March 18, 2022 On this date in 1965, Voskhod 2 was launched by the Soviet Union with a two-man crew, Colonel Pavel Belyayev and Lt. Colonel Aleksey Leonov. During Voskhod 2’s second orbit, Leonov stepped from the vehicle and performed mankind’s first “walk in space.” Image from the FAI report certifying the first spacewalk by… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 17, 2022
March 17, 2022 The full moon officially occurs at 7:18 am tomorrow morning (March 18th). However, at moonrise tonight – 6:40 pm, the moon is at 99.5% illumination. The nearly full moon is visible this evening to the east in the constellation of Virgo. To calculate the lunar phase for any time and date, visit:… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 16, 2022
March 16, 2022 The moon is slowly moving away from Earth. This means that eventually (in millions of years), it will be too far away to completely cover the solar disc during an eclipse, and total solar eclipses will be a thing of the past. Instead, all that would be visible are partial and annular… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 15, 2022
March 15, 2022 Tonight at 8 pm, the waxing gibbous moon will be visible in the constellation of Leo the Lion. The moon is near a group of stars that look like a large, backwards question mark. This question mark shape marks the head and mane of Leo. The bright star at the end of… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 14, 2022
March 14, 2022 On this date in 1934, American astronaut Gene Cernan was born. Cernan flew to the moon twice in his career. The first was as part of Apollo 10, where he helped pilot which did not land, and once on Apollo 17, the final Apollo mission. Cernan is the last person to have… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 13, 2022
March 13, 2022 On this date in 1781, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, which he originally called Georgium sidus, or “George’s Star” after King George III. Astronomers outside of Britain were not fond of this name, and they preferred to call the planet Herschel, after its discoverer. In 1782, Johann Elert Bode proposed the… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 12, 2022
March 12, 2022 This weekend Venus and Mars appear close together in the morning sky just before sunrise. The closest they will appear is 4° apart, with Venus just north of Mars. The best time to observe this pair is around 5 am tomorrow morning (March 13th). They are in the constellation of Capricornus just… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 11, 2022
March 11, 2022 On this date in 1960, NASA launched the Pioneer V spacecraft on its journey to explore the space between Earth and Venus. The last scientific measurements were transmitted back to Earth on June 26, 1960. Although the probe only transmitted sporadically for three and a half months, at almost 22.5 million miles… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 10, 2022
March 10, 2022 On this date in 2006, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) arrived at Mars, successfully completing its orbit insertion. The MRO continues to send back data on the planet’s atmosphere, surface, and subsurface. The focus of this mission is to better understand the history of water on the Red Planet. Scientists have recently… Continue reading
Astronomy Fact of the Day: March 9, 2022
March 9, 2022 The constellation Perseus is visible in the northwest sky tonight at 8 pm. The second brightest star in this constellation is called Algol, which is an eclipsing binary star system. It is comprised of a hot, more massive star and a cooler, less massive star. When the cooler star passes in front… Continue reading