L I V E N U D E A S T R O N O M Y

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Here's a common thought... many people believe that astronomy and astrology are pretty much the same thing. These two are very different, however. And we will leave it to you, Gentle Reader, to discover the ways that the belief in astrology differs from the science of astronomy.

Astronomy and Astrology
at the online reference, Wikipedia!

Here is a good place to begin. This "naked eye" astronomer also gave astrology readings to his friends and acquaintances. His great love, astronomy, didn't pay very well way back then, and so Tycho gave astrology readings to "bring home the bacon"!

Tycho Brahe

Astrology chart readings given by early astronomers so they could make ends meet was a common practice long, long ago. This is one reason why the line between astrology and astronomy sometimes seems so blurred. Another reason is about the literal meaning of the words, astronomy and astrology.

"Astrology" literally means "a study of the stars". Long ago, before science emerged from astrology, even serious "studiers of the stars" were called astrologists or astrologers. Then, as the more serious scientists separated from the faith/no-evidence astrologers, they had to choose a different name for themselves. They became "astronomers", literally "namers of the stars". And their emerging and growing science became "astronomy". Science has been separating itself from astrology for hundreds of years. Any continued association with astrology belief is "avoided like the plague" by most modern scientists. We have often wondered how many of those generous benefactors of astronomers also read their horoscopes every day.

Along with Tycho, here are two more "true" scientists. Kepler worked with Tycho's awesome, NO-telescope (they hadn't been invented yet) naked-eye observations to form the foundation of all modern astronomy. And the fact is, Kepler was also an avid and practicing astrologist. Because of this, even the great

Galileo

laughed at him. But Galileo believed that the Earth's tides were caused by the motion of Earth sloshing the oceans around. And Galileo was wrong. Kepler had noted the connection between the tides and planet Selene (the Moon), an idea that was not popular nor accepted at the time. We call Kepler a "true" scientist because of his well-disciplined mind. Even though his heart screamed that all the planets had orbits around the Sun that were perfectly round circles, his mind finally accepted the FACTS of Tycho's observations...

that the orbits of the planets were instead "ellipses" (flattened circles), and not perfect circles.

Johannes Kepler

Writer's block !
My name is Paine Ellsworth,
and i'm a writer -- 'nuff said.

So off we go! Here is one of the best sites on the World Wide Web for you
if you're just beginning to love astronomy...
STAR GAZER
Jack's Place

And now we have one of my favorite astronomy sites.
HOURS of enjoyment for the "Sirius" astronomy and cosmology lover!
Atlas of the Universe

