night sky, and can now be seen superposed near the bright globular cluster M14 . Will Comet Hale-Bopp become as bright in early 1997 as Comet Hyakutake did in early 1996? It is still too early to tell. ... Because of the size of coma , some speculate that the nucleus of Hale-Bopp is unusually large. ... Tomorrow's picture: Seven Jets from Comet Hale-Bopp . ... About APOD . ...

Using the data obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) legacy survey, we have studied the variations of the dust composition and abundance across the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). ... Using a model and comparing with a reference spectral energy distribution from our Galaxy, we deduce the relative abundance variations of small dust grains across the LMC. ... ADS Citation Query . ... citations vs. year [year,citations] . ...

... Events . ... COSMOS 2009 - Ireland's Spring Star Party . The Irish Node for the International Year of Astronomy is announcing that this year St PatrickтАЩs Festival celebrations in all major cities in Ireland are endorsing an astronomy theme. In Dublin , this yearтАЩs theme for the festival Parade is тАШ The SkyтАЩs the Limit! тАЩ . ... Monday, 16 March 2009 00:49 . International Year of Astronomy, Ireland National Node . ...

M1 image More About M1 Nice Color Picture . ... M16 image More About M16 HST image . ... M31 image More About M31 Nice Color Picture . ... M42 image ; M43 image More About M42/43 Nice Color CCD Picture . M51 image More About M51 Color Image of M51 M51 Supernova . M57 image More About M57 Nice Color CCD Picture Very Deep M57 Image . ... M81 image More About M81 M81 Supernova Ultraviolet Image of M81 More about Ultraviolet Imaging . M82 image More About M82 M82 False Color M82 True Color . ...

... Articles | ... Forums . ... 230 deg . 49 deg . ... 130 deg . ... More Info . ... 210 deg . ... 168 deg . ... 249 deg . ... 195 deg . ... 271 deg . ... 110 deg . ... 338 deg . ... July 15 . 247 deg . ... 224 deg . ... 340 deg . ... July Phoenicids (PHE) . ... August 10 . 341 deg . ... 339 deg . ... 307 deg . ... 334 deg . ... 335 deg . ... 286 deg . ... 327 deg . ... 262 deg . ... 102 deg . ... 153 deg . ... 117 deg . ... December 2 . ... 123 deg . ... 100 deg . ... www.astronomy.net . ...

... Impact craters and associated concentric rings are about the only features to be found on Callisto. ... It has a bright central region that is 600 kilometers in diameter, and its rings extend to 3000 kilometers in diameter. ... This image shows the heavily cratered surface of Callisto. ... Also visible is a fresh, sharp-rimmed crater some 90 km (56 miles) across named Igaluk (center left third of picture), and a bright zone in the south polar area (bottom of image) which could be an impact scar. ...

... From the chain visibility point of view, it is very recommended to look at the Javascript movies , especially if the frame rate can be not regulated in your MPEG player. ... The non-CH-associated large-scale chains visible on the SOHO/EIT images at three wavelengths of 171, 195 and 284 as well as on the MLSO/HAO He I 10830 spectroheliogram of December 16, 1997. ... The SOHO/EIT movies at 171 and 195 show the chain dynamics on June 1-3, 1998. ... Javascript movie (230 KB), SOHO/EIT, 171 . ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... The Magazine . ... Observing . ... Magazine . ... Gravitational wave search provides insights into galaxy evolution and mergers . ... The double star 54 Leonis, spiral galaxy NGC 3198, and emission nebula NGC 3199 . ... Astronomy for Kids . ... Observing springtime deep-sky objects with a large telescope . ... large (8 inches or larger) . ... Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. ... Astronomy Magazine . ...

A team using CSIRO 's Parkes radio telescope has just found the thousandth pulsar known to science. ... This is thanks to the power of a new instrument on the telescope, the multibeam system , which has slashed the time it takes to scan the sky," said co-leader of the pulsar team, CSIRO's Dr Dick Manchester . ... There are many different types of pulsar, and we have only a few examples of some types," said Dr Manchester. ... E-mail: rmanches@atnf.csiro.au . ... e-mail: hsim@atnf.csiro.au . ...

... There has been a heated public discussion in the past few years about whether our ninth planet is really deserving of the name. Since Pluto orbits a star, and is much less luminous, it certainly satisfies the definition we have above. The problem is actually not with Pluto, but with a very large number of other bodies in our Solar System which also satisfy this definition, but which are not called planets. Perhaps the most notable of these is Ceres, the largest asteroid. ... Planet . ...

... Telescopes . ... The International Conference "Dark Ages and White Nights (Spectroscopy of the CMB)" (June 20-24, 2016) . ... The International Conference "Stars: from collapse to collapse" (October 3-7, 2016) . The traditional annual competition conference of scientific and scientific-engineering papers of the Observatory staff members . ... A session of the Dissertation Council (October 16, 2015) . ... International scientific conference "Large Optical Telescopes" (October, 10-13, 2011) . ...

Hall of the States Building . 444 North Capitol St., NW . ... The Hall of the States Building is directly across the plaza from Union Station. ... Head right on Massachusetts Avenue for less than one block and take a left onto North Capitol Street (heading towards the U.S. Capitol). The building is on your right at 444 North Capitol Street. Important Note: The Hall of the States Building has security, and therefore checks visitors against the list of participants. ...

So how do we find objects on the other side of the Universe? ... The latest instruments enable us to scan large areas of sky. Using Cerro Tololo's Blanco 4m telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.5 metre telescope , we are able to scan a piece of sky larger than the size of the moon every 5 minutes to a faintness level which allows us to find Type Ia supernovae halfway across the Universe. Type Ia supernovae are very rare - but each image we take contains 50000 galaxies. ...

... Dnepr launch record 17 August 2011. Cluster Launch of Dnepr LV 22 August 2013 KOMPSAT-5 Launch 21 November 2013. Dnepr Cluster Mission 2013 19 June 2014. ... Mission profile SHM configuration Reliability Dnepr LV Performance Launch Sites . ... The launch vehicle is steam ejected from its Transport and Launch Canister (TLC) by means of hot gases of black powder gas generator. ... Activation of black powder gas generator . ... Separation of black powder gas generator . ... Dnepr LV Performance . ...

... Submitted by Paul Benni on 11/27/2013 18:38:14 . Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy (November 8) . Morning image (Nov. 8) of Comet Lovejoy. ... C8 EdgeHD SCT with Hyperstar (f/2.1) and ST-8300C ccd. Image is uncropped from the Hyperstar setup. Compare to my Comet ISON image with the same image scaling. Interesting how much brighter and larger Comet Lovejoy is now compared to ISON. ... Copyright (c) Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, Inc. ...