Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

What is the Perfect Gift for Every Space Enthusiast? The Year in Space Calendar 2018!

What is the most wonderful time of the year? In my opinion, it is when the new Year In Space Calendars come out! This is our most-recommended holiday gift every year and whether it’s the gigantic wall calendar or the spiral-bound desk calendar, the 2018 versions don’t disappoint. They are full of wonderful color images, daily space facts, and historical references. These calendars even show you where you can look in the sky for all the best astronomical sights.

These calendars are the perfect gift every space enthusiast will enjoy all year.

The 2018 Year in Space Wall Calendar. Courtesy Steve Cariddi.

The gorgeous wall calendar has over 120 crisp color images and is larger, more lavishly illustrated, and packed with more information than any other space-themed wall calendar. It’s a huge 16 x 22 inches when hanging up.

The Year In Space calendars take you on a year-long guided tour of the Universe, providing in-depth info on human space flight, planetary exploration, and deep sky wonders. You’ll even see Universe Today featured in these calendars 🙂

The Year in Space calendars normally sell for $19.95, but Universe Today readers can buy the calendar for only $14.95 or less, with additional discounts that appear during checkout if you buy more than 1 copy at a time. Check out all the details here.

A close look at the 2018 Year in Space Wall Calendar. Courtesy Steve Cariddi.

Other features of the Year In Space calendar:
– Background info and fun facts
– A sky summary of where to find naked-eye planets
– Space history dates
– Major holidays (U.S. and Canada)
– Daily Moon phases
– A mini-biography of famous astronomer, scientist, or astronaut each month

The spiral bound desk calendar. Image courtesy Steve Cariddi.

The 136-Page Desk Calendar is available at a similar discounts. The desk calendar also includes a Monthly Sky Summary, which is a handy month-by-month list of what’s visible in the night sky, such as conjunctions, meteor showers, eclipses, planet visibility, and more. Plus there’s information on planetary exploration, including a comprehensive look at what to expect from the many planetary missions taking place in the year ahead.

Preview the calendars on the Year In Space website, where you can also get a direct link to Amazon. Because all shipping is handled through Amazon this year, currently calendars can only ship to US addresses.

Posted on by Nancy Graziano

Universe Today’s 2015 Holiday Gift Giving Guide for the Space and Astronomy Fan

Happy Holidays everyone!

Yes, it’s that time of year again when everyone struggles with what gifts to buy their family and friends for their holiday-of-choice. Whether you are hoping to foster a love of space and science in a young child, or want to surprise that special adult “Super Space Nerd,” we here at Universe Today are here to help our readers out with ideas and recommendations to fit virtually any budget, experience level, and area of interest, including telescopes, books, and other items that the “space/science geek” in your life would love to receive!
Continue reading “Universe Today’s 2015 Holiday Gift Giving Guide for the Space and Astronomy Fan”

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast Ep. 396: Family Astronomy for the Holidays

Every year, it’s the same dilemma: what gift should you get for the super space nerd in the family? And if someone has a budding interest in space and astronomy, what can you do to feed their hunger for knowledge? Today we’ll talk telescopes, books and planispheres. Everything you need to avoid a holiday gift disaster.

Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 396: Family Astronomy for the Holidays”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Space: The Last Minute Holiday Gift Idea Frontier

I’m a last minute shopper, and luckily there are a lot of spacey gifts and greetings that you can still take advantage of. For example in the greeting card department, the Hubble Holiday Cards are fabulous, with loads of imagery from everyone’s favorite space telescope — such as the one above — that can be printed out and sent as cards, or it’s easy to nab one of their holiday greeting images to send via email, as I have done in the past! If you are looking for e-greeting cards, the European Space Agency has a great collection of images that can be sent to anyone in your email list.

What else?

Here’s a great deal and a way to support astronomy around the world: Astronomers Without Borders have recently added some great astronomy gear and goodies to their store for the holidays — and it’s a win-win situation for everyone, as many of these items are donations from manufacturers who support AWB, so they get 100% of proceeds!

If you aren’t familiar with AWB, they help support astronomy programs around the world, supplying resources and support for astronomy outreach. So, whether you’re buying a gift for someone else or for yourself, you can feel great about a purchase from the AWB store knowing it will be supporting great astronomy programs.

Hubble Star Cards are gorgeous, large playing cards for any age, now available in a high-quality, stunningly beautiful printed card set.

The cards are a just a bit larger than a normal card deck, at 3 inches by 5×5 inches, so the beautiful Hubble images are bigger and better. They sell for $24.95, but Universe Today readers can get 15% off using UNIVERSE as a coupon code. Check them out at the Hubblestarcards.com website.

The game includes 60 cards categorized by planets, planetary nebulae, supernovae remnants, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies, and possible games include War, Go Fish, Sorting, Distances and Matching. Although targeted for students 8 and older, preschoolers have played many of the games just by using the amazing imagery as a guide.

Also, we’ve been promoting the Year in Space 2013 Wall Calendars, and they truly are fabulous. The Wall Calendar was recently named “Science Geek Gift of the Year” over at Alan Boyle’s MSNBC’s Cosmic Log, — where you can see some other gift ideas.

As a special bonus, Universe Today readers pay only $12.95 per copy (or less), with free U.S. shipping and discounted International shipping. Again, visit Year in Space 2013 Wall Calendars,

While you are probably past the date for shipments on any of the above merchandise arriving before Christmas, a little preview of what is on the way could be placed in a stocking.