Though 2 percent of astronomers declared Pluto was no longer a planet, for not being a planet, it sure has a lot of moons.   Four so far. The Hubble Space Telescope discovered this fourth moon,…

Last month, Pluto passed in front of a star and cast a small shadow on the Earth - astronomers from Lowell Observatory were among the scientists and crew who observed the rare occultation event from…

Fact #1: There will be a solar event in the next five years that wipes out the electrical grid for the US. Fact #2: Solar and space weather prediction is about as accurate as hurricane predictions--…

There were concerns among people who don't understand physics that the LHC might create a black hole and swallow the Earth.    Obviously in an infinite Universe anything can happen but the…

   Tomorrow, that is.  On July 12th, 2011, Neptune will have completed exactly one orbit around the Sun since it was discovered on September 23rd, 1846.  So,  Happy Birthday…

I'm always a bit disappointed with myself when I find out that there's been a space mission that I didn't know about. But I was really annoyed with myself for not keeping up with MESSENGER (a…

"To her who appears in the skyto her who appears in the skyI want to address my greetingto the hierodule who appears in the skyI want to address my greetingto the great queen of heaven, Inanna […

Looking back at over 2 years of writing, this column has covered a lot of ground.  Here's a topical index as proof. Topical Index (from Feb 2009, current to June 15th, 2011) Science Fiction…

According to an astrophysicist at UC Santa Barbara, 'zombie' stars may be a way to measure dark energy.   Type Ia supernovae are stars that have been observed since 1054 A.D., when an exploding…

A quasar named ULAS J1120+0641, powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, is by far the brightest object yet discovered in the early Universe - yet.  Quasars are…