The music ( the controller is at the top of this page )
must be OFF to be able to HEAR the video's sound !
REDSHIFTS
SCIENCE: Astronomers tell us that at some indistinct distance out in deep space, BLUE SHIFTS (means that galaxies are coming toward us) diminish and REDSHIFTS (means that galaxies are going away from us) begin to increase. Then, at some farther distance there are no more blue shifts, only redshifts. The farther away the galaxies are, the larger the redshifts are and the faster those galaxies are moving away from us. At distances of 12 and 13 billion light years, their speeds actually approach the speed of light !
Astronomers also tell us that the farther out in space we look, the farther out in the past we see. So are all those faraway galaxies heading at breakneck speeds INTO THE PAST?
Is this our first scientific "clue" that those faraway redshifts are just an ILLUSION?
Here is another item that scientists tell us... We are told that if you and I were able to instantly transport ourselves to one of those faraway galaxies, to a planet like Earth, that if we look up into the night sky, the sky would look very similar ! There would be stars we could see that are near us in the galaxy we are in, and the redshifts of faraway galaxies would still look like they do here. The galaxies would appear to be racing away from us at speeds that come close to the speed of light ! Hmm... So, the galaxy we're in, the NEW galaxy we transported to, is NOT really going at nearly the speed of light? It's only going about as fast as the Milky Way goes? Hmm.
In other words, the redshifts we can see here from our own Milky Way galaxy would DISAPPEAR ! The new galaxy we're in would NOT be moving at near the speed of light, but it would be moving much slower, like our own galaxy moves. The redshifts of faraway galaxies would look the same from there as they do from here. From there, even our own Milky Way galaxy would have a huge redshift because it is so far away.
Could this be another scientific "clue" that those faraway redshifts are just one, big ILLUSION? Are they like an oasis, a mirage in the desert that disappears whenever we approach it?
Be very careful, now, because we are treading upon "hallowed ground". If all those faraway redshifts are only an illusion, then this would have a significant effect on astronomy and cosmology. It was no less an astronomer than Edwin Hubble himself who told us that those faraway redshifts mean that the Universe is expanding ! So if those faraway redshifts are an illusion, then the Universe is not expanding.
Also, other astronomers agreed that if the expansion is turned back in time (in our minds) then there must have been a time when the entire Universe was CONTRACTED, "squished", into a "singularity". And something (astronomers don't know what) caused that singularity to EXPAND into the Universe we see today. If those faraway redshifts are only an illusion, then there was no BIG BANG beginning of the Universe !
And why even mention "dark energy", which astronomers say is necessary so the Universe can expand against the effects of gravity. If those faraway redshifts are a mere illusion, then there is no more need for dark energy. So be very, very careful with this one ! For the "sitting paradigm" has been "dug in" for a long, long time.
If the faraway redshifts turn out to be just an illusion, then the Universe is not expanding, there was no Big Bang, and there is definitely no need to invoke a mysterious "dark energy".
CHALLENGE THE SITTING PARADIGM !

Next for your viewing pleasure is the popular "Powers of Ten" site. It has an embedded viewer that decreases distance by a factor of 10. You begin 10 million light years away from our galaxy, you get closer and closer by the power of 10 until you see our Solar System and then planet Earth. You keep getting closer until finally you see an atom. Come face to face with a proton! This is great... you'll love it!
Powers of Ten
Secret Worlds
The Universe Within

S P A C E
The "Final Frontier"? We all know that's just TV marketing hype designed to get people to watch and to buy soap 'n stuff. Space might be called a "gigagigafrontier", because it's actually made up of "billions and billions" of more reachable frontiers. Like the Moon, for example. And Mars. Here are two true frontiers we know we can reach. And as we keep trying to return to the Moon and to go explore Mars, we will learn what it takes to reach many other FRONTIERS of SPACE.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States has put together some interesting figures. There were 5,100 successful launches of space-bound vehicles from 1957 through 2002. About 91% of these were launched by two main groups: the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, which included (after 1991) the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
During this time, the Soviet Union/CIS was responsible for 3,188 launches (62.5%) and the US, 1,440 (28.2%). The remainder were launched by the European Space Agency (ESA - 106 launches), Japan (71), China (67), France (39), India (24), United Kingdom (18), Germany (16), Canada (13), and Israel (1).
Since 2000, the gap has been narrowing. For example, in 2002 there were 61 total launches worldwide, including 23 from Russia and the CIS, 18 by the US, 11 by the ESA, 4 by China and 3 by Japan.
Some countries, like Brazil, South Korea, Australia or nations in the Middle East, have enough money and could easily acquire the technology to launch satellites, but choose for economy and convenience to either have other countries launch their payloads or to participate in the space projects of other nations. And others, like North Korea and Iran, are pursuing their own space projects.
This growing participation underscores that the EXPLORATION OF SPACE has been going INTERNATIONAL! And the recent success of SpaceShipOne's historic event gives us all hope that we will one day be space tourists!
About one hundred years ago (1903) the Wright brothers made the first significant powered flight of an airplane. While there was flight before this (lighter-than-air craft, gliders, etc.) the 1903 flight is considered the single most important event which launched our world into travel by flight, including space travel. So, for the Wright brothers and all others who were instrumental to our ability to fly, we honor them with the following website about international space flight...

