Space and astronomy news
Trisat-R’s innovative camera pioneering a new technology in space caught a unique view of our home world.
It isn’t much to look at. To be sure, we’ve seen better views of our home planet. But what if I told you it was taken with a tiny camera… only 2-millimeters across?
Continue reading “Trisat-R’s 2-mm Camera Took This Picture of the Earth From 6,000 Km Away”
An old refractor telescope sees a second life under the night skies, thanks to the efforts of a dedicated amateur observer.
It’s always great to see classic telescopes back out under the night skies. We recently found out about a fascinating project to restore a century old refracting telescope. The project was undertaken by Valts Treibergs, a Minnesota Astronomical Society member. Valts is an engineer, telescope restorer, and long-time amateur astronomer.
Continue reading “Amateur Astronomer Restores a Classic Historic Refractor”
NASA’s Lucy mission hits the jackpot on its very first asteroid flyby earlier this week.
Welcome to Dinkinesh. NASA’s Lucy mission flew past its first target of Wednesday, November 1st, and turned up a surprise: 152830 Dinkinesh (meaning ‘marvelous’ in the Amharic language) is not one asteroid, but two (!)
Continue reading “Lucy Completes its First Flyby… and Discovers a Bonus Asteroid”
Discovered early this year, Comet C/2023 H2 Lemmon may approach naked eye brightness this month.
A comet discovered earlier this year is performing above expectations, and is currently well-placed in the dusk sky. We’re talking about Comet C/2023 H2 Lemmon, moving up the charts now at magnitude +8 and brightening.
Continue reading “Comet H2 Lemmon Brightens in Early November Ahead of Expectations”A slender partial lunar eclipse bookends the final eclipse season of 2023.
Checking out the October Hunter’s Full Moon this coming weekend? This Full Moon is also special, as it features the final eclipse of 2023. The eclipse is a partial lunar, and occurs on the night of Saturday/Sunday, October 28th/29th.
Continue reading “Catch a ‘Pac-Man’ Partial Lunar Eclipse for Europe and Africa This Weekend”
Will Comet 2/P Encke and the Taurid meteors ‘trick’ or ‘treat’ observers this year?
October and November are always great months to watch for meteors, and 2023 is no exception. This year provides a special reason to be vigilant, as the source of the infamous November Taurid Fireballs Comet 2P Encke reaches perihelion for 2023 on October 22nd, at 0.34 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun.
Continue reading “Comet Encke and the Halloween Fireballs of 2023”
Don’t miss the final solar eclipse of the year: a striking ‘ring of fire’ annular solar eclipse.
If skies are clear, observers across a swath of the western United States, Mexico, and Central and South America are in for a treat this coming Saturday, October 14th, as the antumbral shadow of the Moon crosses the Earth in a fine ‘ring of fire’ annular solar eclipse.
Continue reading “Ring of Fire: Catching This Weekend’s ‘Great North American Annular Solar Eclipse’”
Researchers look to track and mitigate the growing number of space junk objects around the Moon.
It’s getting crowded up there. An increase in military, commercial and scientific launches, coupled with a lower cost for rideshare cubesat launches, means lots more space junk to deal with in coming years. And we’re not just talking about low Earth orbit; the Moon and cis-lunar (near lunar space) is about to become busy as well.
Continue reading “It’s Time to Start Worrying About Space Junk Around the Moon, Too”
A new project promises to ‘bring back the magic’ to night sky observing.
When it comes to deep sky observing versus portability, we’ve all been there. How do you balance the trade-off between big complicated optics, with something basic and simple to use? We’ll make a small confession: while big light bucket optics have their place in astronomy, only binoculars give you a true view of the sky.
Continue reading “Introducing Magic: Analog Sky’s New 3D Printed Binoculars for Astronomy”
Catch periodic cosmic interloper 103P Hartley while you can.
Periodic comets are like old friends, back for a visit. We have a get together with just such a denizen of the cometary league, as Comet 103P Hartley makes a favorable apparition in late 2023.
Continue reading “Follow the Fall 2023 Return of Comet 103P Hartley”