Aryabhata

Considered one of the biggest innovative thinkers and contributors to the Indian history, Aryabhata gave a whole new dimension to astronomy, mathematical rules and propositions. Born in 476 A.D., in Kerala, the Hindu astronomer Aryabhata studied in Nalanda University near Kusumaputra, now Patna. His only surviving work is amassed in Aryabhatiya,...

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The Greatest Historical Astronomers

An interesting book entitled, "Human Accomplishment" by Charles Murray has attempted to select the most important figures in the arts and sciences from 800 BC to 1950 AD. A total of 4002 significant figures were culled from a large number of authoritative sources covering astronomy, physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, earth sciences, technology, the various arts, and philosophy. Murray used statistical analysis as a guide to avoid selections based on nationality, gender, race, or popularity. I think he did...

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The Formation of Galaxies

Theoretical investigations indicate that galaxies formed from a diluted but lumpy mixture of hydrogen and helium gas - the primordial elements forged in the Big Bang. They also indicate that two vastly different scales of mass prevailed less than 100 million years after the Big Bang, which ultimately affected the formation of galaxies. (See the later discussion of dark matter and the formation of structure.) Two Scales of Matter Matter...

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what are galaxies ?

We assume the stars to be gathered together into galaxies and that these form the basic building blocks of the visible matter in the Universe. Many of the galaxies are similar to our own Milky Way, but many are rather different. The adjacent image shows the Hubble Deep Field: the Hubble Space Telescope was pointed at the same region of the sky (in the constellation Ursa Major) for 10 consecutive days and images were combined...

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What is the age of the universe ?

As we shall discuss further in connection with the big bang, there is strong evidence that the Universe has not always existed, but instead came into being a finite amount of time ago. There are several measures of the age of the Universe. Let us discuss two: (1) the age of globular clusters and (2) the inverse of the Hubble constant.  Globular Clusters   As we have already discussed, the turn-off point for the HR...

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Precession of the Earth's Rotation Axis

The Earth's rotation axis is not fixed in space. Like a rotating toy top, the direction of the rotation axis executes a slow precession with a period of 26,000 years (see following figure). Pole Stars are Transient   Thus, Polaris will not always be the Pole Star or North Star. The Earth's rotation axis happens to be pointing almost exactly at Polaris now, but in 13,000 years the precession of the rotation axis will mean that...

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10 Strange and Amazing Astronomy Facts

Even though man has studied the heavens for thousands of years, we still know very little about the Universe we live in. And as we continue to learn more, we are consistently amazed, and sometimes confused, by what we learn. Here is a collection of amazing, interesting, and strange astronomy facts, in no particular order. Scientists believe that we can only see about 5% of the matter in the Universe. The rest is made up of invisible...

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Why astronomy is cool ?( Five reasons )

Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula It’s beautiful   If you go out on a dark moonless night, you will immediately know what I mean. The Milky Way, stretching its jagged course across the heavens, is quite a sight to behold. The constellations, particularly the winter constellations, have an elegance and familiarity to them. The Moon is also an appealing object, with its ever changing phases and frequent conjunctions...

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