Astronomy: Get Started
Welcome
This guide is designed to help students do research for PCC astronomy classes. Use the tabs to navigate through the other pages of the guide:
- Books and videos - Find books, ebooks, DVDs, streaming videos and more from the PCC Library catalog.
- Article databases - Find published articles from online encyclopedias, magazines, and research journals.
- Web Resources - Find websites on the latest discoveries, research, explorations and information
- Get Help - Get help from a librarian 24x7, get support from a tutor, or find a handout or tutorial to help you with your research.
The Biggest Explosion in The Cosmos
"For three years, telescopes have monitored “one of the most luminous” events ever: a supermassive black hole consuming a gigantic cloud of interstellar gas...
Eight billion light-years from Earth, in the darkness beyond the constellation Vulpecula, a black hole perhaps a billion times as massive as the sun seems to be gorging on a humongous cloud of gas. A study of the phenomenon appeared Friday in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society...
Astronomers said the explosion is a fireball 100 times the size of our Solar System that suddenly began blazing in the distant universe more than three years ago. “Most supernovae and tidal disruption events only last for a couple of months before fading away,” said Philip Wiseman, an astrophysicist at the University of Southampton and the lead author of the new paper. “For something to be bright for two-plus years was immediately very unusual.”
Source: New York Times, May 2023
PCC students and staff can get a free New York Times online subscription.
Latest Astronomy News from Sky and Telescope
- Tiny Disks Shed Light on Super-Earth OriginsThis link opens in a new windowMar 28, 2025
A team of astronomers has obtained high-resolution images of all known protoplanetary disks in the Lupus star-forming region.
The post Tiny Disks Shed Light on Super-Earth Origins appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
- This Week's Sky at a Glance, March 28 – April 6This link opens in a new windowMar 28, 2025
While waiting for sunrise on eclipse morning, can you catch Venus rising as a tiny, thin crescent? Go out earlier while the sky is still dark, and you get a preview of July evenings with Scorpius on the meridian.
The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, March 28 – April 6 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
- Sunrise Solar Eclipse on March 29th for Eastern North AmericaThis link opens in a new windowMar 27, 2025
The March 29th partial solar eclipse offers unique opportunities for photography and viewing alike.
The post Sunrise Solar Eclipse on March 29th for Eastern North America appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Chat a Librarian for Help
Need help from a librarian? Use our chat system. Click the button to open the chat window.
Faculty Librarian
This work by PCC Library is licensed by Portland Community College under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.- Last Updated: Mar 26, 2025 4:52 PM
- URL: https://guides.pcc.edu/astronomy
- Print Page