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May 06: AAVSO Alert Notice #378: Request to monitor RE J1255+266 for HST Observations

May 04: Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower: If you see a meteor flit across the sky tonight, it could be a piece of Halley's Comet. Earth is crossing a stream of dusty debris from Halley and this is causing the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. Sky watchers in the tropics and southern hemisphere (where the shower is most intense) could see as many as 70 meteors per hour during the dark hours before dawn on Monday, May 5th, and Tuesday, May 6th. The show is diminished at northern latitudes where rates may be 15 meteors per hour or less.

Astronomy News: All the latest astronomy and space news updated hourly.

Apr. 22: The April edition of The Sky at Night (The Sun Revealed) is now online. It's the start of a new solar cycle, and the spacecraft Ulysses faces retirement, but solar missions Stereo and SOHO are still revealing our nearest star in a new light.

Apr. 22: AAVSO Alert Notice #375: V576 Car

Apr. 16: NASA is extending the international Cassini-Huygens mission by two years. The historic spacecraft's stunning discoveries and images have revolutionized our knowledge of Saturn and its moons.

Mar. 18: E-books have emerged from the shadows with Amazon's recent launch its $399 Kindle e-book reader and service. There's over 600 astronomy-related ebooks on offer. So does the Kindle really have anything to offer the astronomer on the go? Find out....

Feb.20: A Total Lunar Eclipse will happen in the early hours of Feb 21st (European time) and during the evening of Feb.20th in the Americas. This is the first of two lunar eclipses this year. While the eclipse this month is a total eclipse, August sees only a partial eclipse. More on the lunar eclipse.

Jan. 31: Set your alarm for dawn. On Friday morning, February 1st, Venus and Jupiter converge in the southeastern sky less than 1 degree apart; they will beam through the rosy glow of dawn like a pair of celestial headlights. It's a spectacular view worth waking up early to see. The February 1st alignment kicks off four mornings of beautiful views as the crescent Moon moves in to join Venus and Jupiter over the weekend.

Jan. 30: Surprises From Mercury: The recent flyby of Mercury by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has given scientists an entirely new look at a planet once thought to have characteristics similar to those of Earth's moon. Researchers are amazed by the wealth of images and data that show a unique world with a diversity of geological processes and a very different magnetosphere from the one discovered and sampled more than 30 years ago.

Jan. 29: Asteroid Flyby: Asteroid 2007 TU24 is flying past Earth this week at a distance of only 334,000 miles (1.4 lunar distances). NASA radars tracking the asteroid confirm that there is no danger of a collision, but it will be close enough for amateur astronomers to photograph through mid-sized backyard telescopes. At closest approach on Jan. 29th, the asteroid will glide through the constellations Andromeda and Cassiopeia glowing like a 10th magnitude star. It's not going to collide with Earth, despite what some people have been saying.

Jan. 15: On Monday, Jan. 14, the pioneering NASA Messenger spacecraft was the first to visit Mercury in almost 33 years when it soared over the planet to explore and snap close-up images of never-before-seen terrain. These findings could open new theories and answer old questions in the study of the solar system. Watch the close approach video.

Jan. 5: Solar physicists have been waiting for the appearance of a reversed-polarity sunspot to signal the start of the next solar cycle. The wait is over. A magnetically reversed, high-latitude sunspot emerged on Jan.4. This marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 24 and the first step toward a new solar maximum. Intense solar activity won't begin right away. Solar cycles usually take a few years to build from solar minimum (where we are now) to Solar Max (expected in 2011 or 2012). It's a slow journey, but we're on our way!

Dec. 21: Earth is heading for a stream of comet dust that could produce a pleasing outburst of "shooting stars" this weekend in the annual Ursid Meteor Shower.

Dec. 13: NASA has approved the retargeting of the EPOXI mission for a flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Oct. 11, 2010. Hartley 2 was chosen as EPOXI's destination after the initial target, comet Boethin, could not be found. Scientists theorize comet Boethin may have broken up into pieces too small for detection.
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Dec. 13: Geminid Meteors: Earth has entered a stream of dusty debris from asteroid 3200 Phaethon and, as a result, the annual Geminid meteor shower is underway. Sky watchers around the world are reporting a slow drizzle of late-night meteors at least as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper / Plough. The best is yet to come: Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Friday, Dec. 14th. No matter where you live, watch the sky between local midnight and dawn; people outdoors before sunrise on Friday could see dozens to hundreds of shooting stars. Depending on the details of Earth's encounter with Phaethon's debris stream, the shower could continue into the weekend as well.

Dec. 8: Sunspot Alert: The sun is near the lowest ebb of the 11-year solar cycle and, until now, 2007 has been a year of very few sunspots. Enter sunspot 978: It popped over the sun's eastern limb yesterday and is quickly becoming a behemoth. The rapidly growing sunspot group is more than five times wider than Earth, making it an easy target for properly-filtered backyard telescopes. So far sunspot 978 poses little threat for strong solar flares, but this could change if the active region's development continues apace.

Dec. 1: A new version of my Jupsat Pro software is now available, which predicts a range of phenomena for Jupiter and its moons. If you already own a copy, an upgrade will be available in the next day or so, which you can check for through the software.
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Nov. 29: The 2008 astronomy and space themed calendars have arrived.
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