Astronomy Site
	Mona Evans BellaOnline's Astronomy Editor

Annie Jump Cannon
Oh! Be a fine girl (guy)--kiss me! This is the traditional mnemonic for the way stars are classified: OBAFGKM. Find out about the astronomer and suffragette who devised the system and who said that astronomical spectroscopy made it "almost as if the distant stars had acquired speech."

Ask the Astronomer [offsite link]
Astronomer Sten Odenwald answers some of the most common questions about astronomy, covering not only the solar system but also what it´s like to be an astronomer.

Astronomy Careers Without Math
Interested in a career in astronomy that involves little or no maths? Here are a few suggestions to get the ball rolling.

Astronomy Day - Bringing Astronomy to the People
Astronomy Day has been an annual celebration of astronomy for over thirty-five years of "bringing astronomy to the people." See if you can find an event near you. If not, create your own event by skywatching with a friend - our Absolute Beginners guides will help you out.

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?

Caroline Herschel
Caroline Herschel was an intelligent young woman trapped in domestic servitude by her mother. Her brother William rescued her and trained her as a singer. After he discovered the planet Uranus, the two of them ended up forming a great partnership whose work revolutionized the study of astronomy.

Carrying the Fire - Book Review
What was it like to be one-third of the Apollo 11 crew? Michael Collins, the man in the command module that didn't land on the Moon, tells a fascinating story of astronaut training and space travel. Originally published in 1974, there was a Fortieth Anniversary edition of Carrying the Fire in 2009.

Ceres Facts for Kids
Bode´s Law predicted a planet between Mars and Jupiter. The Sky Police were looking for it, but Giuseppe Piazzi found it. Then someone found another one. And another one. We know of hundreds of thousands of asteroids now. Discover Ceres - planet, asteroid and dwarf planet.

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.

Copernicus - His Life
The day job of one reluctant revolutionary was canon of a cathedral. And the last resting place of the man who turned astronomy on its head, Nicolaus Copernicus, was unmarked. How did his student astronomy books help to identify his remains four and a half centuries later?

Copernicus - the Revolution
In the 16th century everyone knew that Earth was the center of the cosmos. But this made it impossible to predict the motions of heavenly bodies, even if they moved in elaborate circles within circles. Copernicus turned the idea on its head and put the Sun at the center. A revolution had begun!

Edmond Halley
Halley didn't discover a comet, but he did research and published papers in astronomy and many other fields. Russian Czar Peter the Great liked him as a dining and drinking companion and King William III put this civilian in charge of a Royal Navy ship. But how did he get a comet named for him?

Empire of the Stars - book review
A fateful meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in London adversely affected the lives of two scientists and hindered progress in the study of black holes for a half a century. So says the author of Empire of the Stars. Liked the book, but wasn't convinced.

First Orbit - Film Review
On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin saw what no human had ever seen before: the Earth from space. Now "First Orbit" allows you to imagine that you are making the historic voyage. Film shot from the International Space Station creates the views, but you'll also have Philip Sheppard's music.

Gravity - Cosmic Glue
Aristotle´s perfect cosmos didn´t need gravity to hold it together. However the system with planets orbiting the Sun called for an explanation. In the process, Newton was inspired by a falling apple, but Galileo´s experiments with falling bodies didn´t involve dropping them off the Tower of Pisa.

Happy Birthday, Percy Lowell
He was a writer, a traveler, and an astronomer, best known for his prediction of Pluto.

Herschel Museum of Astronomy
In 1781 William Herschel was the first person in history to discover a new planet. He was observing in the back garden of his home in Bath, England. The house where history was made is a museum and its new Caroline Lucretia Gallery is named for William's sister, the first woman to discover a comet.

How to Become an Astronomer
In the US, professional astronomy positions require that candidates have a strong academic background in physics and mathematics. Here’s a quick guide on how to go about it.

In the Shadow of the Moon - Film Review
What would it be like to leave Earth's protective embrace and journey to an alien world? Only twenty-four men have ever experienced this - Apollo astronauts. "In the Shadow of the Moon" uses original footage & astronaut interviews to tell the story of one of the defining events of human history.

Johannes Kepler - His Life
Johannes Kepler gave the first accurate description of the Solar System. As he did his work, he struggled with poverty, insecurity and bereavement in troubled times. Religion and warfare were tearing Europe apart, but Kepler never gave up his quest to understand the cosmos.

NASA Helped Rescue Miners
In the Chilean winter of 2010 thirty-three miners were trapped half a mile below the surface. They were in a hostile environment, a confined space, reliant on supplies from outside - some of the same problems as a space mission. Find out how NASA's decades of experience helped the Chilean rescuers.

Profile - Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton is widely considered one of the greatest scientific thinkers of all time, but while alive, he was also known for his personal eccentricities.

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.

Tycho Brahe
One of the greatest astronomers of all time was a Danish nobleman with a metal nose, who was also a publisher, an alchemist and the Imperial Mathematician. His astronomical observations were the key to the modern view of the Solar System.

What Herschel Found in a Dark Cloud
What´s hiding within an impenetrable dark cloud in the constellation of the Eagle? A stunning stellar nursery. Find out how the Herschel Space Observatory was able to photograph it.

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.

Young Astronomers Reveal the Universe
In the film Deep Impact a teenage astronomer discovers a comet with a small telescope. In reality, teenage astronomers are more likely to make their discoveries in front of a computer - finding supernovae, pulsars, asteroids. The youngest discoverer was ten. Let them inspire you.

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