• Television: Blade Runner 2099 Coming in 2026

    It seems two movies covering Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was not enough, so an entire television series is being readied by Amazon Prime for release this year. Of course, Amazon Prime has been talking about this series since at least 2022, with the Motion Picture Association stating back then:…

  • If You Happen to be in Kentucky…

    If you happen to be in Kentucky in late February, you may want to visit Thomas More University’s Observatory for a special lecture on astronomy. The lecture is titled “Please Stop Letting Astronomers Name Things,” and it will occur on Saturday, February 21st at 6pm. Here is the write up for the talk: From planetary…

  • Space Stories: Moon Kills Earth Water Theory, Astronauts in Quarantine, and China Loses Two Rockets

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —Universities Space Research Association: “Our Moon’s 4 Billion-Year Impact Record Suggests Meteorites Didn’t Supply Earth’s Water“ A long-standing idea in planetary science is that water-rich meteorites arriving late in Earth’s history could have delivered a major share of Earth’s water. A new study by Universities Space Research Association…

  • Space Quote: Ongoing Questions about the Orion’s Heat Shield

    “What they’re talking about doing is crazy…We could have solved this problem way back when…Instead, they keep kicking the can down the road.” -Statement by former astronaut Charlie Camarda, who does not believe the upcoming Artemis II mission is safe for the astronauts given his concerns about the Orion’s heat shield, as quoted by CNN.…

  • Movies: The 2025 Golden Raspberry Awards

    It is that time of year to look back at the science fiction movies of 2025 and determine which ones were really bad. We might as well go through this process because I cannot remember any that were really good, particularly in the area of space adventures. The 46th Golden Raspberry Award nominees for Worst…

  • A Day in Astronomy: The Last Word from Pioneer 10

    On this day in 2003, NASA heard its last message from Pioneer 10, the Jupiter space probe. Launched in 1972, it was the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter on its way to the outer planets. It is also one of only five spacecraft to leave our solar system. Both…

  • Pic of the Week: Preparing for the Artemis II Mission

    This week’s image shows NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft making its way from the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B via the crawler-transporter. All of this is in preparation for the Artemis II mission, which will take four astronauts around the Moon. The flight could launch as early…

  • Study Findings: Electrical Conductivities of (Mg,Fe)O at Extreme Pressures and Implications for Planetary Magma Oceans

    Nature Astronomy abstract of study findings: During planet formation, planets undergo many impacts that can generate magma oceans. When these crystallize, part of the magma densifies via iron enrichment and migrates to the core–mantle boundary, forming an iron-rich basal magma ocean (BMO). The BMO could generate a dynamo in early Earth and super-Earths if the electrical…

  • Space Quote: NASA Astronaut Suni Williams Retires

    “It is hard to imagine people arguing down there, not to mention fighting. It looks so peaceful… so calm down on earth. From space, there are no borders that you can see. We are lucky to live on such a planet and we should not take it for granted. After my space experience, I am…

  • Space Stories: A Peruvian Solar Observatory, NASA Rocket Traffic, and a Reborn Back Hole

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —Discover Magazine: “The Earliest-Known Astronomical Observatory in the Americas May Offer New Insights“ There was a time when Stonehenge was believed to be a kind of “Neolithic computer.” Archaeology has since corrected that misconception. Today, the evidence points strongly in another direction: to an arid hill in the…