Astronomy Site
	Mona Evans BellaOnline's Astronomy Editor

A Quick Guide to the Astronomy Site
What are other people reading? Where can I find an astronomy word search? I´d like some help to start observing. What is a meteor shower? Here is a guide to help you find what you want and get the best out of the BellaOnline Astronomy site.

Astronomical Valentines
Valentine's Day - is it a romantic day or one invented by greeting card companies and sellers of luxury goods? It certainly isn't an astronomical holiday, but whatever your view of the day, you can enjoy this selection of cosmic valentines.

Astronomy Joins BellaOnline Games
Need a break from what you're doing? Want to test your astronomy vocabulary and knowledge? Find out about astronomy games and quizzes on bellaonline.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011
More fantastic astronomy pictures from around the world were sent to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England in 2011. Exquisite skyscapes and landscapes, aurorae and nebulae, and the expanding shock wave of an ancient supernova explosion. Be sure to see what young astronomers are doing, too.

Aurorae - Polar Light Shows
There's a glow on the northern horizon. The Sun set hours ago and there are no city lights there. What's up? You could be seeing nature's great polar light show – an aurora. With solar activity on the rise, you might not have to go to the far north (or south) to see one.

Bode and Bode´s Law
Johann Elert Bode, the author of the greatest star atlas of the Golden Age of star atlases, is better known today for Bode´s Law. Strangely, Bode´s Law is neither a law nor original to Bode. So what was it? How did it inspire the Celestial Police? How did Neptune ruin it all?

Can Sound Travel in Space?
Ordinarily, the answer is no. But although sound cannot travel in a vacuum, there are conditions in space that allow sound to carry.

Cats in the Sky
There are three constellations named for dogs, but what about cats in the sky? There is astrocat Felicette who went into space and returned safely to Earth, but also constellations of big cats and a pawprint 50 light years across.

Christmas in the skies
Christmas is a special day with a magic of its own. A Christmas eclipse is a great treat and centuries ago a long-awaited comet finally showed up on Christmas day. On the other hand, imagine spending the holidays a quarter of a million miles from home as the crew of Apollo 8 did.

Cosmic Halloween Tour
Join us on a Halloween astronomical tour. See a cosmic witch and cosmic ghosts, spiders and snakes, and fiery skull. But have no fear. It's a virtual tour and all these objects are a very long way away.

Could you survive unprotected in space?
Movies show people being expelled unprotected into space - they explode, they freeze instantly, their blood boils. It's not a pretty sight. Would this actually happen? Not necessarily, but I wouldn't recommend trying it out.

Distances in Space
You wouldn't want to know the distance from Boston to San Francisco in inches. And for the same reason, miles aren't very useful in space. After all, it's 26 trillion miles to the next nearest star. So how do astronomers deal with these enormous distances?

Halloween
Halloween falls midway between an equinox and a solstice. In the ancient Celtic world it was new year's eve and the start of winter - time to prepare for survival in the darkening days. But also a time when the boundary between our world and the otherworld weakened. Who knew what might cross it?

How to Tell a Planet from a UFO
Two English policemen chased a UFO through the Devon countryside. It was the planet Venus. A news reporter had quite a scoop when she found a UFO hovering over New York City. It was the planet Jupiter. Why are planets and stars often mistaken for spacecraft or aircraft?

Moon Madness
How much do people know about our next-door neighbor the Moon? For example, does the full moon drive people crazy? Apparently not – unless maybe they’re astronomers trying to observe faint nebulae. Here are ten common moon myths and lunar lapses.

Royal Greenwich Observatory Photography 2010
An ancient tree is young compared to the center of the Galaxy. The Sun shines through dark clouds as a perfect ring in an annular eclipse. These are two of the dazzling images in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2010. You can see the exhibition online.

Syon House
The Wizard Earl, the start of astronomy with a telescope, Sir Walter Raleigh, Virginia, the Gunpowder Plot, and the Smithsonian. What does all of this history have in common? Syon Park, a stately home on the River Thames.

Tales of the Northern Lights
The aurora is an ethereal, shifting light in the northern sky and is associated with many tales and beliefs. It can look like the dawn so Galileo named it after Aurora goddess of the dawn. It has reminded others of dragons, spirits, dancers, shield maidens, herrings or the legendary fire fox.

Ten Fascinating Facts about Space Exploration
Who was really the first to orbit Earth? What is Snoopy's role in the manned space program? What sent an Australian teenager rushing to San Francisco? Which stars are Dnoces, Navi and Regor? Find out all of this . . . and more!

Thanksgiving in Space
Many good foods are associated with a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. But what do you suppose would be on the menu for Thanksgiving in space? Would you squeeze turkey paste out of a tube and get gelatin-covered dessert in cubes? Nope. Space food has got much better since the early days.

What Was the Star of Bethlehem?
The Star of Bethlehem is one of the loveliest symbols of Christmas. But what was it? Simply an inspired idea to emphasize the spiritual importance of the story? Or was it based on an actual astronomical happening?

What's in a Name
Things aren't always what they seem. Many discoveries aren't named for – or by – their discoverers. Halley didn't discover Comet Halley. Kuiper said the Kuiper Belt didn't exist. The Herschels called Uranus "the Georgian planet" after George III of England, but no one else did.

Who Let the Dogs out?
Someone must have left the door open, because the skies are full of dogs. You can see the dogs of Orion and the hunting dogs of the shepherd Bootes in pursuit of the Great Bear. There is also the Running Dog Nebula and the memory of poor Laika, the first cosmonaut, who perished in space.