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Zodiac |
| Sun - credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF | ZON.JPG |
| Solar eclipse - credit: Bill Livingston/NOAO/AURA/NSF | ZONECL.JPG |
| Mercury conjunction with the sun - NASA | mercurytransit.gsfc.nasa.gov |
| Mercury - credit: USGS, NASA | MERCURY.GIF |
| Venus - credit: NASA | VENUS.JPG |
| Earth - credit: NASA | AARDE.JPG |
| Mars - credit: USGS | MARS.JPG |
| Astroid Gastra - credit: NASA | GASPRA.JPG |
| Astroid Ida - credit: NASA | IDA.JPG |
| Jupiter - credit: NASA | JUPITER.JPG |
| Saturn - credit: NASA | SATURNUS.JPG |
| Uranus - credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF | URANUS.JPG |
| Neptune - credit: NASA | NEPTUNUS.JPG |
| Pluto - Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute) | PLUTO.JPG |
| Pluto - Credit: NASA/APL/SwRI | PLUTO2.JPG |
| Sedna - credit: NASA/Caltech/M. Brown | SEDNA.JPG |
| Halley's Comet - credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF | HALLEY.JPG |
| Current moon phase | CURRENT MOON PHASE |
| Moon, first quarter - credit: Diederik Brussee | MAAN.JPG |
| Full moon - credit: NASA | MAANVOL.JPG |
| Full moon seen from Apollo - credit: NASA | MAANAPP.JPG |
| Lunar eclipse at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife - credit: ESA | MAANECL.JPG |
Phobos and
Deimos,
the moons of Mars, have sizes of only 24 km and 12 km. That
is much smaller than satellites of other planets. Phobos has an orbit on an
attitude of 9400 km (the distance to the centre of Mars), the attitude of Deimos
is 23500 km. The mean synodic period of Phobos is 7 hours, 39 minutes and 27
seconds and the period of Deimos is 30 hours, 21 minutes and 16 seconds. The
radius of Mars is 3400 km. So it is not remarkable that these moons have been
discovered newly in 1877 by the American Astronomer Asaph Hall.
But it is remarkable that in 1726 the moons of Mars has been described
very well in number, turnaround time and distance to the centre of Mars by
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) in his book "Gulliver's Travels".
(
Travels into several Remote Nations of the World - By Captain Lemuel Gulliver, Part III).
He wrote:
They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars,
whereof the innermost is distant from the center of the primary planet exactly three of his
diameters, and the outermost five; the former revolves in the space of ten hours, and the
latter in twenty-one and a half; so that the squares of their periodical times are very near
in the same proportion with the cubes of their distance from the center of Mars,
which evidently shows them to be governed by the same law of gravitation that influences
the other heavenly bodies.
| Orbid (x size of Mars) | Orbital period (hour) | |||
| Phobos | Deimos | Phobos | Deimos | |
| Swift's description in 1726 | 3,0 | 5,0 | 10,0 | 21,5 |
| Discovered in 1877 | 2,8 | 6,9 | 7.7 | 30,3 |
Jovian moons - credit: NASA
| IO.JPG | EUROPA.JPG | GANYMEDES.JPG | CALLISTO.JPG |
| MIMAS.JPG | ENCELADUS.JPG | TETHYS.JPG | DIONE.JPG |
| RHEA.JPG | TITAN.GIF | JAPETUS.GIF | PHOEBE.GIF |
| MIRANDA.JPG | ARIEL.JPG | UMBRIEL.GIF | TITANIA.JPG | OBERON.JPG |
| PROTEUS.JPG | TRITON.JPG |
|
credit: Dr. R. Albrecht, ESA/ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility; NASA CHARON.GIF |
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), and the HST Pluto Companion Search Team MANEN-PLUTO.JPG (Charon, Nix en Hydra) |
| Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRIPLUTO-CHARON.JPG | Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRICHARON.PNG |
| Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRINIX-HYDRA.JPG |
The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, at a distance of less than 9 lightyears
of the earth. The surface temperature is about 9700 K, so the star appears
blue-white. Since 1862 we know that Sirius is a double star. The star we see is
called Sirius-A. The second star is Sirius-B, a white dwarf, which is only
visible with the aid of a telescope.
2000 years ago Sirius had a different colour. Homer, Ptolemy (in his Almanac of
140 AD) and several Roman poets described Sirius as a red star. This forms a
problem for the modern astronomy.
The Big Bang theory, the evolution theory of the stars, claims that stars are
billions years old and that their colour is changing very slowly. The quickest
change in colour happens when a red giant is changing into a white dwarf. But
that process needs millions of years.
