Astronauts have been stuck in low-Earth orbit, boldly going nowhere. American attempts to kick-start a new phase of lunar exploration have stalled amid the realisation that NASA's budget is too small for the job. Paul Davies americanamidastronaut share on social
Astronauts working for the government will always need to be either pilots or mission specialists. Those who want to be pilots should have military experience - ideally, a test pilot background. Buzz Aldrin astronautbackgroundexperience Change image and share on social
Astronomers are greatly disappointed when, having traveled halfway around the world to see an eclipse, clouds prevent a sight of it; and yet a sense of relief accompanies the disappointment. Simon Newcomb accompanyastronomercloud Change image and share on social
Astronomers are obsessed with building larger and larger telescopes. There are two promises that we make with bigger telescopes: that they can see fainter things and that they see more detail. But it's been really hard to follow through on that second promise because of atmospheric distortion. Andrea M. Ghez astronomeratmosphericbig share on social
Astronomers can look back in time. We can look at things as they used to be. We have an idea there was a Big Bang explosion 13.7 billion years ago. We have a story of how galaxies and stars were made. It's an amazing story. John C. Mather agoamazeastronomer share on social
Astronomers have been bewildered by the theory of an expanding universe, but there is no less expansion in the moral infinite of the universe of man. As far as the frontiers of science are pushed back, over the extended arc of these frontiers one will hear the poet's hounds on the chase. Saint-John Perse arcastronomerback share on social
Astronomers ought to be able to ask fundamental questions without accelerators. Saul Perlmutter acceleratorastronomerfundamental Change image and share on social
Astronomers sometimes observe that a star of medium magnitude increases suddenly in size; a star invisible to the naked eye may become very brilliant and visible without any telescope - the appearance of a Nova. Frederic Joliot-Curie appearanceastronomerbrilliant share on social
Astronomers still can't decide what the shape of our universe is. Is it closed and finite, which is to say, is there a countable tally of all the galaxies that exist, even beyond the ones we can see? Or is it infinite? The latter possibility is still on the table. Seth Shostak astronomerclosecountable share on social
Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another. Plato astronomycompellead Change image and share on social