David Dickinson
Remembering the Great Meteor Procession of 1860
“Year of meteors! Brooding year!” -Walt Whitman July 20th is a red letter date in space history. Apollo 11, the…
Water-Trapped Worlds Possible Around Red Dwarf Stars?
Hunters of alien life may have a new and unsuspected niche to scout out. A recent paper submitted by Associate…
Seeing Red: Hunting Herschel’s Garnet Star
Quick, what’s the reddest star visible to the naked eye? Depending on your sky conditions, your answer may well be…
How to Spot and Track Satellites
It’s a question we get all the time. Watch the sky closely in the dawn or dusk hours, and you’ll…
Conjunctions to Watch For in July
The planets are slowly returning into view this month, bashfully peeking out from behind the Sun in the dawn &…
Happy (or is it Merry?) Aphelion This Friday
This 4th of July weekend brings us one more reason to celebrate. On July 5th at approximately 11:00 AM EDT/15:00…
How Amateur Astronomers Can Help LADEE
You can help NASA’s upcoming lunar mission. NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is slated to lift off from…
Searching for Pluto: A Guide to the 2013 Opposition Season
So you’ve seen all of the classic naked eye planets. Maybe you’ve even seen fleet-footed Mercury as it reached greatest…
Did a Piece of Mir Really Land in Massachusetts?
We love a good space debris mystery. Hey, who doesn't, right? Regular readers of Universe Today know that it’s a…
Will Comet ISON Dazzle our Skies? An Expert Weighs In
Comets are the big “question marks” of observational astronomy. Some, such as Comet Hyakutake and the Great Daylight Comet of…