This Week in Astronomy History: April 26 – May 2
Photo: The opening day ceremony of the Goddard Space Flight Center on March 16, 1961 | NASA – Great Images in NASA Description May 1, 1959: Goddard Space Flight Center […]
Read More
This Week in Astronomy History: March 29 – April 4
Photo: A mosaic of Mercury images taken by the Mariner 10 spacecraft during its approach on March 29, 1974 | NASA March 29, 1974: Mariner 10 becomes the first space […]
Read More
Deep Space Spotlight: NGC 1365, the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy
Photo: NGC 1365, aka the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy | ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team NGC 1365 is an enormous, visually-stunning spiral galaxy located in the […]
Read More
How to View the Opposition of Mars | The Red Planet at its Biggest and Brightest
Photo: An artist’s rendition of Mars in proximity to Earth | Getty Images Mars is reaching full opposition on October 13, 2020, when it will be biggest and brightest in […]
Read More
Olympus Mons | The Biggest Hotspot in the Solar System
Photo: a computer-generated view of Olympus Mons | Dreksler Astral Mars, our closest planetary neighbor, is cool for a ton of reasons—it’s named after the Roman god of war, it’s […]
Read More
View From Mars Hill: The Owl Cluster
Photo: the Clark Dome | Raymond Dake Photography By Kevin Schindler In the opening scene of the 1963 epic comedy film, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Jimmy Durante’s […]
Read More
Celebrating the 2020 Fall Equinox
Photo: The rising Sun, as seen through the Fall Equinox horizon marker at the Giovale Open Deck Observatory. What is an equinox? An equinox is the moment at which which […]
Read More
How to View the Opposition of Saturn | The Ringed Planet at its Biggest & Brightest
Photo: Sanborn/Neugent/Lowell Discovery Telescope/NSF By Madison Mooney Just as Jupiter did on the evening of July 13 and into the morning of July 14, Saturn will appear at its biggest […]
Read More
Astronomy Is for Everyone | National Astronomy Day 2020
By Madison Mooney National Astronomy Day was started in 1973 by Doug Berger, the president of the Astronomical Association of Northern California at the time. Originally, the day was celebrated […]
Read More
How to View the Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower
Photo: An Eta Aquarid meteor streaks over northern Georgia on 29 April 2012. Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/B. Cooke By Madison Mooney The Eta Aquarid (also spelled Eta Aquariid) meteor shower is […]
Read More
Don’t Worry, a Giant Asteroid Isn’t Going to Hit Earth
Photo: A Doppler radar image of asteroid 1998 OR2, Arecibo Observatory/NASA/NSF By Madison Mooney There’s a lot going on in the world right now, but you can rest easy knowing […]
Read More
How to Observe the Super Pink Moon
By Madison Mooney The biggest supermoon of 2020, known as a Super Pink Moon, will occur on April 7. However, the “super” and “pink” features of this particular Moon will […]
Read More