Harvest Moon 2010!
Hello again, astro-nuts! I wanted to write a quick blurb about the full moon tonight. It won't be just another monthly full moon, however. This month's full moon is actually the 2010 "Harvest Moon"....
View ArticleSaturn's Southern Lights
Happy rainy Monday, astro-nuts! Before the clouds moved in this past weekend, I had the opportunity to see Jupiter and Venus in the sky at the same time. It didn't last long of course, as Venus now...
View ArticleSpace Tours To Begin Next Year
Hello, astro-nuts! Looks like the rain has gone away for now, but clear skies are not in the cards this week, especially for those of us along the eastern coast of the U.S. as Tropical Storm Nicole...
View ArticleExoplanet Found In "Habitable Zone"
Hello, astro-nuts! Some exciting news to share with you today! I read last night about a new Earth-like exoplanet being discovered that lies within the "habitable zone" of its star, Gliese 581. The...
View ArticleSputnik Beeps and Hartley Visits a Queen
Hello, astro-nuts! Welcome to October! This month is going to be full of interesting astronomical events, so stay tuned! The Astronomy Video for this coming week is about Algol, the eclipsing binary...
View ArticleOptimus Prime at Kennedy Space Center
Hello, astro-nuts! Those of you who are fans of Transformers (whether its the movies, the robot toys or the cool cartoon) might like to know that Transformers 3 is filming at Kennedy Space Center...
View ArticleVenus Express Update
Hello, astro-nuts! Venus Express, which was launched by ESA back in 2005, has been studying the atmosphere of Venus from different levels within it, as well as from its highly elliptical orbit. During...
View ArticleExistence of Gliese 581 'f' and 'g' Questioned
Hello, astro-nuts! Lots of interesting tidbits for you today, including news about asteroids, the Gliese 581 system, and even Etsy.com! The astronomy video is new today and talks about Comet Hartley...
View ArticleClose Encounters of the Comet Kind
Hello, astro-nuts! It is rather cloudy today here in central PA but its looking like things will improve over the next day or so, just in time for our "close" encounter with Comet Hartley. More on the...
View ArticleUseable Water on The Moon?
Hello, astro-nuts! The weather, as well as the Moon, have been less than ideal for observing Comet Hartley this week, but I hope that some of you have had the chance to see it. I'll be taking a look...
View ArticleSpace Tourism And Climate Change?
Hello, astro-nuts! This week isn't looking too great for observing across much of the country...plenty of active weather keeping the clouds around! I saw an interesting story about a concern over the...
View ArticleHartley-Ids?
Hello, astro-nuts! I'm looking forward to high pressure getting into the Midwest and eastern areas of the country going into the weekend, meaning many places should have improved stargazing...
View ArticleAsteroid 2003 UV11 To Pass Within 1.2 Million Miles of Earth
Hello, astro-nuts! Just a quick "heads up": Asteroid 2003 UV11 will be flying past Earth Friday night, within "just" 1.2 million miles of us. The rock itself is nearly 2000 feet across, so if you have...
View ArticleDiscovery Launch Delayed Until Tuesday
Hey there, astro-nuts! Just a quick update on Discovery--the launch has been delayed until Tuesday, November 2nd at 4:17pm EDT. The cause of the delay was helium and nitrogen leaks in the...
View ArticleDiscovery Launch on Track For Wednesday
Hello, astro-nuts! As many of you have heard by now, the final launch of space shuttle Discovery has been delayed (again) until Wednesday at 3:52pm EDT, so I'll have some more details about that...
View ArticleAnother Delay For Discovery
Hello, astro-nuts! Unfortunately, it looks like the Discovery launch is delayed yet again. This time the problem is an electrical glitch in the circuitry associated with a backup main engine computer....
View ArticleEPOXI To Meet Up With Comet Hartley 2 Today
Hello, astro-nuts! EPOXI, Meet Comet Hartley! Yesterday, mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) sent final instructions to the EPOXI mission before its close approach to Comet...
View ArticleChange Your Clocks!
Hello, astro-nuts! Fall Back! Don't forget to change your clocks back one hour Sunday morning! Daylight Saving Time ends at 2am Sunday...which gives you either an extra hour of sleep or an extra hour...
View ArticleComet Outbursts and Meteor Showers
Hello, astro-nuts! I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that, based on observational data from astronomer Carl Hergenrother and other video meteor observers indicates that we do not...
View ArticleExploding Comets and Smiling Crescents
Hello, astro-nuts! It now appears that newly discovered comet Ikeya-Murakami (C/2010 V1) is going through an outburst; I'll have more details on that, as well as some interesting information about the...
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