LIVE NUDE ASTRONOMY
"Billions and billions" is a phrase which was used often by comics like Johnny Carson about Dr. Carl Sagan. If you like astronomy, then do learn about Sagan, and about Asimov, too--Isaac Asimov--who wrote hundreds of nonfiction books about astronomy and other sciences. And Asimov and Sagan were both very good at getting the ideas of astronomy into the minds and hearts of everyday people like you and me.
Here's a common thought... many people believe that
astronomy and astrology are pretty much
the same thing. These two are very different, however. And I shall
leave it to you, Gentle Reader, to discover the ways that the belief in astrology differs
from the science of astronomy.
Here is a good place to begin. This "naked eye" astronomer also gave astrology readings to his
friends and acquaintances. His great love, astronomy, didn't pay very well way back then, and
Brahe gave astrology readings to "bring home the bacon."
Early astronomers giving astrology readings to make ends meet was a common practice long, long ago.
This is why the line between astrology and astronomy sometimes seems so blurred.
Science has been separating itself from astrology for hundreds of years. Any
continued association with astrology belief is avoided "like the plague" by most modern scientists.
Along with Tycho, here are two more "true" scientists. Kepler worked with Tycho's
awesome, NO-telescope (they hadn't been invented yet) naked-eye observations to
form the foundation of all modern astronomy. And the fact is, Kepler was also an avid and practicing astrologist. Because
of this, even the great laughed at him. But
Galileo believed that the Earth's tides were caused by the motion of Earth sloshing the oceans around.
And Galileo was very wrong. Kepler had noted the connection between the tides and planet Selene (the Moon),
an idea that was
not popular nor accepted at the time. I call Kepler a "true" scientist because, even though his heart screamed
that all the planets had orbits around the Sun that were perfect circles, his mind accepted the TRUTH of
Tycho's observations that the planet orbits were instead "ellipses" (flattened circles), and not perfect circles.
So off we go! Here is one of the best sites on the world wide web for you
if you're just
beginning to love astronomy ...
STAR GAZER
Jack's Place
And now we have one of my favorite astronomy sites.
*HOURS* of enjoyment for
the "Sirius" astronomy and cosmology lover!
Next for your viewing pleasure is the popular "Powers of Ten" site. It has an embedded viewer that decreases distance by a factor of 10. You begin 10 million light years away from our galaxy, you get closer and closer by the power of 10 until you see our Solar System and then planet Earth. You keep getting closer until finally you see an atom. Come face to face with a proton! This is great... you'll love it!
Powers of Ten
Secret Worlds
The Universe Within
S P A C E The "Final Frontier"? We all know that's just TV
marketing hype designed to get people to watch and to buy soap 'n stuff. Space might be called a
"gigagigafrontier" i suppose, because it's actually made up of "billions and billions" of more
reachable frontiers. Like the Moon, for example. And Mars. Here are two true frontiers
we know we can reach. And as we keep trying to return to the Moon and to go explore Mars, we
will learn what it takes to reach many other FRONTIERS of SPACE.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States has put together
some interesting figures. There were 5,100 successful launches of space-bound vehicles from
1957 through 2002. About 91% of these were launched by two main groups: the United States and
the Soviet Union/Russia, which included (after 1991) the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS).
During this time, the Soviet Union/CIS was responsible for 3,188 launches (62.5%) and the US,
1,440 (28.2%). The remainder were launched by the European Space Agency (ESA - 106 launches),
Japan (71), China (67), France (39), India (24), United Kingdom (18), Germany (16), Canada (13),
and Israel (1).
Since 2000, the gap has been narrowing. For example, in 2002 there were 61 total launches
worldwide, including 23 from Russia and the CIS, 18 by the US, 11 by the ESA, 4 by China and 3
by Japan.
Some countries, like Brazil, South Korea, Australia or nations in the Middle East, have
enough money and could easily acquire the technology to launch satellites, but choose for
economy and convenience to either have other countries launch their payloads or to
participate in the space projects of other nations. And others, like North Korea and Iran,
are pursuing their own space projects.
This growing participation underscores how the exploration of space has
been going international. And the recent success of
SpaceShipOne's historic
event, gives us all hope of oneday being space tourists!
About one hundred years ago (1903) the Wright brothers made the first significant
powered flight of an airplane. While there was flight before this (lighter-than-air
craft, gliders, etc.) the 1903 flight is considered the single most important event which
launched our world into travel by flight, including space travel. So to honor the Wright
brothers and others who were instrumental to our ability to fly, the following website about
international space flight . . .
And here are the websites I found for most international space agencies. These are listed alphabetically.
Maybe if we see the exploration of space as a CONQUEST... see space almost as a "COMMON ENEMY"?
