The general opinion in the scientific community is that there is life on other planets somewhere in the Universe. However, astronomers and others may have some problems actually discovering life and showing others that it’s there.
Because the physical evidence from celestial objects such as the Moon and Mars is very limited we don’t have solid [...]

To start on the path toward understanding a solar eclipse we should probably know what an eclipse is, in more general terms. The word “eclipse” dates back hundreds of years. A broad definition of eclipse states that this process makes on object less prominent or less important.
As used in astronomy the term is applied [...]

Galaxies are usually defined and named according to how they appear to us on Earth. We call our galaxy the Milky Way because it seems to be a long path of star that is so close together they form a milky-white band across the night sky. Scientists have identified elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies and others [...]

While human beings might think that the handful of planets, the Moon and the Sun are all there is to life in the universe, the truth is much larger, so to speak. The celestial bodies we are familiar with are just a part of one galaxy, the Milky Way. And the Milky Way is just [...]

We could give the answer – two – and stop there. But there is so much interesting information about the planet Mars it would be a crime to stop before taking a closer look at what we call the “red planet.”
Let’s get the moons question out of the way first. Mars does indeed have two [...]

Many people know that the planet Saturn has rings because this is mentioned many times in books, newspapers, magazines and on television programs. But not so many people know about the rings around other planets, such as Jupiter.
Jupiter is considered one of the giant planets, along with Neptune and Uranus. These three are sometimes referred [...]

Even though this candy company uses the name of one of the planets in our solar system there is no direct connection between Mars and the maker of candy bars. In fact, the company name comes from the founder’s family name. Frank Mars started the company with his wife in 1930.
The first product they [...]

First of all, it is not physically possible to see a black hole. The term applies to a theoretical place in the universe that forms when a star’s mass experiences gravitational collapse. The mass of the star compresses into such a small space nothing can exit the hole (not even light). The theory has its [...]

Most of us remember the childhood song about the stars twinkling in the sky. We may have actually wondered what they were. But did we try to figure out just why stars twinkle?
Only a few people have gone on to study stars in sufficient detail to try and determine why they seem to twinkle [...]

Since these two planets are often considered twins you might think they are almost exactly alike. There are some interesting similarities. Uranus has a mass about 15 times that of Earth while Neptune’s mass is about 17 times that of Earth. Among the billions of celestial bodies there are bound to be objects that are [...]