Hi everybody

Here's the latest article from the Astronomy site at BellaOnline.com.

Incoming! – Planetarium Show
What devastated the dinosaurs, excavated an great hole in the ground, and broke windows in Russia? What produced the life we know on Earth, but could also destroy it? The answer: impacts from space. It's the subject of the planetarium presentation "Incoming!".

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art304135.asp

*Hubble Space Telescope*
The revered space telescope had its 27th birthday on April 25. On that day in 1990 astronauts of the STS-31 mission of the shuttle Discovery launched the telescope. Here is the anniversary image for this year: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/hubbleimagestscihp1714af6576x7614.jpg?itok=G06daRqV It shows the spiral galaxies NGC 4302 (left) and NGC 4298 (right) in visible and infrared light.

*Birth anniversaries*
April 23, 1858: Max Planck was born. He was a German theoretical physicist best known as the originator of quantum theory. His work won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. The European Space Agency (ESA) named a space observatory for him - it mapped the cosmic microwave background from 2009-2013.

April 28, 1900: Dutch astronomer Jan Oort was born. Oort made major contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and was a pioneer in radio astronomy. He realized that the orbits of comets “implied there was a lot more solar system than the region occupied by the planets.” The Oort cloud of comets that surrounds the Solar System was named for him.

April 28, 1906: Dutch-American astronomer Bart Bok was born. He's best known for his work on the structure and evolution of our Galaxy and the dark nebula named for him. More about Bok globules here, http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art300907.asp

April 28, 1928: American geologist Gene Shoemaker was born. He was one of the founders of the study of planetary science. With his wife Carolyn and David Levy, he was co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 which hit Jupiter.

Please visit http://astronomy.bellaonline.com/Site.asp for even more great content about Astronomy. I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum http://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
http://astronomy.bellaonline.com
.