ISS Transiting the Moon – Courtesy Andrew McCarthy on X @AJamesMcCarthy On December 4th, 1998, Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off carrying some very special cargo: Unity, the first U.S.-built module of what would become the International Space Station. Two days later, NASA astronaut Nancy Currie skillfully maneuvered the shuttle’s Canadarm to capture Russia’s already-orbiting ZaryaContinueContinue reading “December 2025 – Occupy Space”
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October 2025 – Lions and Comets and Bears, OH MY!
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) as captured 9/24/2025 by Dimitrios Katevainis, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Nearly every evening, the Steward Observatory’s 60-inch Cassegrain reflector takes thousands of photos, the same as it has for almost two decades. From their perch atop Mount Lemmon at over 9,100 feet of elevation, just a few miles north of Tucson, Arizona,ContinueContinue reading “October 2025 – Lions and Comets and Bears, OH MY!”
September 2025 – In the Shadow of Titan
Titan shadow on Saturn, Hubble Space Telescope, Courtesy NASA. It seems that discoveries across the Universe are announced almost daily. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, has been a workhorse in this effort, capturing and analyzing light in multiple wavelengths to probe the unknown. A growing suite of other instrumentsContinueContinue reading “September 2025 – In the Shadow of Titan”
May 2025 – Life In The Cosmos
Mars 10-02-2020, courtesy Prescott Astronomy Club member Joel Cohen. Humans have likely always looked at the sky and wondered if we are alone in the universe. From the classical Roman god messenger Mercury to the angelic hosts of the Abrahamic religions, ancient belief systems often referred to Gods and other visitors as omnipotent beings capableContinueContinue reading “May 2025 – Life In The Cosmos”
The Backyard Astronomer – March 2025 – An “Edgy” Perspective
By Adam England, The Backyard Astronomer Stuck on Earth, we essentially get one viewpoint of the cosmos. From a nearly fixed location in the universe, it doesn’t seem like other objects move very much, apart from the “wanderers”, as coined by the Greeks with the term “planētēs,” or planets. Due to the tilt of theContinueContinue reading “The Backyard Astronomer – March 2025 – An “Edgy” Perspective”
February 2025 – Planetary Alignments
“The planets are aligned for the first and last time in 396 billion years!” Well, not quite. Headlines like the above have become common click-bait in the last few weeks, as most of our solar system’s planets have been visible in the night skies throughout this Winter. Enjoying this sight from our terrestrial vantage point,ContinueContinue reading “February 2025 – Planetary Alignments”
December 2024 – Rockets, Satellites, and Acronyms
The media was abuzz in November with Congressional Hearings on UAPs. As governments do, this new acronym was created to better describe unknown objects as “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” as opposed to our classic UFOs or “Unidentified Flying Objects”. One early “UFO” that was soon identified was the CCCP’s Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite toContinueContinue reading “December 2024 – Rockets, Satellites, and Acronyms”
November 2024 – The Great Square of Pegasus
The ancients clearly had two things going for them: wonderfully dark skies and fantastic imaginations. It can often be difficult for the modern backyard astronomer to pick out constellations and imagine a Great Bear, a Hunter, or a horse with wings, just by connecting the twinkling dots in the sky. Light pollution certainly has anContinueContinue reading “November 2024 – The Great Square of Pegasus”
October 2024 – Wandering Stars, The Oort Cloud and Comets
In space, everything is in motion. From a spacecraft orbiting the Earth, to moons dancing around planets, or star systems on an epic voyage across our galaxy, nothing ever truly “stops” moving. We find patterns in these movements, such as the ecliptic, or great highway on which the Sun moves across the sky, and theContinueContinue reading “October 2024 – Wandering Stars, The Oort Cloud and Comets”
September 2024 – The History of Saturn
Ringed Planets – James Webb Space Telescope, Courtesy NASA. September gives us prime viewing of two of our Solar System’s four ringed planets. Yes, you read that correctly; our Solar System has four planets with rings. You’re certainly familiar with Saturn, which we have known for its rings for nearly 400 years. However, as ourContinueContinue reading “September 2024 – The History of Saturn”
The Backyard Astronomer 