April is the Best Month to See Saturn this Year
The Planet Saturn
Saturn will rule the night sky throughout the month of April this year. The Earth is between the Sun and Saturn and Saturn’s rings are tilted toward the Earth almost nine degrees. Both of these factors will make for some great viewing.
April Constellations With Star Chart
Star Chart
Now that it’s officially spring, it’s time to focus on the major constellations visible in the northern hemisphere. This April, I want to highlight a very prominent and recognizable constellation – Ursa Major. Ursa Major is also known as The Great Bear. As you can see in the above star chart, Ursa Major will appear nearly overhead toward the northeast around 10pm, EST in early April. Read the rest of this entry >>
Successor to the Space Shuttle Program: The Orion Spacecraft
The Orion Spacecraft
The launch and return of NASA space shuttle Discovery mission STS-13, which launched on February 24th, 2011 and made its return landing on March 9th, 2011, marked the end of NASA’s space shuttle program. But what does the end of the space shuttle program mean? What will be its successor?
Messenger Spacecraft Orbits Planet Mercury
Messenger Spacecraft Orbiting Mercury
On March 18, 2011, NASA’s Messenger Spacecraft entered into an orbit around the planet Mercury. This is another first for the human race! No other man-made machine has ever pulled off this gravitational balancing act!
Orion Nebula Close Up
Orion Nebula Close Up
The other day, I posted a picture of the Orion Nebula that I took myself, using my Nikon D300 with a 200 mm lens. I thought you would enjoy seeing how the Hubble Space Telescope views this colorful nebula.