• A Day in Astronomy: The First Human in Outer Space

    On this day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into outer space. He was launched into orbit aboard the Soviet Vostok 1 spacecraft. He orbited the Earth for 108 minutes before landing in Kazakstan. He did not come down in the capsule, but instead landed separately using a parachute. Yuri Gagarin…

  • In Case You Missed It: Farming on Mars

    Back in a November 2020 article, Science News discussed the difficulties of farming on Mars, noting it was not as easy as Matt Damon’s character made it seem in the film The Martian. In fact, toxins discovered in the Martian soil has proven that growing potatoes with a bit of man-made manure is not possible.…

  • Space Quote: Space Cowboys or Space Tourists?

    “We are not space tourists.” – Statement by Michael López-Alegría who traveled as a private citizen (and former NASA astronaut) to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday as part of SpaceX’s AX-1 mission. Why does this remind me of the statement “I am not a crook”? Mr. López-Alegría leads the mission carrying three wealthy…

  • Most Distant Galaxy on Record

    Just recently I posted about the discovery of the farthest star. Well, now astronomers have spotted the farthest galaxy. The Harvard Gazette reports that a galaxy named HD1 appears to be about 13.5 billion light-years away and may contain the universe’s first stars or even the earliest black hole discovered to date. The contents of…

  • Prepare for Thousands More LEO Satellites

    Watch out SpaceX, Amazon is getting into the Internet satellite business as well. More importantly, beware astronomers and orbiting spacecraft, because the skies are going to be really crazy, and China has not even started with its massive program. This week, Amazon announced plans to more forward with Project Kuiper, which will involve about 83…

  • Pic of the Week: Final Acts of a Monster Star

    This week’s photo is from the Hubble Space Telescope. It shows the “puffing dust bubbles and an erupting gas shell,” or nebula, surrounding the monster star AG Carinae. Here is the rest of the story from the European Space Agency (ESA) Hubble site: This giant star is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to…

  • A Day In Astronomy: The Launch of the Mars Odyssey

    On this day in 2001, NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter was launched towards Mars to map and search the Red Planet for water. The mission itself took its name from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Mars Odyssey successfully discovered Martian water. Project Scientist Jeffrey Plaut of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads…

  • Space Quote: Good Feelings in Orbit

    “They were, are and will continue to be very dear friends of mine. We support each other throughout everything. And I never had any concerns about my ability to continue working with them – very good professionals and technically competent and wonderful human beings.” -NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who returned to Earth from the…

  • Where is the International Space Station?

    If you are standing outside in your yard looking for the International Space Station (ISS) at dawn or dusk (which is necessary to see the sun’s reflection on the station), this NASA site called Spot the Station may help. The site provides a global tracking map created by the European Space Agency (ESA) showing the…

  • A Liquid Lense? Ideas for Future Telescopes

    NASA has an interesting story about the development of liquid lenses for space telescopes. It’s a fascinating idea as we watch the slow assembly of the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) 18-part mirror. This new approach, which could increase a telescope’s size 100 fold, will be tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Edward Balaban,…