Category Archives: Astronomy

Plutopia!

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Bill Ruhsam

One month from today is the 2nd anniversary of Pluto’s demotion from Planet status to lowly Dwarf Planet/Kuiper Belt Object. I’m thinking of doing a blog carnival, or having guest bloggers on board that day for a random series of … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Blog Admin | 8 Comments

"Why I Read Blogs" -or- "Wicked Stuff!"

Posted on July 12, 2007 by Bill Ruhsam

I have a feedreader, appropriately named Feedreader, which serves up to me on a daily basis a stew of random stuff. Some of this is fluff, some is interesting, some is funny, some is crap, and some is so freaking … Continue reading →

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Awesome Astronomy, Terrible Reporting

Posted on June 1, 2007 by Bill Ruhsam

This morning, I was alerted by the Atlanta Journal Constitution (reg. req’d) that a Georgia State University astronomy program on Mt. Wilson, in California, had imaged the surface of Altair, a sun-sized star that is one of the brightest in … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, News | 2 Comments

Big Kaboom! Massive Star Goes Nova

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Bill Ruhsam

The NY Times reports that the most massive supernova every observed occurred last September. Better information available at Space.com. The NY Times waters down the science, as usual. I haven’t been keeping up on my Blog Tracking or this wouldn’t … Continue reading →

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Galactic Faerie Lights

Posted on January 15, 2007 by Bill Ruhsam

If you don’t like fantastic wondrous phenomenal things, do not click on this link.

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Pluto, redux?

Posted on August 23, 2006 by Bill Ruhsam

Well! As posted here, and here, I’ve been talking about this whole “Planet” thing. Now there’s more development. Apparently the IAU is revising their revised revision again, and might eliminate Pluto from the planet list, dropping back to the 8 … Continue reading →

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We've got 12 Planets!

Posted on August 18, 2006 by Bill Ruhsam

It’s official! The voting membership of the IAU has accepted the draft definition of “Planet.” This means that we’ve got three new planets, with many many more to come. Ceres, the planet formerly known as an asteroid, takes the coveted … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | 5 Comments

Pluto, Plutons, Plutonium, Plutae?

Posted on August 16, 2006 by Bill Ruhsam

The International Astronomical Union has posted a draft definition of “planet” that will serve to define our solar system and all others for all time! Well, not exactly, as Phil Plait over at badastronomy.com points out quite well. The rules … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | 1 Comment

Summer Solstice

Posted on June 20, 2006 by Bill Ruhsam

Tomorrow is the summer solstice, known as the first day of summer to Americans. Why do we call this the first day of summer? Weather-wise, it’s more like the end of the first third of summer. Oh well… I trolled … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Random | 1 Comment

Galactic Fireworks

Posted on January 12, 2006 by Bill Ruhsam

The Cartwheel Galaxy is a spectacular galaxy. It was recently (in astronomic terms–something like 100 million years ago) run over and penetrated by a smaller galaxy which set off a round of star formation. For all the details from CalTech … Continue reading →

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