After a relatively long hiatus, I am back blogging. I am currently more than 22 posts behind my “post every day” goal, so expect some short and sweet posts to make up the difference. I’m not worried about it, because life gets busy, and we all have other priorities. But I’m glad to be back. A true love of Astronomy and Space will always keep me here, writing about the new and exciting science in a field I have loved my whole life. If you, reading this right now, are the only person who ever reads these words, I hope it adds...
I am a big fan of John Oliver and his HBO show ‘Last Week Tonight.’ Last night the show covered a topic near and dear to me, the publication of science and how it is communicated to the layperson. He raises very important points about how scientists are motivated to produce exciting new research for grants and tenure, rather than replicating existing studies to prove or disprove them. He also talks about how science is portrayed in the media, and how studies are interpreted without context or fine details. We need science communicators. People who are scientifically literate and can communicate complex...
This is it, my 365th post of 2015. I didn’t post every day, but I produced one post for each and every day. Some days I was on vacation, with family, having adventures, sick, tired, working, or any of a hundred other reasons for not posting. But regardless of the reason, I took the day, got up the next day, and worked extra hard to keep up with it. This is the first time I have ever completed a New Year’s Resolution, and it was certainly an ambitious one. Maybe my writing has improved, and maybe it hasn’t, but 2015...
Christmas on Mars is like most other days on Mars: Dry, cold, and dusty. However, as the Curiosity rover works its way across the ancient Martian surface, it sees changes in the terrain that are very interesting to investigate. It’s at 1200 sols (Martian days) of roving around the planet as of Monday, and it continues to make its way to the primary target, Mount Sharp. a Christmas photo shows how far the rover still has to go, but proves that it still has it’s sights set on the lonely mountain. The rover has travelled far since it’s landing, and...
This week there were just too many fantastic photo releases to pick just one and stick with it, so here are some of the great stories popping up with fantastic images to accompany them: Fine Detail From Rosetta on 67P This amazing shot from the Rosetta orbiter shows such incredible detail as comet 67P catches light from the sun. The shadows are what makes this image spectacular as you can see so many fine features. The other noteworthy part of the image is the bright streaks of material coming off the comet in the background. As the comet and the...
