• Video: Cool Worlds and the Fermi Paradox

    A recent video from the YouTube channel Cool Worlds titled “The Fermi Paradox Has An Incredibly Simple Solution” is a fun review of the Fermi Paradox, which asks “Where are they?” in reference to alien visitors. The video goes into the meaning of the question as well as possible interpretations of the paradox itself. Professor…

  • Pic of the Week: Solar Eclipse from a Ship

    This week’s image is from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Here is the full story of the solar eclipse from the NASA site: Along a narrow path that mostly avoided landfall, the shadow of the New Moon raced across planet Earth’s southern hemisphere on April 20 to create a rare annular-total or hybrid solar eclipse. From the…

  • Happy Star Wars Day!

    Extra: Check out some of the Star Wars fan films that indicate the big corporations are not the only ones with ideas. Star Wars is for everyone. The Last Padawan 2 | A Short Star Wars Story ODYSSEY: A Star Wars Story  SHADOW OF THE REPUBLIC – Star Wars Short Film KENOBI – A Star…

  • Space Stories: Russia Sticks with ISS, Czechs Join Artemis Accords, and China Plans for Sample Return from Far Side of Moon

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Phys.org: “Russia Will Use International Space Station ‘Until 2028’” Russia said Wednesday it planned to use the International Space Station until 2028, an apparent reversal of an earlier announcement to quit the orbiting laboratory after 2024. On Wednesday, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, said Moscow’s…

  • Evening Skies: First Satellites, and Now Wind Turbines

    Earth-bound astronomers have another force to contend with these days – wind turbines. Yes, the efforts to reduce carbon emissions is increase light emissions around the globe. Why can’t anything be easy? The Wall Street Journal recently noted that the lights added to wind turbines to make them visible to airplanes is causing light pollution…

  • Space Quote: A Human-Made Sandstorm

    “The debris is really just basically sand and rock, so it’s not toxic at all or anything…It’s just like a sandstorm, essentially. Basically a human-made sandstorm. But we don’t want to do that again.” –Statement by SpaceX’s Elon Musk last Saturday regarding the April 20th launch of the Starship and the debris it scattered for…

  • Movie: Dune, Part Two Trailer Available

    If you are a fan of Frank Herbert’s series Dune, as well as the 2021 film version of the first book directed by Denis Villeneuve, then you will be pleased to see the latest trailer for the second part of the film. It does not give too much away to those who do not already…

  • Happy Astronomy Day!

    Today is National Astronomy Day (also called International Astronomy Day). You still have time to look to the heavens if you have yet to do so. The Farmer’s Almanac has this to say about the day: This “holiday” was created in 1973 by California astronomer Doug Berger. During the first observance, Berger set up telescopes…

  • Second Pic of the Week: The UAE’s Amal Spacecraft Orbiting Mars

    I should have used the image above as the Pic of the Week yesterday. The image was captured by the United Arab Emerates’ (UEA) Amal spacecraft orbiting Mars. It shows the Red Planet as well as one of its moons – Deimos. The spacecraft came as close as 62 miles from the moon. In a…

  • Pic of the Week: The Jellyfish Galaxy

    This week’s image is from the Hubble Space Telescope. You are looking at JO204, also called the “jellyfish galaxy” because of its tendrils. It is about 600 million light-years away. It is an impressive sight. Here is a little more on the galaxy from NASA: While the delicate ribbons of gas beneath JO204 may look…