The solar eclipse that took place this morning, June 10, 2021, was an annular eclipse in some parts of the world - notably Greenland and parts of northeastern Canada. There, the Sun was blocked by a Moon slightly farther away from us than average, such that it appeared just too small to cover the entire…Read more Partial Solar Eclipse, MD
Astronomy
Seven Minutes of Terror
With any luck, it all happens tomorrow!! Perseverance and its little stowaway helicopter, Ingenuity, land at Jezero Crater, on the surface of Mars! I know a lot of people are discussing this right now, but after my post a week or so ago discussing the orbital mechanics of a Mars mission, and why launch windows…Read more Seven Minutes of Terror
Interplanetary Superhighway (Math, Geometry, and Mars Missions)
Let's say you've got nothing else going on, and you decide to launch a mission to Mars, as you do. Technically, assuming you had the rocket and the launch pad and the range clearance, the time and money, etc, you could do that tomorrow some time. BUT, this is a little like Steven Wright's assertion…Read more Interplanetary Superhighway (Math, Geometry, and Mars Missions)
A Worthy Comet
Pictures of Comet NEOWISE are all over the place these days, and with good reason. It has been putting on a surprisingly good appearance over the past week, with a beautiful tail, and for a while even breaking the naked-eye-visibility barrier. The phrase "best comet since Hale-Bopp in '97" seems to be floating around among…Read more A Worthy Comet
Mars and the Moon
This morning, the Moon passed in front of the planet Mars. My view of the event from the east coast of the US was entirely daylight, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to resolve anything. I was up around 6:30am, and the sky was mostly clear. I stepped out on the back deck and…Read more Mars and the Moon
Watch the Moon Block Mars – Feb 18, 2020
I've been meaning to write about this for a while now, but things keep me busy, as they do, and now it's almost too late, because this event happens TOMORROW AT DAWN!! Tomorrow, the Moon will slide directly between Earth and the planet Mars, causing an eclipse, of sorts. This type of event is called…Read more Watch the Moon Block Mars – Feb 18, 2020
Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betel….
There's something amiss in the night sky these days. The evening is going well - I'm sitting by a crackling fire that I just used to clean a Dutch oven from our last trip out. (Something I actually neglected for about a week, just because I kept forgetting about it. I've learned that burnt molasses…Read more Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betel….
Midnight Sun
I recently returned from a vacation in Iceland. I spent a week just south of the Arctic Circle, one week after the summer solstice. There's a lot to talk about following such an amazing trip (and I will), but having recently written about dark skies, I thought a lot about the almost-24-hour daylight we…Read more Midnight Sun
Dark Skies
"The Lorax", by Dr. Seuss, is a cautionary tale of environmentalism, one in which all resources (truffula trees) are completely consumed to make consumer products ("You Need A Thneed!"). The landscape, devoid of trees, becomes a barren wasteland, no longer suitable for life. It's a classic tale, a metaphor for human excess and a call…Read more Dark Skies
Opposition (Astronomy, Week of 6/16/19)
Happy Father's Day all! A least to all the fathers out there. I haven't been sharing any astronomical thoughts for a while, as I've been too busy being a dad, myself. But despite my lack of writing, I've consistently been looking up. Enough to notice that Mars has slipped away and almost disappeared into the…Read more Opposition (Astronomy, Week of 6/16/19)
Inspiration From An Interplanetary Snowman
Back on New Year's Day, 2019, the world got its first glimpses of MU69, a tiny rock orbiting our Sun almost a billion miles farther out than Pluto, in the heart of the Kuiper Belt. This rock represented our first up-close look at such a distant solar system object. Though it dwells in the same…Read more Inspiration From An Interplanetary Snowman
Super (Cold) Blood Wolf Moon
Cold, and windy, but mostly clear - just some high cirrus passing by every once in a while to give the Moon a hazy halo. I tried to capture a timelapse of the whole event - that's being processed and hopefully comes out well. In the meantime, here's a montage of the eclipse as viewed…Read more Super (Cold) Blood Wolf Moon
Lunar-tic
Tonight's the night! The much-hyped Super Blood Wolf Moon (aka total lunar eclipse, in January, while the Moon is at perigee) is visible tonight from both Americas. Western viewers get to see it in the evening, while Eastern viewers have to stay up a little later, but see totality when the Moon is at its…Read more Lunar-tic
Mars and Venus
I've been trying all week to get this written - and by using this title I don't mean to raise any men vs. women / war vs. love discussions. Not even a suggestion that the two stereotypes are reversed (Mars is a desert, but perhaps still harbors life? Venus is more of the raging acid-hot…Read more Mars and Venus
Post-Launch Pics, Antares/Cygnus NG CRS-10
I actually paid attention to my alarm clock and got up at 3:30 am on Saturday morning. It was a cloudless night, and perfect conditions for NASA to launch a resupply mission to the ISS. I posted an update to my original Friday night post on the pending launch - but for those normal people…Read more Post-Launch Pics, Antares/Cygnus NG CRS-10
Flying Squirrel Outdoors 