The Moon will be Full on March 7th, and it will be New on March 21st, the day after the spring equinox on March 20th.
The Sky Above You – March 2023
Space Notes: Balloons in Space
“The greater thrust of rockets at altitude was harnessed in the ‘Rockoon’ experiments of the 1950s , culminating in Project Farside, where 4-stage solid rockets were launched through the carrier balloons at high altitude “
Space Notes by Duncan Lunan, Rotorcraft in Space
“There were joint studies by NASA and ESA for a Montgolfière hot-air balloon with a radioactive isotope power source, and NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts office added the Titan Aerial Daughtercraft (TAD), a small helicopter which would return periodically to the balloon to recharge its batteries”
The Sky Above You – February 2023
“There are no major showers this months, but there are hopes for Comet 2022 E3, which was nearing naked-eye visibility in mid-January. The comet will be at its nearest to the Earth on February 1st, at a distance of 43 million kilometres. “
Space Selfie
Astronauts on the Space Station conduct numerous experiments. This week the research has involved how to improve bone healing therapies both on Earth and in space. The Expedition 68 crew members also […]
Doing ‘great science’ to defend the Earth
At the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) research facility at Gakona, Alaska, a powerful transmitter sent long wavelength radio signals into space with the purpose of bouncing them off an asteroid to learn about its interior.
A History of the Universe in 100 Stars (2022): Book Review
“This book consists of 100 chapters, each 2-3 pages long, and each supposedly covering a single star, not in alphabetical order or by constellation, which is how beginners’ books usually do it. “
The Sky Above You – January 2023
Uranus in Aries was multiply occulted by the Moon last year, two of the events visible from the UK, and on January 1st it will happen again around 10.20 p.m., depending on location, for viewers north of a line from Cork to Norwich, with the reappearance at 11.08 p.m., as seen from Edinburgh.
The Star of Bethlehem
“As this is the last of the planned ‘Beginners’ Astronomy’ articles, and it’s scheduled to appear on Christmas Day, this seems an appropriate subject to end with. “
The Southern Sky
Venus and the Pleiades over Australia, Aug 2017 by Yuri Beletsky – Orion at top, Betelgeuse at foot
