What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! Been sick - first illness of the whole year and it made up for lost time. Courtesy Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute Read all about my top space story for 2018 . May the New Year bring peace and sanity to humanity. Sky Guy Greg

Hey Space Placers! I hope this holiday season finds you in good spirits and health. Here is my commentary on Apollo 8, fifty years later. https://wtop.com/the-space-place/2018/12/dear-apollo-8-save-the-year-again/ We can be BETTER than what we are right now...... We HAVE to be if we want to survive and thrive as a species.... Apollo 8 shows that we can do daring things....... Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! As you get that lat minute shopping done make sure you take some time out tonight to watch the ALMOST Full Moon rise. Full Cold Moon - Last Full Moon of 2018 Greg Redfern 12/22/18 If you have snow on the ground the Moon will REALLY light up your surroundings. Moon rise will be a little over an hour after sunset. ENJOY!!! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! A close pass today : Be sure to enjoy the Full Cold Moon tonight! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Winter Solstice 2018 occurs 12/21/18 at 5:23 p.m. EST. Lots more is happening in the sky so check it out. Sky Guy in More Rain VA

Hey Space Placers! For the next few mornings at least 30 minutes before sunrise check out the SE. You will see the BRILLIANT "Morning Star" Venus. You can't miss it. Look to the lower left and you will see two "stars" that are the planets Mercury and Jupiter. They will be edging closer together and be closest 12/21 and 12/22. Here are my pics from this morning. Mercury is really easy to see right now which isn't usually the case. I know it is cold out for most of us but hey, I took these in 23 degree F temps ;-) Get out and enjoy the view.

Hey Space Placers! WOW, oh, WOW! We have learned so much about the Cosmos around us it is sometimes easy to forget how little we know about our own backyard - the solar system. There are two big events that are going to add significantly to our knowledge of the family of the Sun. First, two weeks from today the New Horizons spacecraft of Pluto flyby fame in July 2015 will be performing another solar system first - a flyby of Ultima Thule, a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) . This will be the farthest flyby ever accomplished of a planetary body in the solar system, a full billion miles farther than Pluto! New Horizons will also pass closer to Ultima Thule than it did at Pluto and we should really see this world up close and personal. I'll be blogging on this as we get closer and after the flyby. Artist's concept of Ultima Thule © 2018  The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory The second big event is "Farout"  - the newly discovered 500km wide ob...