• A Day in Astronomy: The Start of the Pluto Mission

    On this day in 2006, NASA launched the New Horizons spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The objective of the mission was to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. In 2015, the spacecraft spent six months studying Pluto and its moons. New Horizons is now on an extended mission exploring other parts of the Kuiper…

  • Space Stories: The End of Geotail, a Galactic Map, and Sweden Gets a Spaceport

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —NASA: “NASA’s Geotail Mission Operations Come to an End After 30 Years“ After 30 years in orbit, mission operations for the joint NASA-JAXA Geotail spacecraft have ended, after the failure of the spacecraft’s remaining data recorder. Since its launch on July 24, 1992, Geotail orbited Earth, gathering an immense…

  • Final Update to my Top Astronomy Stories in 2022

    I cannot let January end without making one update to my “Top Astronomy Stories in 2022” list. I really need to add Hulu’s The Orville: New Horizons as number 11 on the list. The third season has been much more polished and enjoyable than the first two. After jumping to Hulu and renaming itself, the…

  • Television: SyFy’s New Series The Ark

    If you are looking for a new space series beyond the Star Trek and Star Wars iterations, then SyFy’s The Ark may be for you. Premiering February 1st, it has all of the necessary elements: a long space mission, something going wrong, everyone’s fate hanging in the balance, and a heroic effort saving the day.…

  • Exoplanet TOI-700e Could Sustain Life

    The search for another Earth continues, and a professor from Michigan State may have found a perfect candidate. Joey Rodriguez, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, was working with researchers involved with NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) when the discovery was made. Since being launched in 2018, the TESS spacecraft…

  • Space Quote: More From Uncle Sam on UFOs (or UAPs)

    “Since the publication of the ODNI preliminary assessment in June 2021, UAP reporting has increased, partially due to a concentrated effort to destigmatize the topic of UAP and instead recognize the potential risks that it poses as both a safety of flight hazard and potential adversarial activity. Whereas there were previously 144 UAP reports covered…

  • Another Rocket Setback, This Time in Alaska

    Virgin orbit is not the only rocket company having a bad week. CNN reports that on Tuesday U.S. rocket company ABL Space Systems ran problems off the Alaska coast when its RS1 rocket shut down prematurely during its maiden launch. The rocket and the two satellites it was carrying were lost. It was a bad…

  • Pic of the Week: An Icelandic Saga

    This week’s image is from Mashable’s 24 Stunning Astronomy Photographs that will Take You to Infinity and Beyond. The photo, titled “An Icelandic Saga,” is from photographer Carl Gallagher. Here is a little more about the photo: The photographer went on a nine-day, 2500-mile road trip, chasing gaps in the clouds, to capture the Aurora…

  • Space Stories: JWST Confirms Earth-Size Exoplanet, Russia Sending Rescue Mission to ISS, and IO Erupts

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —Webb Space Telescope: “NASA’s Webb Confirms Its First Exoplanet“ Researchers confirmed an exoplanet, a planet that orbits another star, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope for the first time. Formally classified as LHS 475 b, the planet is almost exactly the same size as our own, clocking in at…

  • Virgin Orbit Experiences a Setback

    It was supposed to be the beginning of rocket launches from the England, but we will have to wait a little longer. While Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl, the 747 carrying the LauncherOne rocket, successfully left Spaceport Cornwall, the launch itself from the belly of the plane did not go as planned. Both the rocket and…