Way back in October 19, 2017, an object from far beyond our solar system that was just passing through. It was designated as 1I/2017 U1 by the International Astronomical Union. Colloquially, it became known as ‘Oumuamua (pronounced “oh-mooah-mooah”) after the Hawaiian meaning, which roughly translates to “scout.” Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb and ( Read more... )

Let us refer to my previous post where I described how a fictional space engine from the Traveller role playing game might actually operate ( Read more... )

I have been mulling over the science behind a desktop role playing game (RPG) called Traveller. It is more of a hard science game, unlike Star Wars or Star Trek. My primary musings have been over gravitic drives. My thoughts begin as below:

Gravity is created by mass. Mass is a property given to matter by the Higgs boson. Bosons are subatomic ( Read more... )

While I was peacefully and quietly going about my life, the Universe did a paradigm shift.


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Major kudos to JPL and NASA!

Fantastic job getting us to Mars again for yet more freakishly cool science! You guys had ONE CHANCE to get a million things exactly right and you DID IT! Go team!!!

You deserve a drink ... top shelf!

The ultimate test of my wife's 500mm Sigma telephoto lens. Jupiter and a few of its moons.


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The US Space Shuttle Atlantis will depart on its final flight today at 2:20PM US Eastern time zone.

NASA: All on Track for Friday Launch of AtlantisNASA: Everything on track for Friday launch of space shuttle Atlantis on its final voyage ( Read more... )

A once in a lifetime exhibit will be hosted by the U of A Planetary Science Center in Tucson, AZ ( Read more... )

A week or so ago, scribe_ari and I were watching some educational TV. The topic was all the ways the Earth could be destroyed. The show presented apocalyptic visions of global war, germs, asteroids, coronal mass ejections, AI running amok, and then I laughed: aliens. Seriously ( Read more... )

Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight.

Meteor Showers OnlineForecast for 2009: Astronomers are predicting that the Leonids could experience an outburst of about 500 per hour on November 17. Although Asia is favored for the outburst, observations are encouraged around the world on the mornings of November 17 and 18, as better than normal rates could ( Read more... )