Rocket Science: Simple and Not So Simple
Rocket science at its most basic is surprisingly simple. If you throw enough stuff fast enough out the back of your rocket, it will make the rocket go forward. The more stuff you throw out and the faster you throw it, the faster your rocket will go.
If you’ve ever blown up a balloon and then let it go, you’ve seen this in action.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BDFlO_otiGk
But this...read more ❯
Meteor Showers 2024
For most people, if they are aware of a meteor shower, it is the Perseid shower in August. It’s pretty reliable, and it takes place at a time of year when being outside in the wee hours of the morning is actually pleasant.
But meteor showers occur at predictable times throughout the year, and there are some good ones coming this month and next. They are due to a comet (or rarely, an...read more ❯
Wow!
In August 1977, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University, and being used to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), detected a strong signal whose explanation has remained a mystery for nearly fifty years. Despite extensive searches, the signal never repeated, and nothing like it has ever been detected since. But some scientists poring over old data from the...read more ❯
Space Travel For Real
How difficult is interstellar travel? I’m a huge fan of space travel both real and imagined, and have followed the voyages of the Starship Enterprise since its earliest manifestations. But warp engines aren’t real, and cheating the universe’s speed limit of the speed of light requires physics of the most speculative sort. What would it take, for real, to send a human to the nearest...read more ❯
Another Black Eye for Boeing
What is the problem with Starliner?
Two problems showed up as the spacecraft approached the International Space Station (ISS) back in June.
Five of the 28 thrusters used to maneuver in orbit malfunctioned. Four were eventually brought back to functionality, and the astronauts were able to dock successfully.
There have also been slow helium leaks in the propulsion system. In...read more ❯
A Rare Event
There are a few astronomical events that, even though they recur, are once-in-a-lifetime occasions, separated by too much time for all but the luckiest to see twice. For me, Halley’s Comet in 1986 was such an occasion. I lifted my three-year-old son to the eyepiece of my telescope so he could perhaps say, 76 years later, that he had seen the comet twice! In truth, however, he couldn’t really...read more ❯
Mars Is Ready For Its Closeup
Why does something look big? Is it because it actually IS big, or is it because it is close to us?
The closest celestial body to the Earth is our Moon. It’s an object that’s very easy to see without any visual aid, visible even in the daytime if you are observant enough. The Sun appears to be the same size as the Moon in our sky, but this is only because the much larger Sun is much farther...read more ❯
Where Is Earth 2.0?
When all you have is one example, it’s interesting to speculate but hard to draw conclusions.
How Common Are Planets?
For most of my lifetime, we only knew of one star hosting a planetary system: ours. Were the conditions that allowed Sol to host planets from Mercury to Neptune, and smaller objects from rocky remnants to distant ice balls, common? Unusual? Unique?
As we began to better...read more ❯
My Son the Deer Whisperer
We were staying with friends at an Airbnb in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania recently. It was a great weekend catching up with friends. We spent the weekend enjoying good food, deep conversations, board games, and time outside enjoying nature.
While we were there, I learned something new about my son: he’s a deer whisperer.
Every day, numerous deer would walk up to the house. At...read more ❯
We Are Enough
We have final exams, papers, and projects.
We have annual reports, assessments, and grading.
We have so much to do, and it may all seem so urgent.
Hopefully, we remember to breathe. Hopefully, we remember to have compassion for ourselves and for others. The chaos that some experience during this time of year can be overwhelming, but we must remember to do our very best and to love...read more ❯