Outer Space

About a dozen new comets are discovered every year, but few ever venture close to Earth or become visually impressive. We see only one truly spectacular comet every 15 or 20 years on average. Long period comets often have extended tails that are so bright, the comet can be seen through the lights and smog of a large city. We had two in the 90’s -- Hale Bopp, and Hyakutaki, and you may have read that astronomers recently found a so-called monster comet. It should be brightest the third week of October in 2024, around a year from now. So, are we in for a treat? In truth, it could be great or it could disappoint.

But many celestial phenomena do actually merit gratitude and one is coming up next week. So happens, we’re the only planet with a major Moon that does NOT orbit around our equator. The Moon instead circles us in the same flat plane as the plane of the solar system, called the zodiac. That makes the Moon periodically meet bright planets in our sky. We can also be thankful that the only two disks in our sky, the moon and sun, both appear the same size. This is true nowhere else, and it alone creates those amazing solar eclipses.

Neptune's single strangest feature are its bizarre winds, the fastest in the known universe, which blow with five times the speed of tornados. Tune in to hear about the blue, gassy planet, and how it is now at its brightest and closest of the year.

This week we’ll learn about Venus’ ferocious winds, just how slow the planet spins, and how the carbon dioxide bubbling planet could perfectly line up with the Sun.

Mars now reaches its dimmest point of the year, so nobody’s now observing the Red Planet. But many still think about it. As planning for human visits to Mars continues, researchers keep studying risk. As results accumulate from astronauts who’ve spent a long time on the ISS, astrobiologists grow more concerned about space travel’s medical consequences.

One of the most powerful questions humans ask about the cosmos is: Are we alone? While the science behind this inquiry is fascinating, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is a reflection of our values, our fears, and most importantly, our enduring sense of hope.In "The Possibility of Life," acclaimed science journalist Jaime Green traces the history of our understanding, from the days of Galileo and Copernicus to our contemporary quest for exoplanets.

The public is obsessed with planets beyond our solar system. One team announced finding a planet orbiting the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, with the putative planet orbiting Alpha’s companion, the much smaller and dimmer star known as Proxima. Its nearness at only 4.2 light-years has generated excited talk about sending a space probe.

Since pi-day, March 14, is coming up, let’s prepare by pondering the number that has obsessed and tortured minds for centuries. This Greek letter, of course, represents the relationship between a circle and its diameter. It’s certainly known by smart alien civilizations throughout the universe. Other universe-wide numbers probably memorized by tattooed Andromeda school-kids no doubt include the four-to-one mass ratio of helium to hydrogen and the speed of light.

Interest in space -- our last great frontier -- has never been higher, and there’s one journalist who has had a front seat to interstellar exploration for…

Next month marks the 60th anniversary of one of Earth’s greatest contributors to technological advancement: NASA. Although NASA was initially created for…