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China Lands Probe on Moon’s Far Side

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In a week extraordinarily filled with space exploration milestones, China has landed a probe softly on far side of the Moon! The China National Space Administration announced that the probe landed on Jan. 3, 2019 at 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time. BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) — China’s Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon Thursday, becoming the first spacecraft soft-landing on the moon’s uncharted side never visible from Earth. The probe, comprising a lander and a rover, landed at the preselected landing area at 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude on the far side of the moon at 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time, the China National Space Administration announced. – Xinhua China's Chang'E-4 probe landed on the farside of the moon about one hour ago. Congratulations!The video shows the landing sequence of the Chang'E-3 probe. pic.twitter.com/Zg3KMkxrF2 — Siyuan (@siyuan0zhao) January 3, 2019 What does the far side of the moon look like? China's Chang'e-4 probe gives … Continue reading →

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Encounter with Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69

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The New Horizons spacecraft flew-by Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 on New Year’s day 2019. Nicknamed “Ultima Thule” by the mission team, the icy body is the farthest object in the solar system that humans have yet encountered. It was known that 2014 MU69 was elongated or lobe-shaped from star occultation observations made from Earth – the flyby confirmed that the object is a “contact binary” consisting of two connected spheres. The team says that the two spheres likely joined as early as 99 percent of the way back to the formation of the solar system, colliding no faster than two cars in a fender-bender. Much higher resolution images are yet to come, as data from the spacecraft continues to arrive over the next several weeks. I got to wondering what would happen to 2014 MU69 if it orbited much closer to the Sun – would it end up looking like comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko? So, I asked on Twitter: Interesting that 2014 MU69 … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – January 1, 2019

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This entry is part 76 of 78 in the series In the Sky This Week

Happy New Year! The first day of 2019 is one for the record books – a spacecraft has flown-by the most distant object in the solar system to date, and another spacecraft has entered into orbit around an asteroid! The Moon joins the multi-planet conjunction in the eastern predawn sky on the morning of Jan 1st. The Moon will appear very near the planet Venus on the morning of Jan. 3rd. Mars is high in southern sky after sunset all week; Mars continues to move slowly to the west and dim as the Earth pulls away from it in its orbit. Altair and Vega are the first stars visible in the western sky at dusk. The constellation Cassiopeia is high in the north-northwestern sky at 9:00 PM on Jan. 1st. Several other recognizable constellations are also in that direction. Today, the New Horizons spacecraft flew-by Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed “Ultima Thule.” This is the farthest object in the solar … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Recognizing the Star

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This entry is part 44 of 180 in the series Across the Universe

This column was first published in The Tablet in December, 2009 and here on 2015) In November and December of 2009, I was team-teaching a course called “Dynamic Evolution” at LeMoyne College, a small Jesuit university in Syracuse, New York. The biblical scholar from Leuven, Fr. Jan Lambrecht SJ, concentrated on the world-view of the New Testament in the first half of the course; my task was to bring the students forward through the cosmologies of the middle ages and the scientific revolution, to present day views on space and time: quantum theory and relativity. It’s been an exhausting journey. For many of the undergraduates, the shocking message has been how little we know for certain. After an academic path focused mostly on memorizing “facts” they must now come to the realization that everything they’ve been taught is, if not exactly wrong, then at least woefully incomplete. With everything we learn, we also learn how much more there is to know. Certainly, the world of … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – December 26, 2018

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This entry is part 75 of 78 in the series In the Sky This Week

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry this post is a tad late, I’ve been a bit preoccupied the last couple days… The multi-planet conjunction in the eastern predawn sky continues this week. Mars remains high in southern sky after sunset all week; Mars is now at magnitude 0.39, down significantly from -2.78 during opposition at the end July 2018. The stars Altair and Vega battle for the title of “evening star” in the western sky at dusk. The Moon appears in the constellation Leo at midnight Dec. 27th. Observing Target: M64 – The Black Eye Galaxy M64 is a spiral galaxy located 17 million light years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. “A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy’s bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the “Black Eye” or “Evil Eye” galaxy. Fine details of the dark band are … Continue reading →

When Night Turns To Day: Receiving The Gift Of Hope At Christmas!

