Blog Archive

Figuring out orbital positions from orbital elements

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/02/16 05:03 CST | 6 comments

A few times a year I find myself confronting a table full of numbers describing the orbits of things in the solar system, and cursing at myself because I've forgotten,�again, what all these numbers mean and how to manipulate them to get the particular numbers I want.

Guest Post: Neil Stewart: Big Bend designated International Dark Sky Park

Posted by Neil Patrick Stewart on 2012/02/16 02:17 CST

Last week, I received a�press release�with the headline "Big Bend National Park Designated As International Dark Sky Park." I asked my brother Neil to write something about this announcement for me.�

Dawn images of Vesta! Released!! For everyone!!!

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/02/14 10:57 CST

Some time in the last few days, the Dawn team�made public the first preliminary version�of the first release of their data from the Vesta phase of their mission.�

Infographic: Viewing our universe's colors

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/02/14 03:08 CST

An infographic explains in what "colors" of electromagnetic radiation we been able to observe our universe, over the length of the space age.

Bruce Betts Teaching Astronomy 101 at CSUDH

First Astronomy Course Lecture Posted Online

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2012/02/14 11:22 CST

I gave the first lecture of my Introduction to Astronomy and Planetary Science course last Wednesday, starting with a tour of the solar system. The course is Physics 195 at California State University Dominguez Hills.

Visiting the San Diego SpaceUp Unconference

Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/02/14 08:38 CST

Emily Lakdawalla and I drove down to the 3rd annual San Diego SpaceUp Unconference on February 4. We had great fun hanging out with the other space geeks.