• Astronomy Question: The Speed of Voyager 1

    Multiple Choice: How long will it take Voyager 1 to travel one light year at its current speed? A. 5,000 yearsB. 18,000 yearsC. 23,000 years Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the “Astronomy Question Answer Sheet” page.

  • Space Stories: Questions About Orion, NASA’s Impact on Economy, and a New Crew for the Chinese Space Station

    Here are some recent stories of interest. —ARSTechnica: “For Some Reason, NASA is Treating Orion’s Heat Shield Problems as a Secret“ For those who follow NASA’s human spaceflight program, when the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield cracked and chipped away during atmospheric reentry on the unpiloted Artemis I test flight in late 2022, what caused it became…

  • Television: “Dune: Prophecy” is Almost Here

    If you have yet to see the latest trailer for the upcoming HBO Max series Dune: Prophesy, I recommend you take a look. It provides plenty of information on the battle to come starting November 17th. The initial images are impressive, though it does not appear we will have the out-of-this-world music we experienced with…

  • Videos: The Odds of Life Elsewhere in the Universe

    Earlier today, a new Cool Worlds video was posted to Youtube titled “The Odds of Life – THIS CHANGED MY MIND.” Its an interesting piece narrated by Professor David Kipping regarding whether life is common in the universe. You will see that Professor Kipping is excited to share his results as he walks you through…

  • Troublesome Space Company News

    It was not a good week for the US space industry. One major US space company is looking to exit the business while the head of another US space company is holding secret talks with Putin. In the first case, Boeing’s bleak finances may be pushing it to consider the sale of its space business,…

  • Space Quote: Musk Would Need to Divest From SpaceX to Become a Government Efficiency Commissioner

    “A reasonable individual can look at a situation such as that of a very wealthy individual who has government contracts coming into the government where he would be put in a position where he could influence current and future contracts and regulations of his businesses.” -Statement by John P. Pelissero, the director of government ethics…

  • Pic of the Week: The Dance of R Aquarii

    This week’s image is from the Hubble Space Telescope. It shows a brilliant pattern in the sky about 700 light-years away. It is the product of an odd dance between two symbiotic stars, one red and the other white. Here is more information about the image from the Hubblesite: Located approximately 700 light-years away, a…

  • ISS Crew-8 Will be Back on Earth Friday

    The International Space Station’s (ISS) Crew-8 has departed the station. NASA astronauts Matt Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, undocked from the station today at 5:05 PM ET. They are now traveling towards Earth in a Dragon capsule and should be back on solid ground Friday morning. Everyone…

  • Television: Will We See a Murderbot Television Series?

    I am a big fan of Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries, having read all seven in the series and looking forward to the eighth. So I was pleased to read late last year that the series will be coming to television. If you are not familiar with the series, the best way to describe it…

  • A Day in Astronomy: The Birth of Ursula Le Guin

    On this day in 1929, Ursula K. Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California. She would gain her masters degree in French only to later become a well known author of many fantasy and science fiction stories, including the Earthsea series and stories set in a Hainish universe of her making. She would go on…