Centennial of Flight

And here are the websites we found for most international space agencies. These are listed alphabetically.
Imagine what we could do if we all worked together to explore space!...
ASI of Italy

BNSC of the UK

CNES of France

CNSA of China

CSA of Canada

DLR of Germany

ESA of Europe

IKI of Russia

INPE of Brazil

INSA of Iran

ISA of Israel

ISRO of India

JAXA of Japan

KARI of South Korea

NASA of the US

NKSG of North Korea
( F.A.S. info on N. Korean
space projects )

RASA of Russia/CIS

SAA of Australia

SNSB of Sweden

Other Involved Space Agencies

More Help With Space Agencies

Maybe if we see the exploration of space as a CONQUEST... if we could see space like a "COMMON ENEMY"?
Maybe then we could pool our resources even more effectively and CONQUER the
ever-FLOWING "Final Frontier" of SPACE!

In my life there is only one other battle that is more important than for us to conquer space.
President Kennedy (remember him?) once said, and I quote...
"The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation."
So I invite you to visit the website of my favorite place to contribute to the global
effort that fights hunger, starvation and other nasties...
Save The Children
...it just might liberate you!

Speaking of "flowing space", the originator of the Flowing Space model of the cause of gravity was a man named
Gordon Wolter (Aug. 8, 1952 - May 5, 1992)
And down the road, there have been others who have independently discovered
that space is
comprised of energy that flows into matter and causes gravitation, as you'll see below.
The following website is a tribute to Wolter and his Continuous Big Bang (CBB) theory
of the Universe. His model does not actually displace the Big Bang theory,
but as you'll see, the CBB theory does add to and refine Big Bang cosmogony...
The Continuous Big Bang
And here are some other websites about flowing space,
SPATIAL/GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY that FLOWS
INTO MATTER and CAUSES GRAVITY!...
Tom Martin's Website
Jerry Shifman's Website
Henry Lindner's Website
Piers Newberry's Website
Gravity's Secret
The Flow of Gravity
The Speed of Gravity
John Huenefeld's Website
The Spacetime Phenomena
Henry Warren's Website
Is There A Dynamic Ether?
Please visit the UseNet newsgroup alt.astronomy for more info on FLOWING SPACE,
as well as many other cutting edge and fascinating discussions!

HUBBLE TELESCOPE IMAGE
of the very first "exoplanet" (a planet in another star system) ever photographed!

Lots of good questions and answers
for the beginning astronomy lover on this next web site.
Ease back, have a cup of coffee or whatever you like, and browse through the...
Astronomy Cafe
The Astronomy Cafe is also called a "FAQ" website. That's FAQ for "Frequently Asked Questions". There are several good astronomy FAQs, so if you love astronomy and its related sciences of cosmology and particle physics, then
Get the FAQs
and Get the Facts!

For a long time now, some people have considered our Moon to be much more than just a satellite of Earth! We believe the Moon is in fact a full-fledged major planet in its own right! And we have chosen the name given to the Moon by the ancient Greeks: Planet Selene (spoken with 3 syllables, Say-'lay-nay). There are several reasons to believe that the Moon is a major planet, and these reasons have been posted many, many times to the UseNet newsgroup...
a l t . a s t r o n o m y
Ralph Hertle sent some images of the combined Earth-Selene orbits around the Sun... FABULOUS!
Earth-Selene Orbital Images
Astronomical Thank You to RALPH HERTLE !
Okay, Gentle Readers! it's finally finished!
Several hours were spent in June, 2009, putting together a free online pamphlet
that shows beyond any shadow of doubt that Selene (the Moon) is
a full-fledged major planet in its own right! And here it is...
THE PLANET MOON
THE OFFICIAL MOON-AS-MAJOR-PLANET-SELENE WEBSITE
DEDICATED TO ISAAC ASIMOV

