As you read this, an asteroid has already whizzed past Earth, coming close at a distance a little more than the moon’s. From the Register’s report: An asteroid half a mile long will fly past the earth tomorrow morning, missing us by an astronomical hair’s breadth of half a million kilometres or so. The asteroid,Continue reading “On an Asteroid Near-Miss”
Category Archives: Astronomy
On an Asteroid Strike
A year ago former Astronaut Russell Schweickart called on Congress to fund a mission to study whether or not Asteroid 2004 MN4 will strike the Earth in 2029 by placing a radio transponder on the asteroid for more precise measurements of its orbit. Now it’s thought that the asteroid has a better chance of strikingContinue reading “On an Asteroid Strike”
On Pluto's New Moons
Pluto, that distant planet at the edge of the solar system, so far that the Sun appears as little more than an ordinary star, has been revealed to have two new moons, in addition to the previously discovered Charon. [U]sing images from the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Southwest Research Institute andContinue reading “On Pluto's New Moons”
On Photographing Area 51
Doubtless this will be of no interest to anyone but myself, but I found this article interesting. In 1974 astronauts aboard the Skylab space station, in taking photographs of Earth from orbit, photographed something they should not have photographed — the Air Force base at Groom Lake, Nevada, better known to conspiracy nuts as AreaContinue reading “On Photographing Area 51”
On Seeing Things From Mars
I came across this remarkable astronomical photograph today–a conjunction of Earth and Jupiter as seen from Mars. Jupiter, as seen from Mars, presents a disc, and quite a large one–no mere point of light, Jupiter, no. Earth, on the other hand, shows phases, much as the Moon, Venus, and Mercury show phases when seen fromContinue reading “On Seeing Things From Mars”
On Saturn's Rings
New pictures from the Cassini mission show how truly strange Saturn’s rings are. The rings as seen in pictures taken by the Voyager mission twenty-five years ago have changed somewhat–features have moved or disappeared–and new structures in the rings have been noted. Go! Look! Marvel!
On the Ptolemaic System
I mentioned a week ago, perhaps a little more, that I an idea struck: tell a story set in a universe where the Ptolemaic system were true, where Earth was the center of the universe around which everything–moon, sun, planets, stars–revolved. A silly idea, true. I realized, though, that I really didn’t know quite howContinue reading “On the Ptolemaic System”
On the Summer Moon
Expect to see a super-sized Moon this week. From NASA’s webpage on the subject: Step outside any evening at sunset and look around. You’ll see a giant moon rising in the east. It looks like Earth’s moon, round and cratered; the Man in the Moon is in his usual place. But something’s wrong. This fullContinue reading “On the Summer Moon”
On Hoag's Object
No real text to share, just a nice collection of images of Hoag’s Object, a ring-galaxy some six hundred million light-years distant. Amazing stuff.
On the Solar System
Two noteworthy events around the Solar System these past few days. First, Voyager 1 has passed into interstellar space. I remember as a child watching television and seeing the Voyager photos of Jupiter and Saturn. News bulletins interrupting afternoon programming. That was a great time to be alive, to be young, to have dreams. AndContinue reading “On the Solar System”