Looking Up by Bob Eklund

Phoenix Mars Lander Does Not Phone Home NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has ended operations after repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful. A new image transmitted by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), looking down …[READ MORE]

Arc to Arcturus OF THE 2,000 OR SO STARS that are visible to the unaided eye (or would be, in a dark sky far from city lights), only a relative few are known by name. …[READ MORE]

Setting Sail for the Stars – The spring winds gusting across the Southland today almost had me grumbling about wind chill and such—but instead, the wind-pressure at my back suddenly brought a flood of pleasant …[READ MORE]

NASA’s New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images NASA’s recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is returning early images that confirm an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our Sun’s …[READ MORE]

Long-Lost Soviet Reflector Found on Moon A team of physicists led by a professor at UC San Diego has pinpointed the location of a long-lost light reflector left on the lunar surface by the Soviet …[READ MORE]

‘This Planet Tastes Funny,’ According to Spitzer Telescope NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered something odd about a distant planet—it lacks methane, an ingredient common to many of the planets in our solar system. “It’s …[READ MORE]

Sun Fire, Moon Ice, Westchester Stars An international team of solar and space scientists have built the most complete picture yet of the full impact of large solar eruptions called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) as …[READ MORE]

Triton’s Summer Sky of Methane and Carbon Monoxide According to the first-ever infrared analysis of the atmosphere of Neptune’s moon Triton, summer is in full swing in its southern hemisphere. Using the Very Large Telescope …[READ MORE]

Venus and Mercury Pair Up in Twilight For the next week, the two closest planets to the Sun will shine together low in the twilight after sundown. Anyone can see them; they’ll form an eye-catching …[READ MORE]

Phobos Flyby Images Released Images from the recent close flyby of Mars’ moon Phobos, which took place on March 7, were released March 15. The images show the rocky, irregular-shaped moon in exquisite detail, with …[READ MORE]