What is something really cool about astronomy that you know?

[Miss Angie]

I'm on my lunch break and my supervisor said "learn something cool about astronomy and teach me it."

This is astronomy, actual science, and not astrology.

[tlbs101]

Tonight, Jupiter will be the closest to Earth this year (2008), so it will be the brightest thing in the sky overhead at midnight. With a good pair of binoculars and a steady hand, you can even see the 4 largest moons of Jupiter (you don't need a telescope).

.

[faesson]

my background is in astronomy and gemology, so maybe I find this more fascinating than it really is.

A few years back, it was announced that tests that were run on the composition of the light-colored rocks in the Lunar Highlands we mostly Plagioclase Feldspars. Okay, so what? Well, on Earth we have a gemstone that is a Plagioclase Feldspar and we call it...

<wait for it>

Moonstone!

[Michael Steen]

Venus's day is about as long as it's year, and it's the only planet in the solar system that turns backwards--probably as a result of a gigantic collision with a planet-sized object early in it's formation.