On April 8, 2024, parts of North America will be plunged into darkness for the longest total solar eclipse to hit our continent in around 100 years. A total eclipse itself is only possible by sheer cosmic coincidence – with the Sun’s diameter being 400 times larger than the Moon’s and the Sun being almost …
Almost three years ago, I wrote about “The Little Helicopter That Could” – Ingenuity – the first rotocopter to fly on another planet. The mission would have been considered a success if it just got off the ground (and more ideally performed 5 experimental test flights following), and instead it lasted for nearly 3 years …
Look West about thirty minutes after sunset on March 27 to see a “parade of planets”. Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, Mars, and the Moon will be aligned in arc in the evening sky – although you’ll only be able to see Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and the Moon with the naked eye. Grab some binoculars or a …
You don’t need to be a nautical navigator to know what you’re looking at in the night’s sky. Although, looking at the North Star aka Polaris can be helpful according to every survival movie I have ever seen. While many folks can readily recognize constellations like The Big Dipper, Orion’s Belt, and the Southern Cross, there’s …
Seven planets are now aligning in the night sky in a rare conjunction event; Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, and the Moon, which hasn’t occurred since 2004 and won’t happen again until 2040. And, they are visible in the order they are from the Sun! The five brightest planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, …
The James Webb Telescope’s instruments are now fully aligned and focused! And, according to NASA, the “optical performance of the telescope continues to be better than the engineering team’s most optimistic predictions.” After nearly 25 years of development and a million mile do-or-die unfolding process in space this is music to my ears. To check …
In 8 days time, I will be – by name at least – an alien. That’s when the latest rover lands on Mars, and with it, a microchip containing over 10 million names from Earth. NASA’s Perseverance Rover, which took off in July of last year, is scheduled to touch down on February 18th at …
Here’s a round-up of some cool stuff I enjoyed this week in music, scenery, and space! SCENE STEALERS The stunning images from the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition are well worth a scroll through. I especially love the photo below of Space X exhaust plume above Sierra Nevada (taken by Brandon Yoshizawa.) Do yourself …
Every week is a good week for space. Being in a time where we can better understand and observe the universe is, in my opinion, one of the best parts of being born into this time (other close contenders include: “the right to vote”, “penicillin”, “The Expanse”.) Here’s some of the cool space stuff I’ve …
One of the cool things I found out while at Mt. John Observatory in Tekapo, NZ is that Betelgeuse (one of three stars in Orion’s Belt) has been dimming dramatically over the last few weeks. Now, it could ramp up activity, but so far all signs point to “no.” Now, what does that mean? Well, …