• Time to Think About Christmas Shopping

    With Thanksgiving behind us and Black Friday here, it is time to start thinking about that star-gazing person in your life. Fortunately, The Planetary Society is already sharing some gift ideas, including the Astronaut Space Pack Water Blaster (shown above) for the smaller Earth-bound people in your life. Or maybe the Constellations Rocks Glass (shown…

  • Pic of the Week: Thanksgiving on the ISS

    This week’s image shows the four US astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) showing their Thanksgiving meal to all of us (contained in the white plastic bags). The astronauts pictured (clockwise from bottom left) are Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Don Pettit. You also watch a video where they share their holiday…

  • Podcast: Neil deGrasse Tyson in the Hot Seat

    Last week’s Real Time with Bill Maher included an interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, which did not go very well given the line of questioning. Mr. Maher was trying to entrap Dr. Tyson into some anti-woke politics, but he did not play along. With all the topics Dr. Tyson could address on the show,…

  • Space Quote: A Rolls Royce on the Moon?

    “We believe once governments and the Artemis missions have re-established human presence on the moon, commercial services will follow that…every operation on the moon will require power”. -Statement by Jake Thompson, director of novel nuclear and special projects at Rolls-Royce, in a Financial Times article. Rolls Royce is working on a micro nuclear reactor for…

  • Martian Space Stories: Ocean Shoreline Located, Rings Turned to Moons, and Ancient Liquid Water

    Here are some recent stories on Mars. —Earth.com: “China’s Mars Zhurong Rover Finds an Ocean Shoreline on the Red Planet“ The Chinese Mars rover Zhurong is adding an exciting twist to the story and history of water on Mars. After landing in southern Utopia Planitia on Mars in May 2021, the now-defunct Zhurong rover went to…

  • ISS Successfully Resupplied by Russian Mission

    The International Space Station (ISS) had another visitor on Saturday morning – this time a Russian Soyuz capsule bringing about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the station as part of its Progress MS-29 mission (Progress 90 mission to NASA). The Russian News Agency provided a list of items delivered to the ISS…

  • The Planetary Society’s Best of 2024

    As the year rolls to a close, it’s time to think about the most interesting space moments of 2024. With that in mind, The Planetary Society is happy to help by providing images and events from the year that you can rank as the best of the year. To participate in the 2024 survey, just…

  • Sixth Test of the Starship and More

    The sixth test of SpaceX’s Starship was a success this past Tuesday, even without the repeated stunt of a tower capturing the booster rocket. The launch from the Starbase pad in Brownsville, Texas allowed SpaceX to test additional features related to the rocket, including igniting one of its Raptor engines while in space. Overall, it…

  • Pic of the Week: Collision in the Coma Galaxy Cluster

    This week’ image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. It captures the interplay between two galaxies in what is called MCG+05-31-045 that is part of the Coma galaxy cluster. These two galaxies are about 390 million light-years away. Here is more on the image from NASA: The Coma Cluster is a particularly rich cluster…

  • A Day in Astronomy: The Birth of Edwin Hubble

    On this day in 1889, Edwin Powell Hubble was born in Marshfield, Missouri. He would go on to become an important astronomer who found that the “nebulae” in his time were actually galaxies far beyond our Milky Way. He also determined that the galaxies were moving away from one another, indicating an expanding universe. Of…