Astronomy, JUN-LIS
Human beings have long been fascinated by the celestial sphere above, whose twinkling lights have inspired not only scientific theories but also many artistic endeavors. Humankind's fascination with the world beyond Earth has led to many landmark moments in history, as when space exploration took a giant step forward with the advent of technology that allowed humans to successfully travel to the Moon and to build spacecraft capable of exploring the rest of the solar system and beyond.
Astronomy Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Juno, U.S. space probe designed to orbit the planet Jupiter. The probe is named for a Roman goddess, the female......
Jupiter, the most massive planet of the solar system and the fifth in distance from the Sun. It is one of the brightest......
Sigmund Jähn was an East German cosmonaut who became the first German in space. As a young man Jähn trained to......
K2-18b, extrasolar planet for which, on the basis of a possible detection of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl......
Leonid Kadenyuk was a Ukrainian cosmonaut who flew on the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and was the first Ukrainian......
Kaguya, Japan’s second unmanned mission to the Moon, launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in September......
kamacite, mineral consisting of iron alloyed with 5–7 percent nickel by weight and found in almost all meteorites......
Norishige Kanai is a Japanese medical doctor and astronaut who began a stay of about six months at the International......
Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn was a Dutch astronomer who used photography and statistical methods in determining the......
Kardashev scale, hypothetical measure of an alien civilization’s level of technological advancement, proposed by......
Keck Observatory, astronomical observatory located near the 4,200-metre (13,800-foot) summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant......
James Keeler was an American astronomer who confirmed that Saturn’s ring system is not a solid unit but is composed......
Mark Kelly is an American astronaut and politician who served in the U.S. Senate (2020– ), representing Arizona.......
Scott Kelly is an American astronaut who made four spaceflights, the longest of which lasted 340 days. He is the......
Kepler, U.S. satellite that detected extrasolar planets by watching—from orbit around the Sun—for a slight dimming......
Johannes Kepler German astronomer who discovered three major laws of planetary motion, conventionally designated......
Kepler-186f, the first Earth-sized extrasolar planet to be found within its star’s habitable zone—the orbital region......
Kepler-452b, the first approximately Earth-sized planet to be found in a Sun-like star’s habitable zone—the orbital......
Keplerian telescope, instrument for viewing distant objects, the basis for the modern refractive telescope, named......
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, in astronomy and classical physics, laws describing the motions of the planets......
Kepler’s Nova, one of the few supernovae (violent stellar explosions) known to have occurred in the Milky Way Galaxy.......
Kepler’s second law of planetary motion, in astronomy and classical physics, one of three laws describing the motions......
Roy Kerr is a New Zealand mathematician who solved (1963) Einstein’s field equations of general relativity to describe......
Joseph Kerwin is a U.S. astronaut and physician who served as science pilot on Skylab 2, the first crewed mission......
Khonsu, in ancient Egyptian religion, moon god who was generally depicted as a youth. A deity with astronomical......
Kidinnu was a Babylonian astronomer who may have been responsible for what modern scholars call System B, a Babylonian......
Jonny Kim is a Korean American Navy SEAL, doctor, aviator, and astronaut who is a member of NASA’s Artemis team,......
Maria Kirch was a German astronomer who was the first woman to discover a comet. Winckelmann was educated by her......
Athanasius Kircher was a Jesuit priest and scholar, sometimes called the last Renaissance man, important for his......
Gustav Kirchhoff was a German physicist who, with the chemist Robert Bunsen, firmly established the theory of spectrum......
Kirkwood gaps, interruptions that appear in the distribution of asteroid semimajor axes where the orbital period......
Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), astronomical observatory located on the Papago Indian Reservation 50 miles......
Pyotr Klimuk is a Soviet cosmonaut who flew three times in space and was head of the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training......
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet cosmonaut, the first man known to have died during a space mission.......
Yelena Kondakova is a Russian cosmonaut who was the first woman to make a long-duration spaceflight. Kondakova......
Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), series of South Korean launch vehicles that were designed to launch Earth-orbiting......
Sergei Korolev was a Soviet designer of guided missiles, rockets, and spacecraft. Korolev was educated at the Odessa......
Kosmos, any of a series of uncrewed Soviet and then Russian satellites launched from the early 1960s to the present......
Nikolay Aleksandrovich Kozyrev was a Russian astronomer, who claimed to have discovered volcano-like activity on......
Sergey Konstantinovich Krikalyov is a Russian cosmonaut whose six spaceflights from 1988 to 2005 earned him the......
Ajit Krishnan is one of the four astronauts selected for India’s first crewed spaceflight program, Gaganyaan, scheduled......
Valery Kubasov was a Russian cosmonaut who performed the first welding experiments in space. Upon graduating from......
Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), a Lockheed C-141 jet transport aircraft specially instrumented for astronomical......
Kuiper belt, flat ring of icy small bodies that revolve around the Sun beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune.......
Gerard Peter Kuiper was a Dutch-American astronomer known especially for his discoveries and theories concerning......
Kushukh, the Hurrian moon god. In the Hurrian pantheon, Kushukh was regularly placed above the sun god, Shimegi;......
