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Meteorologists
study the atmosphere on Earth. You might think from the title meteorology
that a meteorologist would study meteors. They do... sort of. Meteorologists
study hydrometeors as in rain, sleet, snow and hail in our atmosphere.
More correctly the science of weather is called atmospheric science. Astronomers
study what happens outside our atmosphere in space and they do study meteoroids,
asteroids, comets, the Sun, Moon, stars, planets, and other space bodies.
There is also a sciene of space
weather even though it's not the kind of weather we think about on
Earth. Space weather can play a role in radio and satellite transmissions
and it could also produce the beautiful Northern Lights.
Space Viewing
Night sky viewer by
Sky and Telescope
Night sky viewer
by Wikisky
Locate
the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, or satellites or Locate
all satellites
See if the
Northern Lights are active and learn
more here
Find
what is in the night sky and download sky charts.
More
links for successful sky viewing.
Here are some basic definitions courtesy of NASA.
Asteroid: A rocky space object that can be a few feet wide to several hundred miles wide. Most asteroids in our solar system orbit in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Aurora Borealis: Also known as the northern lights. The south pole has the Aurora Australis. When the solar wind sends charged particles to strike atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, energy is released and appears as light near the poles.
Comet:
A frozen mass of dust and gas that moves through space.
Eclipse: The apparent cutting off, wholly or partially, of the light from a luminous body (the Sun or Moon).
Meteor: The flash and trail of light that we see in the night sky caused by friction of a meteoroid passing through the atmosphere.
Meteorite: A mass of metal or stone remaining from a meteor that has fallen to Earth.
Meteoroid: A piece of stone or metal that travels in outer space.
Milky Way Galaxy: the galaxy containing the solar system; consists of millions of stars that can be seen as a diffuse band of light stretching across the night sky
Satellite: An Earth-orbiting device used for receiving and transmitting signals.
Solar Flares: A storm on the Sun that sends out both rays and particles
Star: A ball of mostly hydrogen and helium gas that shines extremely brightly. Our Sun is a star. A star is so massive that its core is extremely dense and hot.
Supernova: The explosion of a massive star, resulting in a sharp
increase in brightness followed by a gradual fading. At peak light output,
supernova explosions can outshine a galaxy.
Many things in space move in circles or curved paths that repeat their locations in a cycle. The cycle could be a year or hundreds of years. Some comets and meteor showers happen on a predictable cycle.
Halley’s Comet: The most famous comet is named after Edward Halley who discovered that certain comets make repeated trips as they rotate around the Sun. Halley’s Comet has been has been observed since 240 BC! In 1066 the comet was so bright that it terrified millions of Europeans and was widely credited with the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings. Halley’s Comet makes a repeat trip every 76 years. The next time we can expect a visit is in the year 2062.
Shoemaker-Levy 9: This comet is named after the scientists who discovered it in 1993. The comet had first broken apart in space in 1992, after a close passage near the planet Jupiter. The comet then plunged directly into Jupiter on its very next pass by the giant planet in 1994.
Hale-Bopp: Comet Hale-Bopp was one of the brightest comets. Astronomers witnessed the comet spew out bursts of dust in 1997.
Calendars
of astronomical events...
Eclipse
calendar by NASA
Annual
meteor shower calendar
Meteorologists
study weather in our atmosphere. Astronomers study stars and planets in
space...
Mars is called the red planet. It has a few things in common with Earth but there's also a lot that's different. Checkout NASA Mars Earth Comparison and NASA's website just for Mars.
In the last few years there have been emails circulating the Internet saying that Mars and Earth are going to be so close together that Mars will appear as big as the moon. Don't believe it. It's a hoax. See what these websites have to say about that.... NASA from 2005, Snopes.com
The following information comes from NASA...
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun -- the next one outwards from the Earth. It is a rocky planet like Earth but substantially smaller and now has a cold, desert surface. As a result of early space missions we have already learned much more about Mars than any of the other planetary bodies except for our Moon. We even have meteorites in our collections that evidently came from Mars, some of which are very young.
Mars has had a complicated history in which, among many geologic processes, liquid water has played a major role in shaping the surface. We observe evidence of geologically-recent volcanism and suspect that Mars may still be active. We suspect that Mars has a significant quantity of water in the subsurface in the form of ground ice and, at greater depth, in the liquid phase. We also perceive that the early martian surface environment may have been much more suitable for the evolution of life than we would suppose by observing the thin dry atmosphere and the cold, unprotected (from solar ultra violet radiation) surface of present-day Mars.
Mars was formed about four and a half billion years ago from the dust and debris associated with the formation of our Sun. Like the other planets, including Earth, Mars was subjected to a period of intense asteroidal and cometary bombardment in the final stages of formation.
Just about all of the geologic processes that shaped Earth -- volcanoes, tectonic rifts, landslides, wind and water erosion & deposition -- have also acted to change the face of Mars. We also see gigantic volcanoes that make those on Earth look puny indeed. And we see huge channel systems that were evidently cut by catastrophic floods at intervals over much of martian history
Was there ever life on Mars? We don't know. Was the climate of Mars once quite Earth-like and, if so, how did the change to present conditions occur? Again we don't know.
