Just like last month, this will be another very eventful month when it comes to astronomical events. There will be a meteor shower, two eclipses and a conjunction. First of all, on the night of May 4 and 5 the Eta Aquarids meteor shower will peak. The Eta Aquarids is an above average shower, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. Continue reading
The X-37B is an unmanned space test vehicle for the United States Air Force, based on NASA’s original X-37 design. It is a lot smaller than the Space Shuttle and is launched via an Atlas V booster. The first test flight was in April 2010, followed by a second test flight in March 2011. Here are the basic facts of the X-37B robotic space plane: Continue reading
Space waste, space junk, orbital debris…whatever you call this orbiting mass of objects, they are a big issue. Space waste doesn’t just make earth’s orbital corridors look untidy, it poses a very real threat to the future of space exploration and our way of life. Continue reading
This month will be quite eventful and will have many interesting astronomical events. First of all, on April 14 we will witness the conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter. The Moon will appear to pass about two degrees of the giant planet Jupiter in the evening sky. Continue reading
Hoping to beat the Americans to the moon before 1970, Soviet rocket engineer Sergey Korolyov worked in secret to plan the mighty N-1, an equal to the American Saturn V booster. In 1966 however, the sudden death of Korolyov threw Soviet plans into disarray. Continue reading
This month will be the best time to see Mercury. Usually the planet is very hard to observe because it orbits very close to the sun and it can only be seen at dawn and dusk. However on the evening of February 8, Mercury will be seen within less than 0.4 degrees of the much-fainter planet, Mars. Continue reading
Begun in 1998 with the launch of the first component from Russia, the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) is the most complex space project ever undertaken. At $100 billion it is in fact the single most expensive object ever built. Continue reading
On the night of January 3 and 4 the Quadrantids meteor shower will peak. It is an above average shower, with up to 40 meteors per hour at the peak. Some meteors can be visible from January 1 – 5. Unfortunately the near last quarter moon will hide many of the fainter meteors with its glare. Continue reading
The Hubble Telescope provides a humbling reminder of our cosmic insignificance, while the advanced satellite imagery of our own planet oddly scales back our own perceived discovery and settlement of lands. With that, the latest release of imagery from NASA provides one of the most detailed and stunning visuals of Earth – all of Earth – at night. Continue reading
On December 3 Jupiter was at Opposition. The giant planet was at its closest approach to Earth and its was fully illuminated by the Sun. Jupiter will still be very bright in the sky for the next few weeks. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and its moons. Continue reading