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I want to let you in on a little secret. It’s a secret that, for those who are Christians that observe Advent, was reflected upon this past weekend. It’s a secret that was shared between Mary and Elizebeth from the Gospel of Luke. As Scripture shares with us, Mary went in haste to see her cousin Elizabeth since the angel announced to Mary that both she and her cousin were pregnant. Is the secret I speak of about two women who just found out they are expecting a baby? Don’t get me wrong, I have had a taste of that excitement as former students of mine have called me in the past to share with me that they are expecting a child and ask me to do two things: The Baptism after they are born and not to tell anyone – especially their parents. However, that isn’t the secret I speak of. So, then, what is this great “secret” that … Continue reading →

Remembering Apollo 8

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Christmas Eve 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission, which put humans into orbit around the Moon for the first time. From lunar orbit, an image of the Earth rising over the limb of the Moon was taken; “Earthrise” went on to become one of the most influential photographs of the space age, gracing the cover of TIME Magazine, and a U.S. postage stamp. On December 24, 1968, with the surface of the Moon rolling-by outside their windows, the Apollo 8 astronauts read the first 10 verses of Genesis to the largest broadcast TV audience in history (at that point in time). Video: TIME interview with the 3 Apollo 8 astronauts The year 1968 saw terrible tragedies, including the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and the riots in Detroit. It’s fair to say that regardless of one’s religion, the Christmas message from Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman, command module pilot Jim Lovell, and lunar … Continue reading →

NASA’s New Web-Based Solar System Orrery

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NASA has introduced a web-based orrery showing a real-time simulated view of our solar system, with planets, moons and spacecraft shown where they are right now. Go to solarsystem.nasa.gov and click on the solar system icon in the menu. The orrery is a lightweight, mobile-friendly version of NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System software. “This snapshot of our solar system focuses on active NASA planetary science missions and select ESA missions. Showcasing the entire operating NASA fleet is too much of a data wallop at the moment (but we are working on it). International missions such as Japan’s Akatsuki (orbiting Venus) and ESA’s BepiColombo (en route to Mercury) are not yet available.” The orrery is a WebGL application – it’s performance will be better on systems with accelerated graphics. Related Tweet: Go to https://t.co/abXYSA6T9t – hit the hamburger menu – and hit Orrery. New WebGL experience from the ‘Eyes….’ team. Lots more to come from the new engine behind it – but … Continue reading →

The Visit of the Astro-Nerds (re-run)

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This is a “re-run” of a post that originally ran on December 24, 2016. We will return to the subject of the Star of Bethlehem in two weeks, right on time for Epiphany. Merry Christmas to all!  To mark my first Christmas [in 2016] as a blogger for the Vatican Observatory I must of course write on The Star of Bethlehem.  Consider these verses, from the second chapter of Matthew, that discuss The Star: When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”  When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  They said to him, “In … Continue reading →

Diary: Happy Birthday Katie!

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This entry is part 32 of 34 in the series Diary

Something I have come to understand, slowly but inevitably, is that astronomy is not about stars and planets; it is about people and how they (we) study those stars and planets. After all, one cannot understand the science of Galileo without knowing Galileo the person. He only was able to recognize what he saw in his telescope (he wasn’t the first to look) because he had an interest and training in art; he was only able to communicate it to the point that it led to a change in how humanity understood the situation (he wasn’t the first to try) because he had a passion for the Italian language and literature. If he had been a different person, our science would have had a different history… perhaps asking different questions, and accepting different answers as satisfactory. This blog has always been about people. And so I want to highlight someone here whose wonderful personality has been crucial to our success. … Continue reading →

Crater Virus infects Science Week Drawings

Recently here in Ireland we had the phenomena that is Science Week. A nationwide effort by hundreds of people to open the many facets of science to children and adults all over the country.  My offerings were workshops about the Apollo 11 moon landing called Let’s Go To The Moon – Apollo 11, Deadly Moons and Marvellous Mars. All of which I have written about in the past hit the links to check them out. This year a unique crater virus came to visit and spread itself around many drawings. Guidance Increasingly I have being introducing drawing techniques in my workshops.  Sometimes the effect has a slow uptake and other times it has an immediate viral effect. One such action is a tip on crater drawing , kids just love it. Here below we see some drawings that benefited from simple guidence. Examples of the crater virus that invaded hundreds of drawings and created smiles all over the room.   … Continue reading →


Across the Universe: Fools from the East

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This entry is part 10 of 180 in the series Across the Universe

(This column was first published in The Tablet, December 2004, and first run here at the Catholic Astronomer back in 2014, when we were very young…) Like everyone in the congregation that night, [many] years ago, I was struck by the sight of three of my fellow Jesuit community members from the Vatican Observatory on the altar at Midnight Mass: Fr. Sabino Maffeo, wise and vigorous looking even at his advanced age; Fr. Giuseppe Koch, with his wizard-like flowing white beard; and Fr. Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya, young, tall, and African. We astronomers had traveled from the east (all of ten kilometers, from Castel Gandolfo) to celebrate Christmas with the Jesuits at the Massimo High School in Rome. The echo was amusing, if obvious. Indeed during this season, ending at Epiphany with the arrival of the Three Wise Men, inevitably we astronomers asked about the Star of Bethlehem.   What was the star? We don’t know. We weren’t there. There are plenty of … Continue reading →

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