Astronomy

How Did We Find the Distance to the Sun?

How far is the Sun? It seems as if one could hardly ask a more straightforward question. Yet this very…

10 years ago

Finding Lovejoy: How to Follow the Path of Comet 2014 Q2 Through January

Have you seen the amazing pics? A bright comet graces evening skies this month, assuring that 2015 is already on…

10 years ago

Rogue Star HIP 85605 on Collision Course with our Solar System, but Earthlings Need Not Worry

It's known as HIP 85605, one of two stars that make up a binary in the Hercules constellation roughly 16…

10 years ago

2015 Expected to be a Record-Breaking Year for Soyuz-2 Workhorse

2014 was a banner year for the Russian Space Agency, with a record-setting fourteen launches of the next generation unmanned…

10 years ago

Will You Float Away on Jan. 4th? Nope!

When I first heard we were all going to float in the air at 9:47 a.m. PST on January 4th,…

10 years ago

Moonlight Is a Many-Splendored Thing

"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" goes the song. But the color and appearance of the Moon depends upon the particular set…

10 years ago

10 Space Science Stories to Watch in 2015

A new Avengers movie. A reboot of the Star Wars franchise. The final installment of the Hunger Games. The Martian…

10 years ago

End the Year with a Bang! See a Bright Supernova in Virgo

A 14th magnitude supernova discovered in the spiral galaxy NGC 4666 earlier this month has recently brightened to 11th magnitude, making…

10 years ago

Work Those Quads: Our Guide to the 2015 Quadrantid Meteors

Quick… what’s the only major meteor shower named after a defunct constellation?  If you said the January Quadrantids, you’d be…

10 years ago