Looking Up by Bob Eklund

Bob Eklund has had a lifelong love affair with the sky, having been raised by a grandfather working at a major astronomical observatory in Wisconsin. For many years he has helped the Mount Wilson Observatory with their public education and outreach programs. Bob is the author of a book of poetry and essays about astronomy, First Star I See Tonight. Following a corporate career as an editor and business communicator, he now assists local residents with their business and personal writing/editing/proofreading needs. See www.bobeklund.com.

NASA’s Juno Mission Provides Infrared Tour of Jupiter’s North Pole

April 19, 2018 0

Scientists working on NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter shared a 3-D infrared movie depicting densely packed cyclones and anticyclones that permeate the planet’s polar regions, and the first detailed view of a dynamo, or engine, …[READ MORE]

A Cosmic Quirk Helps Astronomers Pinpoint the Farthest Star Ever Seen

April 12, 2018 0

More than halfway across the universe, an enormous blue star nicknamed Icarus is the farthest individual star ever seen. Normally, it would be much too faint to view, even with the world’s largest telescopes. Through …[READ MORE]

Here, There and Everywhere: Across the Universe with the Beatles

April 5, 2018 0

The Beatles are one of the greatest cultural phenomena to come from the 20th century, yet many people are unaware of their impact on science. In ‘Here, There and Everywhere,’ inspired by the book ‘La …[READ MORE]

Oumuamua Likely Came From a Binary Star System

March 29, 2018 0

New research finds that Oumuamua, the rocky object identified as the first confirmed interstellar asteroid, very likely came from a binary star system. “It’s remarkable that we’ve now seen for the first time a physical …[READ MORE]

A Passing Star Disturbed the Comets of Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

March 22, 2018 0

At a time when modern humans were beginning to leave Africa and the Neanderthals were living on our planet, Scholz’s star—named after the German astronomer who discovered it—approached less than a light-year from the Sun. …[READ MORE]

New Horizons to the Kuiper Belt

March 15, 2018 0

As NASA’s New Horizons mission continues exploring the unknown, the mission team has selected a highly appropriate name for its next flyby target in the outer reaches of the solar system. With substantial public input, …[READ MORE]

Visit Scenic Mars – Perseverance Valley

March 8, 2018 0

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity keeps providing surprises about the Red Planet, most recently with observations of possible “rock stripes.” The ground texture seen in recent images from the rover resembles a smudged version of …[READ MORE]

Espresso and the Very Large Telescope

March 2, 2018 0

The ESPRESSO instrument on the European Southern Observatoty (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile has used the combined light of all four of its 8.2-meter Unit Telescopes for the first time. Combining light from …[READ MORE]

Looking Up – Bob Eklund

February 26, 2018 0

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has begun extra stargazing to help the space agency accomplish advances in Mars exploration over the next decade. The spacecraft already has worked more than double its planned mission life …[READ MORE]

Looking Up – Bob Eklund

November 30, 2017 0

New analysis of Pluto’s atmosphere explains why the New Horizons spacecraft measured temperatures much colder than predicted. The gas composition of a planet’s atmosphere generally determines how much heat gets trapped in the atmosphere. For …[READ MORE]