The change in colour of Sirius is in conflict with this theory. This fact is
called an anomaly, a fact that in science is neglected.
| 49 constellations - credit: C. Noorlander | STARPICT.ZIP |
| Star Program - credit: C. Noorlander | SKYPHOTO.ZIP |
| Cluster NGC 4755, Jewel Box, in the Southern Cross - credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF | JEWELBOX.JPG |
| Cluster M45, Pleiaden, in the Bull - credit: Jan Timmermans | PLEIADEN.JPG |
| M42, NGC 1976, Orion Nebula - credit: Diederik Brussee | ORIONNEV.JPG |
| IC 434, with a.o. Horse's Head Nebula, in Orion - credit: T.A. Rector (NOAO/AURA/NSF) and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA) | HORSEHEADA.JPG |
| B33, NGC 2024, Horse's Head Nebula, in Orion - credit: N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF | HORSEHEADB.JPG |
| B33, NGC 2024, Horse's Head Nebula, in Orion - credit: ESO | HORSEHEADC.JPG |
| M20, NGC 6514, Trifid Nebula, in the Archer - credit: Todd Boroson/NOAO/AURA/NSF | TRIFID.JPG |
| NGC 2264, Cone nebula, in the Monoceros - credit: NASA and the ACS Science Team | CONE.JPG |
| M1, NGC 1952, Crab nebula, Supernova 1054, in the Bull - credit: Jay Gallagher (U. Wisconsin)/WIYN/NOAO/NSF | CRABNEV.JPG |
| M16, NGC 6611, Eagle Nebula, in the Serpent - credit: Bill Schoening/NOAO/AURA/NSF | M16.JPG |
There is another problem for modern astronomers. The velocity of light (about 300,000 km/sec)
is not constant but slowly decreasing.
In 1944, despite a strong preference for the constancy of atomic quantities,
N. E. Dorsey [56] was reluctantly forced to admit:
"As is well known to those acquainted with the several determinations of the velocity of light,
the definitive values successively reported have, in general, decreased monotonously from
Cornu's 300.4 megametres per second in 1874 to Anderson's 299.776 in 1940" in
N. E. Dorsey, 'The Velocity Of Light',
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,
34, (Part 1), pp. 1-110, October, 1944.
Nowadays the velocity of light is determined with the aid of atomic clocks in stead of
dynamic clocks.
However, atomic clocks are hallmarked by the velocity of light, see
Barry Setterfield.
So this is not an objective determination. This implies questions and
uncertainties for the determination
of the age of distant heavenly bodies.
The universe is younger than generally assumed.
| M31, NGC 224, Andromeda Spiral - credit: Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF | ANDROMEDA.JPG |
| NGC 2207 and IC 2163, in the Big Dog - credit: NASA and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI) | NGC2207.JPG |
| NGC 4319 and quasar Mrk 205, in Dragon - credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) NASA states that NGC 4319 is 80 million light-years from Earth and that Markarian 205 (Mrk 205) is more than 14 times farther away, residing 1 billion light-years from Earth. However there is a problem. Between them there exists a luminous bridge. It is hardly visible at the NASA-picture, but after processing you can see it: (1 2 3 ). At another pictures the lightbridge is visible too. |
NGC4319.JPG |
| NGC 7603 and NGC 7603B with 2 quasars between, in the Fishes - credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) This is an extraordinary couple of galaxies, for the redshift of NGC 7603 is 0,030C and the shift of NGC 7603B is almost twice: 0,057C. Yet they are connected by a luminous bridge. Besides in the luminous bridge there are 2 quasars, with redshifts of 0,391C and 0,243C. This is the most impressive case of a system of anomalous redshifts discovered so far. |
NGC7603.JPG |
| NGC 1232, in Eridanus - credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R.Gendler and A. Hornstrup | NGC1232.JPG |
| NGC 4414, in Coma Berenices - credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/ STScI/ NASA) | NGC4414.JPG |
| Hickson Compact Group 87, troupe of four galaxies, in the Sea Goat - credit: Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA) | HCG87.JPG |
| NGC 5247, in the Virgin - credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF | NGC5247.JPG |
| M104, NGC 4594, Sombrero Galaxy, in the Virgin - credit: Todd Boroson/NOAO/AURA/NSF | M104.JPG |
| NGC 1365, in the Furnace - credit: ESO | NGC1365.JPG |
| M64, Blackeye Galaxy, in Coma Berenices - credit: John Gleason/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF | M64.JPG |
| NGC 4676, The Mice, in Coma Berenices - credit: NASA and the ACS Science Team | NGC4676.JPG |
| M51, NGC 5194, Whirlpool Galaxy, in the Hunting Dogs - credit: Todd Boroson/NOAO/AURA/NSF | WHIRLPOOL.JPG |
| UGC 10214, Tadpole, in the Dragon - credit: NASA and the ACS Science Team | UGC10214.JPG |
| M81, NGC 3031, in the Great Bear - credit: N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF | M81.JPG |
| M82, NGC 3034, in the Great Bear - credit: N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF | M82.JPG |
| M98, NGC 4192, in Coma Berenices - credit: AURA/NOAO/NSF, its light has blueshift | M98.JPG |
| M101, NGC 5457, in the Great Bear - credit: George Jacoby, Bruce Bohannan, Mark Hanna/NOAO/AURA/NSF | M101.JPG |
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The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse proclaims His handiwork.
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