Category Archives: Astronomy

All about astronomy: What it is, how the Solar System works, famous astronomers and more

What are Transient Lunar Phenomena?

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A TLP (Transient Lunar Phenomenon) is an unpredictable, rare, mysterious glowing light on the Moon.  The ‘Transient’ part of their name means that they’re very rare, and only show up for a very short time.  They’ve been seen since astronomers first pointed their telescopes at the Moon, but are so elusive that in hundreds of years they’ve only been photographed a handful of times.  They are a bit of a mystery, but one leading theory suggests that they are the … Continue reading →

Why does Earth not have rings?

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Dear Urban Astronomer After reading your article about the rings that they found around that exoplanet, I wondered why Earth does not have rings? You mentioned that a lot of the planets in our own solar system have them, so why not us? Thanks, Wantum Rings   Dear Wantum   The planets in our Solar System which have rings are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.  These four planets have a few other things in common as well:  They all have lots of moons, … Continue reading →

Kerneels Mulder

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On 11 September 2010 Venus was hidden by the moon in an occultation that was visible from South Africa.  Kerneels Mulder managed to capture the tail end of the occultation in a beautiful series of photographs that have been highlighted internationally. I caught up with him, and asked a few questions: Hi Kerneels, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Could you tell us a little about yourself? How long have you been interested in Astronomy and what … Continue reading →

Luciano Pazzi

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  Early this year, Nigel Observatory (a private observatory built in the suburbs of the East Rand near Johannesburg) was shutdown and its equipment sold off.  I visited the owner, Luciano Pazzi, hoping to buy some of his observing gear and ended up getting a tour of the facilities along with a brief history lesson.  Luciano’s home is warm and hospitable, and we chatted for hours about South African astronomy and his impressions of how it had changed over the … Continue reading →

What is space junk?

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Space junk is any manmade object orbiting Earth that nobody owns, or that nobody controls.  It’s litter, basically, and consists of everything from used-up rocket boosters and dead satellites, to nuts and bolts dropped by careless astronauts.  Even though space is very big, it’s still becoming enough of a problem that the International Space Station has had to dodge many objects since it was first built, and at least one privately owned communication satellite has been destroyed in a collision … Continue reading →