Astronomy Tidbits
Astronomy Crossword Puzzle
During my time with an Astronomy club, I had created an Astronomy Crossword Puzzle that I entered into our monthly newsletter.
At this time, I would like to make this same Crossword Puzzle available to all of my visitors. So I converted the document into a PDF file for your viewing and printing pleasure. Please print out the following link, and try your talent at my Astronomy Crossword Puzzle!
Distances
As I mentioned briefly in the Solar System section, Astronomers use different measurements to describe the distances and sizes of astronomical objects. Here is a rundown of some numbers for you.
- a.u. (Astronomical Unit): 149,597,870 km. Average distance from the Earth to the Sun.
- Speed of Light: 186,282 miles per second.
- Light-Year: 63,240 u.a. or 5,874,589,152,000 Miles.
- The next nearest star to earth is about 4.2 Light-Years away. (Proxima Centauri)
- The Milky Way is about 150,000 Light-Years across.
- The Andromeda Galaxy is about 2.4 million light-years away. (Our closest Galaxy)
- The Universe is estimated at 13.7 (+/- 0.2) Billion years old.
- There are more stars in the Universe than there are grains of sand on earth.
Those Funny Hubble Images
So... Why do those great Hubble telescope images have a funny stair step look to them?
No, It's not a broken camera, or anything to do with the mirror mishap Hubble had early on. This was actually planned. Hubble has 4 cameras. 3 cameras are the same size to create the main image, while the 4th is a different instrument that takes the really close-up, detailed images. When the main image is processed, they will take the magnified image and reduce the size, so it can match up with the main image.
The process is not perfect, but the images that are produced are still breathtaking. If you look closely at the completed image, you can see the "Stiching" from the 4 camera views. And that smaller square in the stair step sometimes has a slightly different background shade.
Naming of objects (IAU)
International Astronomical Union (Union Astronomique Internationale) is the organization internationally recognized for assigning designations and names to celestial bodies and any surface features on them. These can be planets, moons, features on those planets and moons, and even stars, nebula, clusters, etc...
When objects are first discovered, they are originally given a designation using a series of numbers and letters. Each of these formats differs from the types of objects discovered, but the format may be something as simple as the discoverer's name with the number being the discovery number for that person. Does everyone remember Shoemaker/Levey-9? This was the comet that broke-up into a "string of pearls" and plunged into Jupiter back in July of 1994. Using this as an example, Shoemaker/Levey-9 was named after the 2 astronomers who discovered it, and the 9 represents the 9th discovery they made together.
When it comes time to assign a name to an object, it is first sent as a recommendation to the IAU. The object must first be of significance, as they cannot name EVERYTHING. If the object is deemed significant, then the members of the IAU vote upon the name. If passed, the name becomes official, and the objects are forever known as that name rather than the discovery designation.
Many of us have seen those "Name a Star" with the International Star Registry or other organizations. This (unfortunately) has nothing to do with the official naming of stars through the IAU. This is not to say these are scams though, as more often than not, your money used to purchase the star is used to help promote astronomy, or as a donation to an astronomical society. But some caution should be practiced on your part to find all the information and details about your purchase before doing so.