Recently you may have read about a fascinating anomaly in astronomy.
It's called "Dark Flow", and you can read more about it here at this link.
One big puzzle about this Dark Flow is that it is in exactly the same area of space as the "Great Attractor", which was first reported by astronomers back in 1973, and by a different team of scientists many years before that! So you decide. Is Dark Flow really a bonafide "new discovery"? Or is it just a
RE-discovery of...
THE GREAT ATTRACTOR

The surface lights keep getting brighter and brighter. And
it gets harder and harder for us to see the stars. Check this out...
Nighttime Satellite Photo Shoot of Earth

Okay, now let's lighten it up just a bit. Here are some favorite and funny astromony jokes!...
Astromony Jokes
Let us tell you about another huge astromony "joke". A few years ago "alt.astronomy", a favorite UseNet newsgroup, was "invaded" by several kooks and kook-wannabees. Since alt.astronomy has evolved into a "cutting-edge" science newsgroup, other groups of people, such as "alt.usenet.kooks" (a superb collection of self-proclaimed "kookologists" (some call them "Kookstone Kopps")) started considering some ideas in alt.astronomy just a bit "kooky". So they came, they saw, they conquered. And every REAL kook hungry for attention followed along with them. Unfortunately, this raised the "noise" level in alt.astronomy to EXTREMELY HIGH, and it hasn't completely died down yet, even now. One of the outcomes of all this was a new "official" FAQ put together by "Art Deco", a colorful, die-hard skeptic of alt.usenet.kooks. And since mention is made of several alt.astronomy readers and posters in this FAQ, you might find it interesting, even funny?
So here it comes...
The "Official" (KoOky !-) FAQ for ALT.ASTRONOMY
And Gentle Reader, it is hoped that you get a good chuckle or two out of it!
OOPS! Sorry, that's become a deadlink. I'll keep looking for it, and
if you happen to find it before I do, please let me know at
s t a r s w i r l e r @ aol dot com
Thank you very much!

And now... for the sirius (serious!) astronomy/cosmology student, there is no place on the Internet better than Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, to learn about the sky! And here is one of the best places to begin...
Physical Cosmology
Reading Wiki's physical cosmology page and following the links
will lead you to the stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters--
the COSMOS we all love and wonder about!

Okay, granted the following is a controversial subject.
Can you still hear Carl Sagan calling the Face on Mars a "tortilla chip mesa"?
The jury is still out, so let's keep an open mind. Let's hope and wish
for a trip soon to Mars to more closely investigate these claims...
The FACE on MARS

OUR Universe

[oirjg[oerjg[oo[w[oi[ojelfo[wshi9pyhvcipdhw04w0jp
( that there's UFO talk that means "This was just put here to add more MYSTERY to this astronomy page !" )
As you may have guessed by now, I am a writer, and while Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan are two of my favorite writer "stars", Napoleon Hill is also one of the great writer heroes of my life. Hill never wrote anything about astronomy, and yet he DID write material that was designed to make your life BETTER and BETTER ! So go get your free copy of Hill's book, THINK AND GROW RICH, and then get busy absorbing his ideas and improving your life !
If, after you read THINK AND GROW RICH, you STILL find that you don't quite get what his BIG secret was, then
check out this page.
( I was in the same boat as you until I'd read Hill's book three times. )
Thank You Again for Coming!
Live Nude Astronomy is updated often. We always look for ways to make it better and better. So you're welcome to come back again from time to time to see the new stuff. And if you have any ideas about what you'd like to see here, just drop a line to "StarSwirler" at the email address below. If you would like to make a donation to help keep this website going, or if you'd just like to write me a letter, please use the SNAIL-MAIL address below!
Best of Everything to You and Yours!

Paine Ellsworth
P.O. Box 152073
Tampa, FL 33684-2073
USA

SECRETS GOLDEN
scotty @ secretsgolden dot com
SAVE THE CHILDREN
Please... GIVE to the kids until it hurts!

S t a r S w i r l e r @ aol dot com

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