• More on those Chinese Balloons

    The Chinese balloons that causes so much trouble a few months back appear to be nothing new, according to recently leaked Pentagon documents. The Chinese have been using them for years to spy on American military positions. And on closer inspection, the contraption being carried by these balloons looks a lot like a normal satellite,…

  • Television: Fired on Mars

    A new series is coming to HBO Max on April 20th. The series, Fired on Mars, is described as an “Existential workplace comedy set on the Martian campus of a modern tech company.” It stars Pete Davidson. It’s animated. And HBO Max seems to be doing the bare minimum to advertise it. Or, more to…

  • The Juice Mission has Started

    Earlier today, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice)  mission successfully launched from French Guiana. It is the start of a long trip to the Jovian planet and its moons. The spacecraft will not reach Jupiter until July 2031. You can watch of video of the launch here. ESA has numerous other…

  • Pic of the Week: Runaway Black Hole

    This week’s image is an illustration showing what scientists believe the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has detected, though it initially showed as only a smudge. The dramatic illustration tells a fascinating story, as described by NASA’s Hubblesite There’s an invisible monster on the loose, barreling through intergalactic space so fast that if it were in…

  • Space Stories: Sagan as Scripture, Chinese Lunar Plans, and Outer Space in NYC

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Gizmodo.com: “New NASA Official Took Her Oath of Office on Carl Sagan’s ‘Pale Blue Dot’” When Dr. Makenzie Lystrup was sworn in as the new director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center last week, she didn’t take her oath of office on the Bible or the U.S. Constitution, but rather on…

  • If You Thought the Skies Were Crowded, Just Wait

    The Washington Post recently published a story, “China’s military aims to launch 13,000 satellites to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink,” that can only terrify astronomers here on Earth trying to view the stars. The title says it all – the space race continues to clutter the skies with more and more low-Earth satellites broadcasting back to…

  • Movies: The Return of Star Wars Films

    While The Mandalorian and Andor have does a nice job filling in the gap between Star Wars movies, three new film projects are now in the works. But we are not looking at another trilogy, or a trilogy of trilogies. Instead, the three films with three different directors will cover different periods in the Star…

  • Volunteers Wanted to Help Classify Stars

    The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for amateur astronomers to assist with its review of data from its Gaia Mission. What is the Gaia Mission you ask? The ESA site explains this and much more: The mission was launched in late 2013 and now lies some 1.5 million km from Earth. With its two…

  • Where is This? April 8, 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: The Value of the ISS

    “An attempt to do a cost-benefit analysis on ISS science would be rather difficult. Science research rarely conforms to that kind of examination while it’s being done. Only after the fact, when an entrepreneur rolls out some new product or service, can one point to something done in a laboratory as having helped to make…