Portal:Astronomy

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Astronomy portal

Astronomy (Greek: αστρονομία = άστρον + νόμος, astronomia = astron + nomos, literally "law of the stars") is the study of the evolution and physical and chemical properties of celestial objects. Astronomical observations are not only relevant for astronomy as such, but provide essential information for the verification of fundamental theories in physics, such as the general relativity theory. Complementary to observational astronomy, theoretical astrophysics seeks to explain astronomical phenomena.

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The Solar System or solar system comprises the Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it: the eight planets, their 162 known moons, three currently identified dwarf planets and their four known moons, and thousands of small bodies. This last category includes asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and interplanetary dust.

In broad terms, the charted regions of the Solar System consist of the Sun (astronomical symbol ), four rocky bodies close to it called the inner planets, an inner belt of rocky asteroids, four giant outer planets and a second belt of small icy bodies known as the Kuiper belt. In order of their distances from the Sun, the planets are Mercury (), Venus (), Earth (), Mars (), Jupiter (), Saturn (), Uranus (), and Neptune (). Six of the eight planets are in turn orbited by natural satellites (usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon) and every planet past the asteroid belt is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles. The planets other than Earth are named after gods and goddesses from Greco-Roman mythology. The three dwarf planets are Pluto, (), the largest known Kuiper belt object, Ceres, (), the largest object in the asteroid belt, and Eris, (no symbol), which lies beyond the Kuiper belt in a region called the scattered disc.

Recently featured: Globular cluster – Binary star – Barnard's Star

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Did you know

...that the Stingray Nebula, thought to have formed around 1987, is the youngest known planetary nebula?

...that the Mark II radio telescope built in 1964 at Jodrell Bank Observatory, UK was the first ever telescope to be controlled by a digital computer?

...that Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 passed within Jupiter's Roche limit in 1992, causing it to break up into smaller pieces two years before it collided with the planet?

...that the Kaidun meteorite fell on March 12, 1980 on a Soviet military base in Yemen and may be from Phobos?

...that GRB 060218 is a gamma ray burst close enough for its associated supernova to be observed?

...that the trans-Neptunian object Eris is believed to be larger than Pluto and is no longer claimed to be the solar system's tenth planet due to the recent IAU definition of planet?

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