Astronomy Picture of the Week – Vesta from Orbit by Dawn Spacecraft
Explore Vesta, the second largest asteroid in the belt, in this captivating photo by the Dawn spacecraft. Get ready for a year of intriguing discoveries!
Ara Constellation
Explore the Ara constellation with its mythological roots, notable stars like Beta Arae, a star with planets, and fascinating deep-sky objects.
How China’s First Space Station Will Work [Infographic]
With the future of the International Space Station uncertain, the Chinese have announced their own space station program, instead of joining forces with the other space powers. China's space station will be named "Tiangong" which means "Heavenly Palace" in Mandarin.
Astronomy Picture of the Week – Pandora’s Cluster
This galaxy cluster commonly known as Pandora's Cluster is officially named Abell 2744. As observed by a team of scientists, the cluster has a complex and violent history. The giant galaxy cluster appears to be the result of a simultaneous pile-up of at least four separate, smaller galaxy clusters.
Aquila Constellation
Discover Aquila, the eagle, in Greek mythology. Explore its notable stars like Altair and Alshain, as well as intriguing deep-sky objects.
The Solar System To Scale [Infographic]
The following is a huge infographic showing the true scale of the solar system with all its planets, minor bodies and the most famous probes we have sent out into deep space. Scientists measure distances in our solar system in astronomical units (AU).
Astronomy Picture of the Week – Rings of Uranus
This series of images of the rings of Uranus were taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. They were taken at different times when the rings were facing the Earth at slightly different angles. In the third image, the edge-on rings appear as two spikes above and below the planet.
Monthly Stargazing Calendar for July 2011
On the night of July 28 and 29 the Delta Aquarids will peak and we can expect about 20 meteors per hour that night. Some meteors can also be seen from July 18 to August 18. The meteor shower will seem to radiate from the constellation of Aquarius. This year the thin, crescent moon will be close to the meteor shower, but its light shouldn't interfere too much. The best viewing is usually to the east after midnight from a dark location.
Earth’s Size Compared to Other Astronomical Objects [Infographic]
The Earth is only a speck of dust in the grand scale of the universe. There are stars that would even dwarf our Sun. If you thought that Aldebaran was huge, wait until you see supergiant or hypergiant stars like Betelgeuse, Antares or VV Cephei!
Aquarius Constellation
Explore the constellation Aquarius, the water-bearer. Discover its mythology, notable stars like Gliese 876, and captivating deep-sky objects like Messier 2.
TV Fail: Star Trek’s Maquis NOT Involved In Bin Laden Mission
Some time ago a German news station had a major image fail due to a humorous mix-up. While reporting the news about US Navy SEALs succeeding in killing Osama bin Laden, they mistook a Star Trek Maquis fan-made emblem for the for the actual SEAL Team Six emblem.
What to do when your WordPress update failed [Tutorial]
Yesterday when I was updating one of my WordPress blogs the automatic update failed and was stuck in maintenance mode. What to do when this happens? First of all, don’t panic! Your blog is not lost for ever, or anything like that. Even if you haven’t backed up your blog’s files and its database (like recommended by WordPress), it is still possible to fix the update fail issue in a few easy steps. Of course if you had backed up your files and database then you could simply restore them and try an automatic update again. In fact some web hosts will regularly backup everything for you. They also have…