What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! Offline until next Friday BUT I will have some goodies for you! Use this time to browse some of my old blogs....there are years of them ;-) Sky Guy Off the Grid

Hey Space Placers! Read a good article on the accelerating expansion of the Universe. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Happy 1st day of summer at 6:34 pm EDT. The Summer Solstice is coinciding with the Full Strawberry Moon for the first time since 1967; it will not occur again until 2062 so enjoy it tonight. You can tune in live to Slooh tonight at 8:00 pm EDT to watch the Full-Summer Solstice Moon. Here are my pics of the 99.8% illuminated Moon from Shenandoah National Park 6/19: The 99.8% Illuminated Moon The Last Moonrise of Spring Greets the Earth's Shadow Old Rag And The Last Moonrise of Spring Greets the Earth's Shadow Moonlit Big Meadows Shenandoah Valley in Moonlight Enjoy! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Enjoy the almost Full Moon by Saturn tonight. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Read about our planet's new companion. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! The SECOND observation of Gravitational Waves has been announced by the LIGO team - see my previous posts for background. This discovery was due to the merger of two black holes that were 1.4 billion light years from Earth. These black holes were far smaller than the black holes involved in the first GW detection. This discovery is very important in that it shows that the first observation was not a "one and done" event, that these mergers are ongoing. You can read more about it here and here . I can hardly wait to see where GW Astronomy takes us....it is going to be interesting, that's for sure. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! After yesterday's horrible events I was lucky enough to get out under a very clear and transparent night sky at Shenandoah National Park. I hope you enjoy these pics I took. In "light" of my blog from 6/12/16, as you can see, we can see the Milky Way Galaxy ;-) Skyline Drive Leads to Mars, Saturn & Milky Way Galaxy Skyline Drive lives up to its name and closeup of Milky Way Galaxy below Galaxy Overhead Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Read about light pollution here . An artificially glowing sky means WASTED energy and money. Light needs to be directed properly for safety and proper energy use. I am lucky as I can still see the Milky Way from my house and Shenandoah National Park. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Have you ever seen a bright "falling star" or meteor? You probably have. When such an object is brighter than the planet Venus we call it a fireball, and if it explodes we call its a bolide. I saw a bolide on Tuesday as it was getting dark and it underwent two separate bursts before it went dark. Read more about my event and what to do if you ever see a fireball ....you can help science in the process! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Gravitational Wave (GW) Astronomy - see my previous posts on the discovery of GWs - just got a huge lift. Artist's Conception of LISA Pathfinder ESA/C Carreau. The European Space Agency's (ESA) GW technology demonstration spacecraft, LISA Pathfinder, has been shown to be more than up to the task of detecting GWs in space . NASA has contributed to the mission as can be seen in this video and article . The future of GW Astronomy is indeed bright. I look forward to the amazing discoveries to come. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! NASA JPL Here's the schedule for the 7/4/16 arrival of Juno at Jupiter. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Interesting article about comets and life ..... Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Check out how to see Mars, Saturn and Jupiter this June. Sky Guy in VA