Dear Friends, My apologies for such a long time since my last e-mail, but this one can’t wait: You should go out TONIGHT (or over the next couple of nights) and see Comet Holmes. It’s easily visible in the Northern hemisphere almost all night long. My kids and I just went out and saw it […]
Dear Friends, Much to astronomers’ surprise, a faint comet — Comet McNaught — discovered a few months ago is rapidly brightening, and I’m now told that it is easily visible with binoculars and possibly even to the naked eye in early evening and pre-dawn skies if your observing conditions are favorable. The observing is best […]
Dear Friends, A quick update on things going on in space. In this e-mail: Thoughts on Pluto Dark Matter Still Dark Lunar Impact Max books donation update Best wishes, Jeff 1. Thoughts on Pluto. Many of you have been asking me what I think of the new definitions that demote Pluto and create a new […]
Dear Friends, My apologies for the long time since my last space news update — I got a little busy! Lots going on; here’s the contents for this e-mail: 1. Boulder/Denver-area folks: This Saturday (4/29) is CU Astronomy Day – FREE! 2. Life on Enceladus? 3. New Horizons en route to Pluto 4. MRO in […]
Dear Friends, Lots of news in astronomy, so it’s time for one of my occasional updates. But before I begin, I’d like to invite those of you in the Denver area to come to my official “launch” of Max Goes to Mars, this Wednesday at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science: Date: Wednesday, October […]
Welcome to the latest installment of my space science e-mail. A lot has been happening in astronomy lately — enough to keep textbook writers like myself scrambling to keep up with it! I don’t have enough time right now to cover all of it in one e-mail, so some news items will have to wait […]
Dear Friends, How fast can you run a 10K? Last night, NASA’s Deep Impact mission was “running” slightly more than 10 kilometers toward Comet Tempel 1 every single second. And then it crashed into the comet, just as planned, igniting what was almost certainly the biggest July 4 fireworks display in the solar system. Some […]
Dear Friends: A great and easy skywatching opportunity this weekend: Shortly after sunset each evening, the planets Mercury, Venus, and Saturn will appear VERY close together in the sky — on Saturday evening, they’ll be so close that you could cover them all with your thumb at arm’s length, and then they’ll be even closer […]
1. SAVING HUBBLE: Since my last e-mail, Mike Griffin has been appointed and confirmed by Congress as the new Administrator of NASA. I don’t know him personally, but from everything I’ve read he seems like an outstanding choice who might really be able to get NASA out of its current doldrums. As readers of these […]
My apologies for violating my usual rule of sending e-mails only on rare occasions, but this is just too exciting for anyone to miss: The Huygens probe landed successfully on Titan this morning! Check out the “raw images” already posted at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html. Scientists are only just beginning to try to understand what we are seeing, […]
