Thanks to the slowing spin of the Earth on its axis (don’t worry, there is no immediate peril associated with the fact), the official timekeepers of the world must adjust their atomic clocks by adding a second to them tonight - 11:59:59 will happen twice! Enjoy your celebrations of 2008, your anticipations for 2009, and [...]

Skywatchers are encouraged to head out after dark this weekend for a special gathering of our nearest celestial neighbors. Starting on Saturday night (12/28/08), a tiny waxing crescent moon will be found low above the western horizon shortly after sunset.  Use the bright planet Jupiter as your guide. The moon will sit just a few [...]

Whether by divine yuletide direction or curious chaotic convergence, the Christmas Tree Cluster offers a symbol of the day with a familiar arbor likeness. A collection of stars in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn), this object was discovered by William Herschel in the late 18th century. In this picture from the Wide Field [...]

Once again as Santa brings gifts to all the good girls and boys, North American Aerospace Defense Command - NORAD - is tracking his progress east to west. “NORAD manages to keep track of him with satellites, radar, and strategically placed ‘SantaCams’,” says Navy Petty Officer Shane Wolenda. For more than 50 years, NORAD has [...]

40 years ago this week, astronauts aboard Apollo 8 travelled where no one had gone before, the Moon. As they circled around the back side of the moon, they saw the very first ‘Earthrise’; planet Earth rising above the horizon of another celestial body. At that moment, they were able to see Earth as it [...]

The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST) snagged this amazing image of the planet Jupiter and it’s largest moon, Ganymede, as the latter was drifting behind the giant planet. Astronomers use images like this to study the upper reaches of Jupiter’s atmosphere. Earth based astronomers will need to wait until spring before they can do much [...]

Due to the tilt of the earth’s axis relative to its orbit around the sun, we experience seasons, and today (about 5am MST, actually) is the Winter Solstice, the point in the earth’s orbit when those of us in the northern hemisphere are smack dab in the middle of winter (of course, that means our [...]

The annual Ursid Meteor Shower is approaching, and it’s timing couldn’t be better. It peaks on the night of December 22nd -> 23rd, a night on which a tiny, waning crescent moon will rise around 3:30am. The small phase of the moon, along with its late arrival will frame the meteor shower under the darkest [...]

NASA is looking forward to launching the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) aboard a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on February 23, 2009. The OCO will be “NASA’s first spacecraft specifically dedicated to mapping carbon dioxide,” according to principal investigator David Crisp. “The objective of the OCO mission is to make [...]

In yet another 11th hour attempt to plunder the natural wonders of this great nation, the Bush Administration is set to auction off some of the crown jewels for oil and natural gas exploration, lands in and around Utah’s famed national parks! Seen here is a nighttime image of Canyonlands National Park by National Park [...]