• Pic of the Week: Dead Comet From Halloween Past

    This spooky image of a dead comet was captured 10 years ago, but it still serves this purpose this time of year. It passed the Earth on Halloween evening that year at a distance of about 302,000 miles. Here is more from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Scientists observing asteroid 2015 TB145 with NASA’s Infrared Telescope…

  • Highlights from the 2025 International Mars Society Convention

    If you were unable to attend the 2025 International Mars Society Convention earlier this month in California, you can still get a taste of the event. The Mars Society has posted a one-hour video with highlights from the various presentations listed below: Dr. Robert Zubrin, Mars Society Founder & President – An abbreviated version of…

  • Astronomy Question: Star Trek and Founding Species

    Multiple Choice: In the television series Star Trek, which of the following was not a founding species of the United Federation of Planets, a collection of governments based on universal liberty and equality? A. VulcansB. AndoriansC. TellaritesD. Betazoids Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the “Astronomy Question Answer Sheet” page.

  • Space Stories: Space Observatory in Need of Rescue, Alien Comet Activates Earth Defense, and Japan Sends Cargo to the ISS

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —KJZZ Phoenix: “Flagstaff-based Company Wins $30M Contract for NASA Space Rescue Mission“ A Flagstaff-based space company has won a $30 million contract to raise the orbit of a space-based NASA observatory next year before it can drop uncontrolled back into Earth’s atmosphere. NASA officials say they are in…

  • RIP: June Lockhart, Actress

    Actress June Lockhart passed away last Thursday at the age of 100. She had a storied career in both movies and television, including the 1960s television shows Lassie and Lost in Space. Lost in Space was a somewhat silly story about the Robinson family migrating from an overpopulated Earth to a exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri.…

  • Space Quote: Don’t Damage Discovery

    ”The Smithsonian estimates that transporting Discovery from Virginia to Houston could cost more than $50 million, with another $325 million needed for planning, exhibit reconstruction, and new facilities. These costs far exceed the $85 million appropriated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, P.L. 119-21. Dedicating hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to move an…

  • Study Findings: A Less Terrifying Universe? Mundanity as an Explanation for the Fermi Paradox

    Abstract of the pre-publication study findings: Applying a principle of “radical mundanity”, this paper examines explanations for the lack of strong evidence for the presence of technology-using extraterrestrial civilizations (ETCs) in the Galaxy – the Fermi paradox. With this principle, the prospect that the Galaxy contains a modest number of civilizations is preferred, where none have…

  • Pic of the Week: Cat’s Paw Nebula

    This week’s image highlights a NASA poster that you can download (in a variety of versions). It shows the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Here is a short summary of what you are seeing from NASA: Located approximately 4,000 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, the…

  • A Day in Astronomy: Letter to General Secretary Brezhnev

    The U.S. has plenty of issues regarding the pace of its space programs in the face of Chinese achievements, as noted multiple times in posts on this site. We should not see this as anything new. U.S. politicians and citizens had plenty of similar complaints during the space race with the USSR, and we also…

  • Space Stories: Earth’s Second Moon, Organic Molecules on Enceladus, and Mysterious Gullies on Mars

    Here are some recent space-related stories of interest. —The Economic Times: “NASA Confirms Earth Has a Second Moon, And It Will Stay With Us Until 2083“ Earth has received a new cosmic partner, a small asteroid designated as 2025 PN7. NASA confirmed this week that the object, initially found by the University of Hawaii, qualifies as…