The Moon Rocket Mystery Today’s title might sound like a Jules Verne novel, but it takes place in the present of the 21st century, not Verne’s future 21st century. On 24 June 2022, NASA released an odd press briefing. It noted how astronomers discovered a rocket heading toward the moon in late 2021. They calculated […]
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Uranus Rains Diamonds [This article is the third in a series on Uranus. Read Part I: The Tilting of Uranus and Part 2: Uranus Stinks to make sure you’re fully up to date with Uranus.] We have certainly learned over the years that Uranus is a weird place. Uranus tilts and Uranus stinks, but, as we
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A Big Week for Astrophotography If you’re into space porn, the past week has really been good for you. We’ve followed the James Webb Space Telescope to its new home at a Lagrange Point in the expanse since its launch on Christmas Day 2021. This incredible instrument will soon permit us to peer deeper and
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Lunar Lasers Before 13 September 1959, no human-made object had ever touched an extraterrestrial body. On that date, Luna 2, the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket, impacted the moon. Since then, numerous other spacecraft and various humans have visited our satellite. All told, nearly 500,000 pounds of Earth stuff adorns the surface of the Moon.
Heartstrings of the Galaxy The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory spent three years pointing the MeerKAT radio telescope at the core of our galaxy. The result is a disarming, gorgeous mosaic image of the heart of the Milky Way: MeerKAT image of the Galactic centre region – SARAO Most of the stars in the Milky
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Lagrange Points When I was in high school physics class learning about gravity, I recall wondering if we could determine the size, or at least the mass, of the universe by calculating how much gravitational pull the planet “feels.” If the planet is tugged more in one direction, could we determine where we are in
James Webb Space Telescope If you’ve followed the newsletter from the early days, you’re well familiar with the Hubble Telescope and its myriad astronomical contributions. Some of the most resplendent images of the universe have come from the famed telescope. One might argue all of the most gorgeous imagery of the cosmos to date has
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Total Eclipse of the Orb Much of the world recently received a cosmic treat. Just this morning, a nearly-full lunar eclipse waltzed across the firmaments. Despite covering more than 97% of the moon with shadow, that figure made this event technically a partial eclipse. More than making up for that 3% sliver, however, was
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The Sirens of Titan Join me on a trip toward the outer reaches of our solar system. On the voyage, we’ll mix metaphors from two fantastic authors. I think the conflation we’ll make might be acceptable to one of them. Maybe both! In 1959, Kurt Vonnegut published his second novel. Setting the tone for his
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