... Bad Astronomy . ... Bitesize Astronomy . ... Last week's Snack talked about how black holes can affect the environment around them in such a way as to be very bright . ... It's a common misconception that black holes always have matter swirling into them. ... As this matter gets closer and closer to the black hole it piles up and a large, fairly flat disk forms. This is called the accretion disk , because matter from this disk accretes (that is, falls in) on the black hole. ... 2008 Phil Plait. ...

... Data Reduction FAQ > The reduced science spectrum displayed in the Reflex window appears good but when I try to plot it, it is quite different. How can I get it? ... Observing with ESO Telescopes . ... ESO-MIDAS . ... Reflex . ... ESO Data . ... ESO HST Image Galleries . ... ESO Data Access Policy . ... ESO Science Newsletter . ... ESO Annual Reports . ... Seminars at ESO Santiago . ... Seminars at ESO Garching . ... ESO Telescope Bibliography . ... Last Update: 01.04.14 ESO . ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... Sky this Month . ... Star Atlas . ... stars . ... The Sky This Week: April 1 - 10 . ... Observing springtime deep-sky objects with a large telescope . ... Why do some stars appear to flash a variety of different colors when you look at them through a telescope? ... So, Earthт??s atmosphere will bend some colors from especially bright stars more so than others, which makes the source look like itт??s flashing colors. Get instant access to subscriber content on Astronomy.com! ...

... To be read in conjunction with Section 4.11 of the WFPC2 Instrument Handbook , -Version 4.0. ... 1 The second study found evidence that CTE loss for faint stars has increased with time (Whitmore, 1998). The primary observational consequence of CTE loss is that a point source at the top of the chip appears to be fainter than if observed at the bottom of the chip, due to the loss of electrons as the star is read out down the chip (see Figure 1 ). ... Last updated: 06/16/98 10:38:00 . ...

... the time of observation . ... Observing the Changing Position of the Sun To Establish Cardinal Directions . ... Observations of the Sun's apparent movement across the sky and its pattern of rising and setting in the east and west horizon helped to establish the cardinal directions. ... The final stage of the Sun's return was marked by the observation that the Sun had reached its highest altitude when the full width of your mitted hand could fill the gap between the Sun and the horizon. ...

... 2005 August 8 . Mars to Appear Normal This August . ... Regardless of numerous urban legends circulating, Mars will appear relatively normal in August. October is the best month to see Mars this year. ... As Earth catches up to Mars in their respective orbits around the Sun, Mars will keep rising earlier in the night. On 2005 October 30, Earth will have caught up to Mars and the planets will be the nearest to each other in their orbits -- this time around. ... About APOD | ...

... Iridescent Clouds from the Top of the World Highway . ... Why would a cloud appear to be different colors? ... Sun 360: STEREO Captures Views of the Entire Sun . ... The bright colors on the blue background indicate that an anomalous signal was received here on Earth by a radio telescope involved in a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). ... Last week, Japan launched the robotic Kounotori2 spacecraft to bring needed supplies, including food, to the International Space Station (ISS). ...

... It is possible to change the meaning of keywords (to `overload' them), but it can be confusing, primarily because your new commands may not behave the same way that this manual claims. ... If you said box in your macro, then overloaded the keyword, you'd have a macro that called itself. ... Another example is that (when overloaded) lines saves the line numbers used, so that you can write a macro to print the top 10 lines of a file (it's called head ). ...

... Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, +44 (0)28 3752 2928 . On Sunday evening, 28th November, the Armagh Observatory was inundated with reports from people who had seen a bright meteor or fireball. ... The Armagh Observatory would like to thank those who have so far reported observations of this event, and encourage any businesses and others who may operate north-pointing CCTV cameras to inspect any video footage recorded between approximately 17:30 and 18:00 on Sunday 28th November. ...

... This precise description is called the standard model of electroweak physics. ... What brings about this important difference in the mass of these "field" particles? ... The Oregon group participates in the ATLAS experiment to investigate this question. ... Since Oregon joined ATLAS early in 2006, the group has devoted its effort to the process of selection of interesting events generated by the collisions of high energy particles within the ATLAS detector. ...

... The Russian TESIS/ CORONAS-PHOTON Solar Observatory, which has been working in orbit since January 30th, 2009, has photographed one of the most important events in the build up to the upcoming solar cycle - the formation of our star's new southern belt of activity. The first magnetic fields of the new cycle in the southern hemisphere appeared on the Sun's surface on May 23-24th. ... The belt of activity is one of the primary concepts, characterizing the solar cycle. ...

. To you, the user, it appears as though there is only one type of file in UNIX - the file which is used to hold your information. In fact, the UNIX filesystem contains several types of file. Ordinary files . Directories . Special files . Pipes .