Category Archives: Astronomy

What If Earth Had Rings Like Saturn’s?

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Conrad Halling

YouTube video author T0R0YD (Roy Prol) envisions what the Earth would look like if it had rings like Saturn’s rings. This delightful video shows what the rings would look like from various cities at different latitudes. There are questions that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | Leave a comment

Voyager Spacecraft Approach Interstellar Space

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Conrad Halling

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1977, continue to coast outwards from the sun, and both spacecraft are approaching interstellar space. The boundary of interstellar space is defined as the point beyond which the solar wind gives way to stellar … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Technology | Leave a comment

Randy Halverson: Night Timelapse Videos

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Conrad Halling

Take a look at Randy Halverson’s astonishingly beautiful timelapse videos of the night sky. Thanks to Phil Plait’s post on his Bad Astronomy web site.  

Posted in Astronomy | Leave a comment

Supermoon

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Conrad Halling

Tonight’s full moon has been hyped in the past few days by the ignorant press as a supermoon, a full moon that occurs when the moon is near its closest approach to the Earth (perigee). The term supermoon, coined by an … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | Leave a comment

Fossil Bacteria in a Meteorite?

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Conrad Halling

Richard B. Hoover of the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, has published a paper in the Journal of Cosmology claiming that he has identified fossil bacteria in a meteorite. Is this claim true? Phil Plait, an astronomer who blogs at … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Biology | Leave a comment

“Space is big. Very, very big.”

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Conrad Halling

Most people don’t have a good feel for how far apart things are in space. Bad Astronomy has an interesting post that helps put things in perspective. I doubt human beings will ever travel to another star. They’re just too … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | Leave a comment

Once Every 823 Years

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Conrad Halling

Occasionally I see something like this on Facebook: This year July has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. This happens once every 823 years. This is not true. Our calendar runs on a cycle (which used to be printed … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | Leave a comment