Kwangmyŏngsŏng, any of a North Korean series of satellites. The first successful satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng 3, entered......
Kármán line, boundary separating Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. The line is neither sharp nor well defined......
Theodore von Kármán was a Hungarian-born American research engineer best known for his pioneering work in the use......
al-Kāshī was among the greatest mathematicians and astronomers in the Islamic world. The first event known with......
Nicolas Louis de Lacaille was a French astronomer who mapped the constellations visible from the Southern Hemisphere......
Lacerta, constellation in the northern sky at about 22.5 hours right ascension and 45° north in declination. Its......
Lagoon Nebula, (catalog numbers NGC 6523 and M8), ionized-hydrogen region located in the constellation Sagittarius......
Lagrange point, in astronomy, a point in space at which a small body, under the gravitational influence of two......
Joseph-Louis Lagrange, comte de l’Empire was an Italian French mathematician who made great contributions to number......
Laika, a dog that was the first living creature to be launched into Earth orbit, on board the Soviet artificial......
Jérôme Lalande was a French astronomer whose tables of planetary positions were considered the best available until......
Johann Heinrich Lambert was a Swiss German mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and philosopher who provided the......
Johann von Lamont was a Scottish-born German astronomer noted for discovering that the magnetic field of the Earth......
Lev Davidovich Landau was a Soviet theoretical physicist, one of the founders of the quantum theory of condensed......
Landsat, any of a series of unmanned U.S. scientific satellites. The first three Landsat satellites were launched......
Jonathan Homer Lane was a U.S. astrophysicist who was the first to investigate mathematically the Sun as a gaseous......
Samuel Pierpont Langley was an American astrophysicist and aeronautical pioneer who developed new instruments with......
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace was a French mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who was best known for his......
Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBTO), observatory consisting of two 8.4-metre (28-foot) telescopes located......
Las Campanas Observatory (LCO), astronomical observatory established in 1969 in the Atacama desert of Chile at......
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), astronomical observatory located in Hanford, Washington,......
Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), European group of three spacecraft that are designed to search for gravitational......
William Lassell was an amateur English astronomer who discovered Ariel and Umbriel, satellites of Uranus; and Triton,......
launch vehicle, in spaceflight, a rocket-powered vehicle used to transport a spacecraft beyond Earth’s atmosphere,......
Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. was a U.S. Air Force major who was the first African American astronaut in the U.S.......
LCROSS, U.S. spacecraft that was deliberately crashed into the Moon on October 9, 2009, resulting in the discovery......
Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier was a French astronomer who predicted by mathematical means the existence of the......
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was an American astronomer known for her discovery of the relationship between period and......
Georges Lemaître was a Belgian astronomer and cosmologist who formulated the modern big-bang theory, which holds......
Leo, in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying in the northern sky between Cancer and Virgo, at about 10 hours......
Leo Minor, constellation in the northern sky at about 10 hours right ascension and 35° north in declination. Its......
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence,......
Leonardo da Vinci discussed the parachute in a notebook entry now contained in the Codex Atlanticus. Although it......
Aleksei Leonov was a Soviet cosmonaut who performed the first space walk. After early schooling in Kaliningrad,......
Lepus, constellation in the southern sky at about 6 hours right ascension and 20° south in declination. Its brightest......
David H. Levy is a Canadian astronomer and science writer who discovered—along with Carolyn Shoemaker and Eugene......
Li Chunfeng was a Chinese mathematician and astronomer. Li was the son of a widely educated state official. He......
Li Rui was a Chinese mathematician and astronomer who made notable contributions to the revival of traditional......
Li Zhizao was a Chinese mathematician, astronomer, and geographer whose translations of European scientific books......
Libra, in astronomy, zodiacal constellation in the southern sky lying between Scorpius and Virgo, at about 15 hours......
libration, in astronomy, an oscillation, apparent or real, of a satellite, such as the Moon, the surface of which......
Lick Observatory, astronomical observatory located about 21 km (13 miles) east of San Jose, California, U.S., atop......
light curve, in astronomy, graph of the changes in brightness with time of a star, particularly of the variable......
limb darkening, in astrophysics, gradual decrease in brightness of the disk of the Sun or of another star as observed......
Bertil Lindblad was a Swedish astronomer who contributed greatly to the theory of galactic structure and motion......
Kjell Lindgren is an American astronaut who has made two spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS)......
Hans Lippershey was a spectacle maker from the United Netherlands, traditionally credited with inventing the telescope......
LISA Pathfinder, European Space Agency space mission that successfully tested the technology necessary for the......
This is a list of astronauts ordered alphabetically by country of origin or residence. The list also includes private......
This is a list of astronomers, ordered alphabetically by nationality. It includes scientists who received degrees......
Astronomical observatories are structures containing telescopes and auxiliary instruments with which to observe......
These are the 26 brightest stars as seen from Earth, listed in descending order of brightness. The list includes......
This is an alphabetically ordered list of constellations. (See also astronomy; star; star...
A galaxy is any of the systems of stars and interstellar matter that make up the universe. Many such assemblages......