Bob King

See Venus at Her Most Ravishing

Venus is HUGE right now but oh-so-skinny as it approaches inferior conjunction on August 15. Like crescents? You'll never see a…

9 years ago

Kick Back, Look Up, We’re In For a GREAT Perseid Meteor Shower

Every year in mid-August, Earth plows headlong into the debris left behind by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Slamming into our atmosphere at 130,000…

9 years ago

Kirk, Spock and Sulu Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before — Charon!

A big smile. That was my reaction to seeing the names of Uhura, Spock, Kirk and Sulu on the latest…

9 years ago

The Resplendent Inflexibility of the Rainbow

Children often ask simple questions that make you wonder if you really understand your subject.  An young acquaintance of mine…

9 years ago

T-Minus 12 Days to Perihelion, Rosetta’s Comet Up Close and in 3D

With just 12 days before Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reaches perihelion, we get a look at recent images and results released by the…

9 years ago

Pluto’s Moons Nix and Hydra Get Real / New Pluto Mountain Range Discovered

Of course they've always been real worlds. They just never looked that way. We've only known of their existence since…

9 years ago

Three-tailed Comet Q1 PanSTARRS Lights Up Southern Skies

Call it the comet that squeaked by most northern skywatchers. Comet C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS barely made an appearance at dawn in…

9 years ago

New Horizons Phones Home, Flyby a Success

Watch Pluto grow in this series of photos taken during New Horizons' approach Whew! We're out of the woods. On schedule…

9 years ago

Pluto – Just Look at the Detail!

We did it! At 7:49 a.m. EDT today New Horizons made history when it zoomed within 7,800 miles of Pluto, the most…

9 years ago

Pluto’s Time to Shine Just Hours Away – A Guide and Timetable

Countdown to discovery! Not since Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune in 1989 have we flung a probe into the frozen…

9 years ago