• Where is This? December 24, 2022 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 menu and selecting the “Where is This?” The Answer Sheet page.

  • The Space Station Needs a New Life Raft

    Fortunately, we now know the source of the leak in the extra Soyuz Crew Return Vehicle attached to the International Space Station (ISS). However, we do not know the cause of this radiator coolant leak, which creates risk should the capsule be used early next year to bring two cosmonauts and an astronaut back to…

  • Pic of the Week: A Wreath Just in Time for Christmas

    This week’s image is from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is a face-on view of wreath-like spiral galaxy NGC 7469, which is about 220 million light-years from Earth. Here is a little more from the European Space Agency on the image: While NGC 7469 is one of the best studied AGNs in the…

  • Space Mission: The End of InSight Mars Lander

    NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is no longer able to contact the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars lander, which has been hard at work on the Red Planet for the past four years detecting more than 1,300 marsquakes. However, the accumulation of dust on the lander’s solar panels has…

  • Space Quote: A Thank You From Russia

    “Say hello to the entire American team. They proved themselves to be very worthy in this situation and lent us a helping hand…You set an example for the whole world on how to work together in the most challenging and difficult situation. Let many politicians learn from you.“ -Statement by Yuri Borisov, head of Russian…

  • Space Stories: ISS Leak, Revamped Space Council, and Asteroid Space Stations

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —CBS News: “Soyuz Ferry Ship Temperatures Remain Within Limits Despite Major Coolant Leak“ Temperatures in a Russian Soyuz crew ferry ship docked at the International Space Station — a lifeboat for three of the lab’s seven crew members — remain within safe limits despite a dramatic overnight leak in the spacecraft’s…

  • Podcast: Solar Sailing to the Stars

    On a recent episode of the Clear + Vivid podcast, Alan Alda interviewed NASA engineer Les Johnson about his efforts to develop a solar sail that can take us to the stars. He is the Principal Investigator for the NEA Scout, which was launched into space during the Artemis I mission and is now heading…

  • Rocket Lab’s Electron Launches from MARS

    Rocket Lab has big plans for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) where tomorrow it will launch the first of its U.S. based Electron rockets. The December 18th mission from the Virginia spaceport will depart from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. While Rocket Lab has been launching the Electron from New Zealand, it is starting up operations…

  • Gift Ideas: Popular Astronomy Books

    If you are looking for another gift idea for the holidays, maybe you should consider one of the many popular astronomy books. Here are the 10 most popular from Goodreads: It’s great to see that Carl Sagan is still educating the public so many years after his death. As with the Voyager spacecraft, his words…

  • Pic of the Week: The Hunter’s Sword

    This week’s image is from NASA’s now retired Spitzer Space Telescope as well as the agency’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), now called NEOWISE. Here is a little more from the Sci.News story: Also known as NGC 1976, Messier 42 (M42), LBN 974, or Sharpless 281, the Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula in the…