Astro Advent - Astro News from BellaOnline.com #403

Hi everybody

This is the newsletter I tried to send last month, but the data base went down and stayed there for a few weeks. The data base was then restored, but then the astronomy editor went down with some infection that was making the Christmas rounds.

Here's what was then the latest article from the Astronomy site at BellaOnline.com. It's in two parts.

Astro Advent 2018 - Days 1 to 12
Northern lights, space probes, astronomers, astronauts, stars, planets and other interesting things in space and astronomy. All of these and more are in the astro countdown to Christmas that began on the Bellaonline Astronomy Forum.

https://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art305833.asp

Astro Advent 2018 - Days 13-24
Aurorae, Moon visitors, stars, planets, and more are in the astro countdown to Christmas. Here are the days from mid-Advent to Christmas Eve.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art305838.asp

*Birth anniversaries*
(1) December 26, 1780: Mary Somerville was born in Jedburgh in Scotland. She was one of the leading lights of 19th century science, writing explanatory works on developments in astronomy, physics and geography.
(2) December 27, 1571: Johannes Kepler was born near Stuttgart in what's now Germany. Using Tycho Brahe's data Kepler formulated his three laws which described the orbits of the planets mathematically. This only worked if the Sun - not the Earth - was at the center of the Solar System.
(3) December 28, 1882: Arthur Eddington was born. He was an English astrophysicist, and one of the most eminent scientists of his day, made famous by testing Einstein's theory of general relativity during a total solar eclipse.
(4) December 31, 1864: Robert Grant Aitken was born. He was an American astronomer of international repute, serving for ten years as chair of the double star committee of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Please visit https://www.bellaonline.com/site.asp?name=astronomy for even more great content about Astronomy. I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum https://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/323/1/Astronomy or in response to this email message. I welcome your feedback!  

Do pass this message along to family and friends who might also be interested. Remember it's free and without obligation.

I wish you clear skies.

Mona Evans, Astronomy Editor
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