You never know what you might see if you just look up (Photo by xamad) This weekend, you might be attending a Fourth of July party, and you'll probably be craning your neck upwards to watch fireworks displays. As you gaze, though, cast your eyes a little further upward for a glimpse of the biggest and brightest parties of them all. You won't find paparazzi or a red carpet at these parties, just dark skies filled with dazzling stars of the celestial kind. A quintessential part of the amateur astronomer scene worldwide, star parties are held in public squares, at campgrounds, on mountaintops, and even on the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Open to the public, these nighttime gatherings and weekend campouts are an excellent way to become acquainted with astronomy and the wonders of the night sky. 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, ensuring that telescopes will be set up on sidewalks, at observatories, or in parks near you. If you can't make it to the party, just step outside into the night, or plan a star party of your own. Suggested Sites... "Sky & Telescope" Event Calendar - find a star party near you. Space.com’s Star Party Survival Guide - tips for happy stargazing. Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events – 2009 - see what's up tonight -- literally. Night Sky Network - NASA's guide to clubs, events, and starry happenings. The Galileoscope: An IYA2009 Cornerstone Project - get started with an inexpensive telescope.

Directory categories: Star Parties, Astronomy Clubs, Astronomy Beginners' Guides, International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), Astrophotography

Archived under: Astronomy, Celebrations, Events, Exploration, Holidays, Night, Outdoors, Planets, Science, Space, Stars, Summer

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Mechanical dinosaurs were common in ancient times (Photo by Nicole Makauskas) Today is the 6012th birthday of our home planet. The old girl looks pretty good, doesn't she? What's that? You thought the Earth was, like, a million times older? Well, it's obvious you haven't studied the work of Bishop James Ussher. Ussher was an English archbishop who joined in the 17th-century scholarly mania of trying to figure out just how old the Earth was. Science not being then what it is today, resources were limited, so Ussher (along with such worthies as astronomer Johannes Kepler and physicist Isaac Newton) relied on the chronologies contained in the Bible. After years of comparing sources and resolving inconsistencies, Ussher announced that the world had been created on October 23, 4004 BCE -- though he didn't go as far as his contemporary James Lightfoot, who fixed the exact time at 9:00 am. (As lawyer Henry Drummond asked in "Inherit the Wind:" "Was that Eastern Standard Time?") Ussher's calculations may have been slightly off, but they were accepted as reasonably valid until scholars looked at the geologic, rather than theological, evidence, and determined that the Earth was anywhere from 75,000 to 96 million years old. With the discovery of radioactivity in the 19th century, scientists were able to push the date back to the generally-accepted age of about 4.5 billion years. Of course, humans being what they are, not everyone accepts that age. Parallel to mainstream scientific thought runs creationism, which posits that the Biblical history of the universe is accurate, the earth is only six millennia old, and dinosaurs and men once roamed the planet simultaneously -- think of "The Flintstones" as a reality show rather than a cartoon. The good folks of Petersburg, Kentucky have even opened a museum dedicated to this alternate history. While we have to admit we don't totally buy into their ideas, the thought of saddling up the ol' dinosaur is a pretty tempting one. Suggested Sites... Wikipedia: The Ussher Chronology - details about the 6,000-year-old Earth theory. Creation Museum - visit Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with their pet dinosaurs. Visible Earth - NASA's collection of images and animations of our home. Darrow Examines Bryan - from the Scopes "Monkey Trial" -- evolution vs.creationism in the courtroom. You Tube: Inherit the Wind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtNdYsoool8

Directory categories: The Earth, Geology, Earth Sciences, Creationism vs. Evolution, Science and Religion

Archived under: Archaeology, Birthdays, Creationism, Geology, History, Mythology and Folklore, Planets, Religion, Science, Scientists, Society and Culture, Tourist Attractions

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(Courtesy of Goldenrectangle) Out among the dust and debris in our solar system are notable bodies not quite worthy of dwarf planet status, but still worthy of our notice -- asteroids. Millions of these irregularly shaped chunks of rock are out there orbiting the sun and humbly going about their business. As they drift along in the void, little do they suspect that we Earthlings have come to view them as potential planet-killers! The 1994 collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter caught the public's attention and made it quite clear that astronomical run-ins aren't just theoretical, but a reality. We hardly needed to look so far into the solar system to find evidence, though. The pockmarked surface of our moon keeps a running tab on impacts, and we even have video of meteorites slamming into it. Furthermore, there is plenty of terrestrial evidence of our planet's own violent history. So, do we need to worry about aggressive asteroids in the coming centuries? Perhaps. Fortunately for us, the fine folks at NASA are on top of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and have even developed an Impact Risk Scale to allow us to appropriately match our level of alarm to any asteroid in question. And should NASA make some faulty calculations, there are other organizations searching for ways to deflect the next dinosaur killer. So for the time being, since it seems our doom is not so imminent, let us then think of asteroids not as ruinous rocks of annihilation, but rather as gentle space neighbors who are just as keen on avoiding us as we are on avoiding them. Suggested Sites... Earth Impact Effects Program - design your own disaster with this impressive impact calculator. NASA: Near Earth Object Program - check out the orbits of potentially risky asteroids. NASA: Images of Eros - view an asteroid up close with these Eros images taken by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft. NASA: Friday the 13th, 2009 - asteroid 2004 MN4 pays us an uncomfortably close, but potentially stunning, visit.

Directory categories: Asteroids, Earth Impact, Solar System, Astronomy Instruments, Dwarf Planets

Archived under: Asteroids, Astronomy, Disasters, Physics, Planets, Science, Space

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The Solar System as we know it Alas, poor Pluto. Demoted last year to dwarf planet status -- not really a planet after all. At least its "day in the sun" lasted for 75 years. We bid it a fond farewell as we pluck it out of the solar system mobile from our fourth-grade science project. Now consider the tragic story of Vulcan. It began its life in 1859 as a calculus equation when French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier tried to account for Mercury's deviation from its predicted orbit. Was it caused by a new planet? After all, Neptune was discovered this way. Over the years, scientists and amateur astronomers joined in the search for the hypothetical planet, but Mercury's proximity to the sun made it difficult to view. Was it just a sunspot or an asteroid? It was a moot point by 1915 when Einstein announced his General Theory of Relativity. It neatly explained the wibble in Mercury's wobble and later viewings during an eclipse confirmed it. There was no planet Vulcan. Ah, fleeting fame! Suggested Sites... Hypothetical Planets - some other astronomical objects that have vanished into thin air. NASA's Discovery Program - find out about the program, design your own mission, and get involved. Kuiper Belt - all about trans-Neptunians, those icy remnants of the early stages of our solar system. Astronomy Picture of the Day - 'nuff said.

Directory categories: Astronomers, Astronomy, Planets, The Solar System

Archived under: Astronomy, Planets, Pluto, Science, Space

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