Astronomy today is a popular and enjoyable hobby as well as a vital science making new discoveries every day.  From new space objects to new images, from new tools and techniques to new discoveries made with them, from new space missions to reviving and reviewing data from the old ones, keeping up with astronomy can certainly be a full time job.  And it’s fun.  Let’s get right to the newest in astronomy.

On any day meteors are a key element of astronomy today for that day.  2008 certainly was no different.  In November the Taurids and Leonids were active in the night sky.  Gemenids peaked in December, but unfortunately it was also the time of a full moon making them impossible to see.  Don’t fret.  Whereas the peak only happens for a short time meteor showers continue for as much as two weeks before and two weeks after the peak.  People won’t miss these showers.

In 2008 a return to the moon was on people’s minds very often in astronomy today.  The talk is of this as a world wide effort rather something any one country or agency would endeavor to accomplish.  The goal may be to establish a moon base or even a colony on the moon.  Hard to believe.  Space 1999, a TV show from the 70s, may be about to become a reality.

2008 was a year of a lot of astronomy news.  For much of the year many astronomy today columns were filled with news of some space garbage – a colling ammonia tank from the space station.  It had been discarded into space where it orbited for many months.  But eventually its orbit decayed.  Some people were concerned that pieces might fall into populated areas.  But it broke up into very small pieces which mostly fell into the ocean near Australia.

Hubble was probably the biggest news in astronomy today in 2008.  First the telescope was damaged when some instrument control and data formatting modules failed in September.  Those were brought back on line in October.  Then the Hubble took the first ever visible light image of a planet orbiting another star.  Hubble telescope sure had a full year.

Astronomy today is more vibrant than ever.  Keep up with everything on the Internet.