• Space Stories: Ancient Water, Nearby Black Hole, and a Lunar Time Zone

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —European Southern Observatory: “Astronomers Find Missing Link for Water in the Solar System“ Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected gaseous water in the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. This water carries a chemical signature that explains the journey of water from star-forming gas…

  • Where is This? March 7, 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.

  • Television: The Mandalorian Returns for a Third Season

    On March 1, season three of Disney’s The Mandalorian premiered. It was action-packed throughout. We had plenty of time with the main Mandalorian, Din Djar, as well as his sidekick, Baby Yoda, now known as Grogu. But if you were somewhat confused to see the two together again after the ending of season two, you…

  • Study Findings: Framework for the Architecture of Exoplanetary Systems

    Astronomy and Astrophysics abstract: We present a novel, model-independent framework for studying the architecture of an exoplanetary system at the system level. This framework allows us to characterise, quantify, and classify the architecture of an individual planetary system. Our aim in this endeavour is to generate a systematic method to study the arrangement and distribution…

  • Podcast: A Canadian Rover on the Moon

    I am recommending another episode from The Planetary Society’s podcast Planetary Radio. In the episode, The Canadian Lunar Rover with Peter Visscher, we get to learn more about Canada’s plans to place a rover on the Moon. The interview is with Peter Visscher, Director of Canadensys West, which is building the rover after receiving a contract from Canadian…

  • Space Quote: UAE Celebrates its Role in ISS Mission

    “I join the nation in congratulating Sultan al-Neyadi as he begins his pioneering mission aboard the International Space Station. His inspiring achievement is a source of great pride to the UAE and another milestone in the journey of our nation and the ambitions of our people.“ –Statement by United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin…

  • Pic of the Week: Crew-6 Mission to the ISS

    This week’s image shows the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule awaiting the launch of the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station. The rocket launched at 12:34 a.m. EST today from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can read more about the successful launch here.

  • Space Stories: SpaceX ISS Launch, Israeli Space Telescope, and Japanese Asteroid Results

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Reuters News: “SpaceX Ready to Retry Launching NASA’s Next Space Station Crew“ Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX was ready to try again at sending NASA’s next long-duration crew of the International Space Station to orbit on Thursday, about 72 hours after a first attempt was scrubbed due to a…

  • Space Mission: IBEX is Not Communicating with NASA

    NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is having some problems. On February 18, the IBEX flight computer reset itself and placed the spacecraft into contingency mode. This is not good for it ongoing mission to map the boundary of our solar system. The spacecraft’s system should do a full reset again in a few days, so NASA…

  • Traffic Delays: SpaceX Aborts Crewed Mission to ISS

    Today’s SpaceX launch of a four-man crew to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed. Just three minutes before the planned launch of the Crew-6 mission, designed to carry astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and Emerati astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, SpaceX experienced  a problem with the engine igniter fluid. The…