Using NASA.s Hubble Space Telescope to view the ninth planet in our solar system, astronomers discovered Pluto may have not one, but three moons. If confirmed, the discovery of the two new moons could offer insights into the nature and evolution of the Pluto system, Kuiper Belt Objects with satellite systems, and the early Kuiper [...]

If you have the proper filter, attach it to your optics and take a look at Mars to see a sign of the season — Happy Halloween!(move your mouse over the above image to see…)

This All Hallows Eve began with a beautiful 2 percent, waning-crescent moonrise. In this larger image, Virgo’s brightest star, Spica, can be seen a few moon-diameters below the slender crescent.

The planet Mars will be at its closest to Earth tonight! Look for the red planet to be rising in the east shortly after sunset… and climbing high overhead by midnight. Best views, for those of you with a telescope should occur within a few hours of rising. Checkout Sky and Telescope for more information [...]

The planet Mars will be at its closest to Earth this weekend. That means it will also be its biggest and brightest. Checkout the red planet. You’ll find it rising in the east shortly after sunset… and climbing high overhead by midnight. As an added bonus, there’s a sizable dust storm brewing that can be [...]

What do Halloween, Groundhog Day, May Day, and Lammas Day have in common? Besides being minor holidays, they also fall approximately on what are known as "cross-quarter days" — mid-points between solstices and equinoxes. Check out Dr. Tony Phillips‘ article about "Spooky Astronomy" and Von Del Chamberlain’s Cross-Quarter Halloween article for more tidbits and treats.

The red planet, Mars is approaching its
biggest and brightest of the season this weekend. Closest pass will occur on 10/30/2005. This, incidently, is the closest Mars will be
for the next 13 years. Look for Mars to rise in the east shortly after sunset. You’ll have no trouble identifying it. Mars simply outshines
anything [...]

Look to the West just after sunset to catch a glimpse of Mercury. To
find it, look for Venus
, the unmistakably bright object also in the West. About 20 ° below and right of Venus
you will find Antares. Below and right of this, on the horizon and in the same line, is
Mercury. Good luck!

Taking advantage of an odd bit of geometry, the orbiting Cassini Spacecraft snapped this gorgeous picture of Saturn’s moons Mimas and Rhea. The odd part of the geometery is that the moons are much closer in size than
this photo would indicate (Rhea is about 3x or 4x larger than Mimas). The difference is magnified [...]

Eyeing the vision of a space elevator, NASA and the Spaceward Foundation announced the results of the 2005 Beam Power Challenge and Tether Challenge. Eleven teams competed in the two competitions over the weekend at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Although no team claimed this year’s prizes, historic firsts were achieved. In [...]