• Gift Ideas: Astronomy Items that are Fun for the Whole Family

    If you are still looking around for holiday gifts, Popular Mechanics provided a nice gift guide for 2023. This includes the board game Space-opoly (above), the red Mars dust globe (below), and the Play Tent Galaxy Dome (also below). Some other sources for helpful gift lists include: Astronomy.com Avada Etsy More2Science Skies & Scopes Space.com…

  • Where is This? December 16, 2023 Quiz

    Take a look at the image above. Can you determine where this image originated? Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the “Where is This? The Answer Sheet” page.

  • Space Quote: $5 Million for A Probe of Drug Use at SpaceX

    “It is essential for the integrity of the United States space program to ensure that the development and production of the space systems that will transport astronauts is conducted in a manner that prioritizes safety…The Safety and Health provision in the contract requires SpaceX to comply with standard industry practices, applicable laws, and other relevant…

  • Pic of the Week: Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

    This week’s image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope is both violent yet beautiful. It is also NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for today. Here are some details about the image from NASA: Massive stars in our Milky Way Galaxy live spectacular lives. Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces ignite and…

  • Voyager I Not Communicating at the Moment

    NASA is experiencing communication issues with the distant Voyager 1 spacecraft. As a result, NASA reports that no science or engineering data is being sent back to Earth. Voyager 1 is about 15 billion miles from Earth, so its binary code signals take about 22.5 hours to reach Earth. The communication issue with the spacecraft…

  • Television: A Murder at the End of the World

    If you are looking for a new television series, you cannot go wrong with FX’s A Murder at the End of the World. You can catch it on Hulu. Here is the paltry description from Hulu: A young woman accepts a mysterious invitation from a billionaire and his wife. Fortunately, the FX trailer is better…

  • Space Stories: Tom Hanks Returns to the Moon, Exomoons are Questioned, and Our Moon Enters a New Phase

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Reuters: “Tom Hanks Brings Love of Space to New Immersive London Show“ Archive footage of space rockets taking off beam across giant walls in a new immersive show in London, as Hollywood actor Tom Hanks narrates the story of human voyages to the moon. “The Moonwalkers: A Journey With…

  • Rain and Wind Delays in Space Force Orbital Test Vehicle Launch

    SpaceX was scheduled to launch the US Space Forces’ secretive X-37B orbital test vehicle (OTV) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center earlier today, but stormy weather postponed the launch until tomorrow. What does this spacecraft do? Given it is with the Space Force and not NASA, it clearly has a national defense mission, yet it has…

  • Space Quote: JPL Struggles to Remain Fully Staffed

    “It was clear that upper management expected us to push through regardless of any challenges happening outside the lab because the robot was the first priority…It resulted in incredible burnout across all the teams. Many of us are honestly still recovering from it.” -Statement by one of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory employees working on…

  • Happy Hanukkah from the ISS

    Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli did her part to celebrate the Hanukkah holiday while on board the International Space Station (ISS). The Iranian-American NASA astronaut created the window display shown above as well as a video of a spinning dreidel. In the ABC7 story accompanying the video, Ms. Moghbeli stated: In my household, we celebrate both Christmas…