( Please visit the UseNet newsgroup alt.astronomy for more info on FLOWING SPACE,
as well as many other cutting edge and fascinating discussions! )
Lots of good questions and answers
The Astronomy Cafe is also called a "FAQ" website. That's FAQ for "Frequently Asked
Questions". There are several good astronomy FAQs, so if you love astronomy and its
related sciences of cosmology and physics, then
Get the FAQs
For a long time now, I've considered our Moon to be much more than just a satellite of Earth!
I believe the Moon is in fact a full-fledged major planet in its own right! And I've chosen the
name given to the Moon by the ancient Greeks: Planet Selene (spoken with 3 syllables, Say-'lay-nay). There are several reasons to
believe that the Moon is a major planet, and I've posted these reasons many, many times to the UseNet newsgroup...
a l t . a s t r o n o m y
Ralph Hertle sent me these images of the combined Earth-Selene orbits around the Sun... FABULOUS!
Astronomical Thank You to RALPH HERTLE !
Okay, my dear friends! I finally did it! I spent several hours last night putting together
a free online pamphlet
THE PLANET MOON
THE ANDROMEDA FALACY
Have you ever read that the Andromeda galaxy will someday collide with our Milky Way
galaxy?
The surface lights keep getting brighter and brighter. And
Nighttime Satellite Photo Shoot of Earth
Okay, now let's lighten it up just a bit. Here's one of my favorite astromony jokes!...
Let me tell you about another huge astromony "joke". A few years ago
"alt.astronomy", one of my favorite UseNet newsgroups, was "invaded" by
several kooks and kook-wannabees. Since alt.astronomy has evolved into a "cutting-edge"
science newsgroup, other groups of people, such as "alt.usenet.kooks" (a superb collection
of self-proclaimed "kookologists" (I call them "Kookstone Kopps")) started considering some of our ideas
just a bit "kooky". So they came, they saw, they conquered. And every REAL kook hungry for attention
followed along with them. Unfortunately, this raised the "noise" level in alt.astronomy to
EXTREMELY HIGH, and it hasn't completely died down yet, even now. One of the outcomes of
all this was a new FAQ made by "Art Deco", a colorful, die-hard skeptic of alt.usenet.kooks.
And since i am mentioned in this new "official" FAQ, i feel that i
would be remiss if i didn't give you a link to it. So here it comes...
And Gentle Reader, I do hope it gives you a chuckle or two!
And now... for the sirius (serious!) astronomy/cosmology student, there is no place
on the Internet better than Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, to learn about the sky!
And here is one of the best places to begin...
Reading Wiki's physical cosmology page and following the links
Okay, granted the following is a controversial subject.
FACE ON MARS -- a brief (faultless?) layman's analysis
Thank You again for coming! I'm always updating this astronomy page and looking for ways to make it better.
So you're welcome to come back again from time to time to see the new stuff.
And if you have any ideas about what you'd like to see here, just
drop me a line at the "starswirler" email address below.
Best of everything to you and yours!
Scotty's SECRETS GOLDEN
Please... GIVE to the kids until it hurts!
Imagine what we could do if we all worked together to explore space!...
BNSC of the UK
CNES of France
CNSA of China
CSA of Canada
DLR of Germany
ESA of Europe
IKI of Russia
INPE of Brazil
INSA of Iran
ISA of Israel
ISRO of India
JAXA of Japan
KARI of South Korea
NASA of the US
NKSG of North Korea
( F.A.S. info on N. Korean
space projects )
RASA of Russia/CIS
SAA of Australia
SNSB of Sweden
Other Involved Space Agencies
More Help With Space Agencies
Maybe then we
could pool our resources even more effectively and CONQUER the ever-expanding, ever-curving,
and ever-FLOWING "Final Frontier" of SPACE!
for the beginning astronomy lover on this next web site.
Ease back, have a cup of coffee or whatever you like, and browse through the...
and Get the Facts!
that will show you and everyone beyond any shadow of doubt that Selene (the Moon) is
a full-fledged major
planet in its own right! And here it is...
THE OFFICIAL MOON-AS-MAJOR-PLANET-SELENE WEBSITE
DEDICATED TO ISAAC ASIMOV
It's not true! And if you
CLICK THIS LINK I'll prove it to you!
it gets harder and harder
to see the stars. Check this out...
will lead you to the stars, galaxies
and galaxy clusters--
the COSMOS we all love and wonder about!
Can you still hear Carl Sagan calling the "Face on Mars" a tortilla chip mesa?
I say the jury is still out, let's keep an open mind, and hope and wish
for a quick trip to Mars to more closely investigate these claims...
s t a r s w i r l e r @ aol dot com
scotty @ secretsgolden dot com