Category Archives: Astronomy 101

One of my main goals is to try and share a bit of knowledge and understanding about the incredible universe. I have been steadily writing and posting various articles to explain and educate the masses (that’s you, dear reader!) a bit more about some of the science behind the hobby. An urban astronomer might never see most of the things we talk about here, but it’s still good to know about them.

How many moons does Saturn have?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

Update – 12 March 2025: Oh boy. A team of astronomers led from the University of Taiwan, the same team responsible for the previous update have just announced their discovery of an absolutely astonishing 128 new moons around Saturn. This brings the total to 274! For those who noticed that the difference between the October 2019 update and this one is more than 128, those same researchers had also detected a few extra moons in the time between announcements. But … Continue reading →

Who discovered Jupiter?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

Jupiter is one of the five classical planets, and appears to the naked eye as one of the brightest “stars” in the sky.  So I guess you could say it was discovered by the same person who discovered the Moon, or the Sun!  More seriously, Jupiter has always been known, to all cultures around the world that watched the sky. Comments?  Questions?  Why not mail me at uastronomer@gmail.com

Continue reading →

What are Star Signs?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

One of the questions most dreaded by astronomers is “What’s your star sign?”.  The people asking are usually only dimly aware that star signs are an actual thing based on real stars in the sky.  Since time immemorial people have spotted patterns in the stars, some more distinct and obvious than others.  In the western tradition, many of these patterns were named for mythological characters and themes, and came to be known as constellations.  Thousands of years ago, twelve of … Continue reading →

What is a robotic telescope?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

People in the ATM (amateur telescope making) community sometimes talk about building “Robotic Telescopes”.  They’re usually referring to a telescope which is permanently mounted in an observatory, and which can be operated by remote control – an important benefit on a cold winter’s night.  But there is nothing new or surprising about the technology — professional telescopes at major observatories have been built this way for decades.  The operator sits in front of a computer in a heated room, and … Continue reading →

How do Tides work?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

We all learned about the Tides in primary school.  The explanation was always a bit murky, but we knew that the moon was involved.  Sometimes the Sun got involved as well, and then we have spring tides. It was vague, it was oversimplified, and one got the impression that the teachers weren’t entirely sure how it worked either.  Diagrams like the one below only added to the confusion. It might be of some comfort to know that for most of … Continue reading →