29.01.10: A Failed Vision: Where does the U.S. Space Program go from here?

By now, everyone in the astro-blogosphere has heard the bad news concerning the Constellation program. No Ares. No Mars. No permanent presence on the Moon. This week’s announcement of Congress failing to provide funding for the future manned space program comes as a tremendous blow to all who work in and follow the space industry. [...]

AstroEvent: A Very Looong Annular Eclipse!

          One of the more unique celestial events on the calendar for 2010 occurs on Friday, January 15th; an annular eclipse of the Sun, and the longest for the millennium! An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon is at or near apogee (its most distant point from the Earth) and/or the Earth is at [...]

Event of the Week: A New England Occultation.

 Lunar occultations are always cool events; now you see a star or planet, now you don’t. The way they “wink in” and “wink out” with an improbable abruptness reminds us of the colossal velocity of the Moon about our planet. But beyond being just plain cool, they also still have scientific value; close double stars have [...]

2009: The Year in Science Fiction and the Look Ahead.

The isolation depicted in Moon. (Credit: Sony Pictures).

2009 was an interesting year in the realm of science fiction. Sure, we had our predictable, (and sometimes regrettable) run of video games and toys turned into a two hour special effects gags, but some indie and foreign flicks made minor inroads into our sci-fi consciousness. The SyFy channel [...]

Top Astronomy Events for 2010.

Ah, it’s that most hallowed time of year yet again; a time to look ahead at what astro- wonders await in 2010. Here’s a quick month-by-month rundown of the curious, unique and bizarre coming to a sky near you. Like last year, rather than bore you with a laundry list of every obscure wide [...]

Event of the Week: Happy Winter Solstice!

Brace yourselves; the Winter Solstice is upon us this week. This is the point at which the Sun reaches its lowest southerly declination and begins its long march northward. This makes for shortened days and long nights in the northern hemisphere and the reverse in the southern. Of course, its not the Sun that’s moving, [...]

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