David Dickinson, Author at Universe Today

May 12, 2022May 13, 2022 by David Dickinson

Our Complete Guide to This Weekend’s Total Lunar Eclipse

Becke eclipse — A mosaic of the # total lunar eclipse. Image credit and copyright: Christopher Becke.

Don’t miss one of the top astronomical events for 2022: Sunday night’s total lunar eclipse.

The first eclipse season of 2022 reaches its climax this coming weekend, with a fine total lunar eclipse transpiring on Sunday night into Monday morning. All of South America and most of North America will see the eclipse in its entirety, while Alaska and western Canada will see totality underway at moonrise, and western Europe will see the reverse at moonset near dawn.

April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 by David Dickinson

A Partial Solar Eclipse Kicks Off the First Eclipse Season of 2022

A remote solar eclipse this coming weekend sets us up for the first total lunar eclipse of 2022.

The first eclipse season for 2022 is nigh. About twice a year, the two nodes where the Moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic align and an eclipse season occurs, book-ended by one each solar and lunar eclipses spaced about two weeks apart.

April 21, 2022April 21, 2022 by David Dickinson

Chinese Astronomers Recorded Earliest Account of Aurora

How dating an ancient text revealed one of the oldest observations of aurora known.

It’s one of the greatest sky spectacles you can witness. Along with a total solar eclipse and a major meteor storm, I’d put a fine aurora display up there as one of the the most amazing things you can see in the night sky. And we’re not talking about the dull green glow that folks in the ‘lower 48’ see to the north and dismiss, but the glorious silent streamers of auroral curtains that can light up the entire sky.

Now, a recent study, entitled A Candidate Auroral Report in the Bamboo Annals Indicating a Possible Extreme Space Weather Event in the 10^th Century BCE may have pinpointed one of the earliest accounts on ancient aurorae. In the study, University of Pennsylvania and Nagoya University researchers culled through the legendary chronicle known as the Bamboo Annals (also sometimes referred to as Zhushu Jinian) penned around the 4^th century BCE. Chinese texts are some of the best documented sources of sky phenomena stretching back over the millennia, to include accounts of naked eye sunspots, supernovae and meteor outbursts.

April 14, 2022April 14, 2022 by David Dickinson

Apollo 11 Moon Dust Sells at Auction for a Cool Half Million

A lunar moon dust sample with a strange history made its way to the auction block yesterday.

On July 20, 1969, NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the landing pad of the Eagle lunar lander and into history. About eight minutes afterwards, Armstrong performed a crucial task, and collected a small ‘contingency sample’ of the Sea of Tranquility landing site. The sample was a small assurance that, in the event of a hasty departure—due to say, a malfunction or landing site instability—they did indeed still manage to retrieve the very first lunar material for return to Earth.

April 6, 2022April 6, 2022 by David Dickinson

BluShift Aerospace Tests MAREVL Engine, Eyes Move to Kennedy Space Center

MARVEL Test — bluShift runs a full-scale test of its MARVL engine. Credit: bluShift Aerospace

With the first test of its MAREVL Engine complete, Maine’s space launch startup bluShift Aerospace looks to expand operations.

Move over, SpaceX, RocketLab and Astra. A new space launch startup is looking to get into the small satellite launch business. bluShift Aerospace based out of Brunswick, Maine, recently completed a test of its full-scale (Modular Adaptable Rocket Engine for Vehicle Launch (MAREVL) at its Brunswick site, ahead of a launch of its Starless Rogue rocket, possibly as early as late this year.

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022 by David Dickinson

ESA’s Solar Orbiter Takes a Ludicrously High Resolution Image of the Sun

An artists concept of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft studying the Sun. Credit: ESA.

The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter snaps an amazing image, en route to its first close pass near the Sun.

You’ve never seen the Sun like this. Earlier this month, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter captured an amazing view of our host star.

The images were snapped on March 7^th, as Solar Orbiter passed directly between the Earth and the Sun. There was an explicit reason for this, as the science team wanted to calibrate and compare the images with Earth-based and missions in Earth orbit, to include the Inouye solar observatory, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and the joint ESA/NASA Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), located at the Lagrange (L1) Sun-Earth point.

March 23, 2022March 23, 2022 by David Dickinson

U.S. Space Force CHPS to Patrol Around the Moon

An innovative new network CHPS may control space traffic around the Moon.

As human activity extends outward into the solar system, we’ll need a way to keep track of space junk, and the growing number of missions around the Moon and beyond.

Recently, the newly-formed U.S. Space Force announced plans to create CHPS, the Cis-lunar Highway Patrol System. Despite an acronym harking back to a certain cheesy TV series in the 1970s, CHPS will provide a serious look at space traffic further out in orbit around the Earth-Moon system. Such a network is vital, as private companies and space agencies are set to return to the Moon in a big way in the coming decade.

February 23, 2022February 23, 2022 by David Dickinson

Gaia Finds Ancient Satellite Galaxy Pontus Embedded in Milky Way

Artist's impression of the ESA's Gaia Observatory. Credit: ESA

A recent study looked at stellar streams hidden in Gaia data, to uncover evidence of an ancient remnant dubbed Pontus.

Our home galaxy the Milky Way is a monster with a ravenous past. In its estimated 12 billion years of existence, our galaxy has swallowed smaller satellite galaxies whole, with collisions resulting in massive rounds of star formation. We see threads of these remnant mergers as streams of stars and clusters, strung out around the Milky Way.

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022 by David Dickinson

UAE’s Mars Hope Team Publishes ‘Mars Atlas’

The United Arab Emirates Space Agency releases a unique comprehensive Mars Atlas of the Red Planet.

You have never seen Mars like this. Recently, the New York University of Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) released an 88-page look at Red Planet, dubbed The Atlas of Mars. The Atlas is free online, and uses spectacular imagery taken from the United Arab Emirates Space Agency’s ambitious Mars Hope mission.

February 2, 2022February 2, 2022 by David Dickinson

Tiny NEA Scout Solar Sail Mission to Chase Asteroid

NEA Scout will hitch a ride to an asteroid on the Artemis 1 Moon mission.

Tucked away on the long-awaited, historic launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) this April is a small, shoebox-sized mission mission that with use an innovative solar sail technology, to chase down a school-bus sized asteroid.