Now that well over 100 planets have been discovered, we no longer need to ask the question "Are there planets out there?" ... The objective of XO is to find additional hot-Jupiters (like HD 209458b) that transit stars bright enough for detailed follow-up studies to be done with existing telescopes such as HST, Keck, and the VLT. ... Transit observations by themselves provide no information about the mass of the planet and radial velocity studies can yield only minimum masses. ...

... These other worlds are the moons of our Solar System , of which there are approximately 170 in orbit around our planets.Some of these moons are very interesting, and have diverse and unique features, very different to our barren, heavily cratered Moon .Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system has the most moons of any planet with known 64 moons in orbit.The four ... Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System thought to have oceans located underneath its icy surface.( ...

... The study of extra solar planets will be one of the most important areas of research in astronomy in this century. ... The first planets outside the solar system were found in 1992 around the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12 by Alex Wolszczan at the Arecibo Observatory . ... Three space missions based on this principle (MOST, COROT and Kepler ) have already been launched or approved, and have the last one at least has the potential to find Earth-sized planets. ... SIM ( NASA ) is one of such missions...

... Bad Astronomy . ... Bad Astronomy : The Moon appears larger on the horizon than overhead because you are comparing it to foreground objects. Good astronomy : The Moon does appear larger on the horizon, but it is because of the way we perceive the sky. ... The most common misconception is that it is because you are unconsciously comparing the Moon to foreground objects like trees and houses, or even the horizon itself, and that makes the Moon look bigger than when it is all alone in the sky. ...

... the total number of numbered minor planets is 350441 ; . the total number of named minor planets is 17621 ; . the unnamed minor planet with the least number: (3708) 1974 FV1 ; . the named minor planet with the greatest number: (340980) Bad Vilbel ; . the total number of minor planet names containing symbols with diacritical characters is 839 ; . ... the first minor planet named using a symbol with diacritical character is (61) Dana?. ... Symbol . ... Minor planet names ...

... Triton: Neptunes Largest Moon . 3.03.2007 . ... Lunar Transit from STEREO . ... So, looking toward the Sun, extreme ultraviolet cameras onboard STEREO B were able to record a stunning movie of a lunar transit (aka solar eclipse), as the Moon tracked across the solar disk. Solar Eclipse from the Moon . ... Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 2170 . ... When stars form, pandemonium reigns. ... APOD: 2007 February 24- X rays and the Eagle Nebula . ... APOD: 2007 February 23- Dust and the Helix Nebula . ...

... Over the past 16 years, astronomers have found more than 700 planets outside of our Solar System. We call these distant worlds exo-planets . ... For example, they can observe how a star dims when a planet passes in front of it. ... In this new method, astronomers use stars like magnifying glasses! ... And astronomers can tell if the star that is acting like a magnifying glass has a planet in orbit around it, as the power of the magnification is even greater! ...

... 2007 February 27 . Atmospheres Detected for Two Extrasolar Planets . ... Explanation: Do extrasolar planets have water? In an attempt to find out, the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope made detailed observations of the atmospheres of two planets that orbit stars other than our Sun. ... Although no water vapor was detected this time, the techniques of measuring exoplanet atmospheres are quite promising, and the search for distant water and other biomarkers is just beginning. ... About APOD | ...

... The Sun . Does anyone know how many stars are there in the solar system? Come take a look at the Sun. See that? ... Did you know all the stars you see when you look up are inside our galaxy! ... Did you know that our Sun and solar system were born in a cloud of gas and dust like this. ... We're looking at a place where stars are being born. ... Sharing the Universe is based upon work supported by the Informal Education Division of the National Science Foundation under Grant no DRL-0638873. ...

Detecting Long Period Planets with WASP 1 University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL To estimate the number of transiting planets in this period range, planetary occurrence rates from Kepler (Fressin et al, 2013) for varying spectral type & planet type were used. ... Two `stare' fields are currently available from 2011 (330,000 stars) producing a detection rate of 3.0±2.4 planets (Fig 4). ... Since 2011, WASP-N cameras have observed in `Stare' mode, with cadence of ~1-2min. ...

... Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, +44 (0)28 3752 2928 . ... Aurora . ... Corona . Fireballs . ... Zodiacal Light . ... The first thing to do is get acquainted with what the night sky looks like. ... The National Schools Observatory web site has very good horizon views of the sky for the current night. ... If the object is moving slowly across the sky then it may be one of the larger satellites. ... Cloudbait Observatory - October 2002 . ... October 2003 Aurora at Armagh . ...

Moon, Planets And Aurora, Oh My! Articles | ... Moon | ... How often do we see several planets and the Moon together? ... Then I look northeast and see more red through all the light pollution of Washington, D.C. I snapped this 15 second photo. ... What started out as a father son photographic safari for rare planet conjunctions turned into a spectacular night of memories. ... Aha, I see some red light near Orion. ... A Very Rare Red Aurora in Northern Virginia, . ... www.astronomy.