My mind to yours: thoughts about astronomy, space, and the world of science.
In my last entry, I talked about how NASA was floating a weird proposal. In essence, the agency wanted to change the New Horizons mission from a Kuiper Belt explorer to doing solely heliophysics. This, while the spacecraft is still in the Kuiper Belt, exploring this largely unexplored part of the Solar System. Oh, and Continue reading New Horizons May Be Safe For Now The post New Horizons May Be…
Over on Universe Today, I wrote in April about how NASA s proposed plans for New Horizons seem just a little bit inexplicable. I wanted to share my opinion here about the whole thing. Basically, the Science Mission Directorate is thinking about stopping planetary science using this spacecraft and turning it into a heliophysics mission. Not Continue reading Doing WHAT with New Horizons, NASA? The…
On the heels of that amazingly successful Artemis-1 launch to the Moon, the JWST teams have just dropped an amazing image of a protostar. It s an infrared view of the object L1527, which is a dark cloud of gas and dust with a future star just starting to form inside. As you look at the Continue reading JWST Catches a Protostar in the Act The post JWST Catches a Protostar in the Act appeared first…
Last week, Nichelle Nichols died. Her son announced her passing in a lovely tribute to both her career and the recent discoveries made by the JWST. Nichelle was an inspiration to so many people through the years. I remember the first time I saw Star Trek and saw her as an officer of a starship, Continue reading Hailing Frequencies Closed The post Hailing Frequencies Closed appeared first on The…
Back in the before times (i.e. before the pandemic and all the shutdowns), I offered stargazing and astronomy lectures onboard cruise ships. I had a lot of fun doing talks and showing people from all over the world how to look at the stars. As with other groups of people, the folks I sailed with Continue reading Pandemic Didn t Stop Our Love of the Stars The post Pandemic Didn t Stop Our Love of…