Astronomy News

The entire universe is astronomy. It’s due to the fact that astronomy is all about the universe. Astronomy news is interesting, to say the least, and can be found in media reports as well as on web sites such as those maintained by astronomy magazines and agencies like NASA. Let’s look at some of the more interesting tidbits.

The magazine “Astronomy” is a great source of astronomy news. IBEX the Interstellar Boundary Explorer from NASA was in the news. IBEX is like a weatherman interested in fronts and their interaction with the medium they encounter. Specifically it’s the interaction of the solar winds with the relatively cold space beyond the solar system. Another goal is to create an accurate picture of the solar system’s boundaries.

More astronomy news covered by Astronomy magazine is the discovery of a new aurora on Saturn that’s unlike any other known aurora in the solar system. An aurora results when charged particles stream along the planet’s ‘magnetic fields. Earth’s aurorae come from charged particles from the solar wind. Jupiter’s auroras are the result of a closed system of charged particles in Jupiter’s own magnetic fields. Saturn’s aurora is unique because it covers a large area. That’s why scientists believe there is a lot to learn.

astronomy news can also be found in the magazine “Universe Today”. It carried some good news in November of 2008 when contact was reestablished with the Mars rover. The rover had lost contact after running through a massive dust storm. But Spirit recovered from this low-power dilemma. Scientists believed it would go into shutdown after a long period of dust blocking energy from reaching the solar panels and never again communicate. But it did, and now it’s back to work on the distant red planet.

that the Allen telescope array which is part of the SETI project will find intelligent life in only a little over a decade is staggering astronomy news. The array is set to grow up from its current 42 antennas to over 350. It’s only a matter of a short time before it hears signals from deep enough in space that intelligence is sure to be found.

Finding another intelligent race somewhere out there sure would be huge astronomy news.