I thought, seriously, of blowing my paycheck on a reflecting telescope. A couple of us had gone to Sam’s Club on our lunch break. One of the writers in the department needed to pick up some bulk food for a Christmas party. We wandered the cavernous building, and I felt somewhat exposed and endangered; IContinue reading “On Telescopes and Temptation”
Category Archives: Astronomy
On Carl Sagan’s Birthday
The Writer’s Almanac tells me that today, the 9th of November, is Carl Sagan’s birthday. He would have been seventy-five. Said Garrison Keillor of Sagan this morning: “[He] published a number of books that helped regular people understand ideas about the universe, including Dragons of Eden: Speculations of the Evolution of Human Intelligence (1977), whichContinue reading “On Carl Sagan’s Birthday”
On Lunar Exploration
An image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has just been released. It’s of the Apollo 17 landing site. The last place where man set foot on the moon. You can see the descent module sitting on the surface, and the American flag. Very nifty!
On Carl Sagan’s “A Glorious Dawn”
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” “The sky calls to us; if we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars.” For someone who watched Cosmos at a young age and had his life shaped by it, this video is reallyContinue reading “On Carl Sagan’s “A Glorious Dawn””
On Space Bat
We must take a moment to salute a true hero, Space Bat. On March 19th, a bat affixed himself to the space shuttle Discovery and took off into space. It was, sadly, also his last flight into space. A tribute video to a true space pioneer: And a memorial website in tribute to Space Bat.Continue reading “On Space Bat”
On Stephen Colbert’s Orbital Victory
For the record, I love UK news sources. They’re not afraid to call a spade a spade. As in this article, about NASA’s recent online voting to name a new component of the International Space Station. “An American comedian has embarassed Nasa, the US space agency,” the article begins. And that comedian is Stephen Colbert.Continue reading “On Stephen Colbert’s Orbital Victory”
On Galileo’s Birthday
Four hundred and forty-five years ago today, Galileo was born. One of the leading scientists of the early modern period, Galileo pioneered the use of the telescope, championed the Copernican heliocentric system, and was considered the father of modern science. I received a few days ago a NASA press release 2009 has been namedContinue reading “On Galileo’s Birthday”
On the Universe We Live In
Sometimes, I really wish I could live to see the world three billion years hence. Okay, I take that back. It’s not just sometimes. I wish that all the time. In three billion years, give or take a few hundred million years, astronomers believe that the Milky Way, our home galaxy, and M-31, better knownContinue reading “On the Universe We Live In”
On Apollo 8
Forty years ago today, Apollo 8 orbited the moon. It was the first time that a manned spacecraft entered orbit around another celestial body. Her crew — Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders — were the first humans to witness an earthrise across the lunar horizon, and they took a famous photograph of theContinue reading “On Apollo 8”
On Reflecting on the Wisdom of Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan died twelve years ago today. Last year, I participated in Joel Schlosberg‘s second Carl Sagan blog-a-thon. The idea was simple — bloggers the world over would write a few words about Sagan and his importance on their life and the world we inhabit. Last year, I wrote about my discovery of Sagan’s work,Continue reading “On Reflecting on the Wisdom of Carl Sagan”