• Tatooine-like Exoplanet Spotted by Astronomers

    With the Star Wars series Andor back for a second season, it is only appropriate that astronomers believe they found a Tatooine-like exoplanet. You may remember Tatooine as the planet where Luke Skywalker spent his youth. The exoplanet is located about 120 light-years away and orbits two brown dwarfs (also called failed stars because they…

  • Musk Gives Up His Day Job

    Elon Musk has decided to step away from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after watching his reputation crater, his car company falter, and his rockets litter the Caribbean. Plus he damaged NASA, the space agency that funds his company SpaceX. Maybe he finally realized that a plumber has no business pretending to be brain…

  • Pic of the Week: Happy Birthday Hubble!

    This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. It was launched on April 24, 1990 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The telescope was expected to have a service life of 35 years, though it is still going strong with various proposals to update the telescope and keep it operating for years to…

  • A Day in Astronomy: Launch of Ranger 4 Lunar Probe

    On this day in 1962, the United States launched the Ranger 4 lunar probe from Cape Canaveral. Its mission was to photograph the lunar surface, place scientific equipment on the Moon, and perform other tests before crashing into the surface of the Moon. A computer glitch caused the probe to crash on the far side…

  • Space Stories: Safe Return of Astronaut & Cosmonauts from ISS, Resupply of ISS Successful, and Continuing Concerns About ISS Risks

    Here are some recent stories of interest related to the International Space Station (ISS). —ABC News: “Capsule with 1 American, 2 Russians returns to Earth from International Space Station“ A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Sunday in Kazakhstan, ending their seven-month research assignment. According to Russian space…

  • Study Findings: Four Sub-Earth Planets Orbiting Barnard’s Star from MAROON-X and ESPRESSO

    The Astrophysical Journal Letters abstract of the study findings: Barnard’s Star is an old, single M dwarf star that comprises the second-closest extrasolar system. It has a long history of claimed planet detections from both radial velocities and astrometry. However, none of these claimed detections have so far withstood further scrutiny. Continuing this story, extreme precision radial…

  • Television: Season Two of Andor

    Finally, after two and a half years, Star Wars: Andor is returning to Disney+. The second season, premiering on April 22, will also be the final season, but that’s okay. I am just glad it’s back. The season two trailer is all you need to become invested in what is the best of the Star…

  • Podcast: The Curious Universe

    If you are looking for new podcast material, you may want to check out NASA’s Curious Universe podcast. It has been around for a while, but it is starting a new series celebrating Earth from April 15 to May 13. The first episode in the new Earth series is titled “How NASA Sees Our Blue…

  • Have We Detected Life on an Exoplanet?

    The news is filled this week with a story about possible life on a distant exoplanet? What did scientists find? The exoplanet is named K2-18b, and it orbits a red star that is about 124 light-years away. It is also about 2.6 times larger than the Earth and 8.6 times as massive. Scientists using data…

  • Pic of the Week: The Starburst Galaxy

    This week’s image is from the Hubble Space Telescope. It was shared on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Week website last month. The sparkling galaxy, Messier 94, is about 15 million light-years away. Here is NASA’s description of what you are seeing above: Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant…