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See Venus at Her Most Ravishing
Venus is HUGE right now but oh-so-skinny as it approaches inferior conjunction on August 15. Like crescents? You'll never see a…
Kick Back, Look Up, We’re In For a GREAT Perseid Meteor Shower
Every year in mid-August, Earth plows headlong into the debris left behind by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Slamming into our atmosphere at 130,000…
Kirk, Spock and Sulu Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before — Charon!
A big smile. That was my reaction to seeing the names of Uhura, Spock, Kirk and Sulu on the latest…
The Resplendent Inflexibility of the Rainbow
Children often ask simple questions that make you wonder if you really understand your subject. An young acquaintance of mine…
T-Minus 12 Days to Perihelion, Rosetta’s Comet Up Close and in 3D
With just 12 days before Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reaches perihelion, we get a look at recent images and results released by the…
Pluto’s Moons Nix and Hydra Get Real / New Pluto Mountain Range Discovered
Of course they've always been real worlds. They just never looked that way. We've only known of their existence since…
Three-tailed Comet Q1 PanSTARRS Lights Up Southern Skies
Call it the comet that squeaked by most northern skywatchers. Comet C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS barely made an appearance at dawn in…
New Horizons Phones Home, Flyby a Success
Watch Pluto grow in this series of photos taken during New Horizons' approach Whew! We're out of the woods. On schedule…
Pluto’s Time to Shine Just Hours Away – A Guide and Timetable
Countdown to discovery! Not since Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune in 1989 have we flung a probe into the frozen…