The Backyard Stargazer :: The Guide for the Backyard Astronomy Enthusiast

May 27, 2011
by David Parmet
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The Black Hole At The Center Of The Milky Way

If it’s hard to wrap your mind around the concept of black holes, watch this video. Star S2, the closest star to the center of the Milky Way, gets whipped around by … something.

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S2 takes 15 years to orbit around the super-massive black hole at the center of our home galaxy. At its closest, it gets within one light day – about twice the size of the orbit of Neptune – of the black hole. The black hole – designated Sagittarius A* – is believed to be more than 3.7 million solar masses in mass.

If a black hole is black how do astronomers see them (wiki.answers.com)

May 19, 2011
by David Parmet
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Stellafane Registration is Open

Image via Wikipedia

Registration for Stellafane, the SXSW for astronomy geeks like me, is now open. You can sign up here.

If you are interested in gathering there – I’ve set up a Facebook Group for exactly that purpose.

May 17, 2011
by David Parmet
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The New Space Race

Image via Wikipedia

As the Shuttle program winds down, a new space race between private companies is beginning. Jay Barbree, not a journalists I would consider in the ‘new space’ camp, covers the players and actually manages to seem enthusiastic about the next era in space exploration.

Fifty years ago, President John Kennedy challenged the old Soviet Union to race America to the moon. Today, President Barack Obama and NASA are taking a page from Kennedy’s playbook.

Link

I’ll have more about this topic in the coming weeks.

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