Type: Astronomy Fact of the Day

January 14, 2022 Tonight the moon exhibits a waxing gibbous phase as it makes its way towards full moon over the coming nights. At 8 pm, the moon will be visible high in the southeastern sky. It is currently positioned in the middle of the Winter Circle – a group of seven bright stars used… Continue reading →

January 13, 2022 On this date in 1990, astronauts aboard the space shuttle mission STS-32 were woken up using the song Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. This was in reference to the student SEEDS experiment that sent 12.5 million tomato seeds into orbit aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). To read more about the… Continue reading →

January 12, 2022 Visible in the northern sky is Polaris – the North Star, surrounded by the Big Dipper, and Cassiopeia. However, the Diné, or Navajo, see the Big Dipper as Náhookòs Bi’kà’ (“Male Revolving One”) and Cassiopeia as Náhookòs Bi’áád (“Female Revolving One”) who sit on either side of Polaris or Náhookòs Bikò‘ (“Central… Continue reading →

January 11, 2022 On this date in 1787, only 6 years after his discovery of Uranus, William Herschel discovered Uranus’ largest moons Titania and Oberon. Almost nothing was known of these moons until Voyager 2 passed by in 1986. Even following this flyby, we still known little about these moons. What was discovered is they… Continue reading →

January 10, 2022 The theoretical coldest temperature possible is referred to as absolute zero, or -459.67°F (-273.15°C). For reference, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -128.6°F (-89.2°C) in Vostok, Antarctica, 1983. The coldest temperature recorded in the solar system was in the permanently shadowed craters near the south pole of the moon that… Continue reading →

January 9, 2022 Mercury and Venus are both considered inferior planets, which means they orbit closer to the Sun than the Earth. Due to this, both planets experience phases when viewed from Earth, just like the moon. This phenomenon was first observed by Galileo in 1610 and provided support for the heliocentric model of the… Continue reading →

January 8, 2022 Tonight the moon will be in a waxing crescent phase. It will be clearly visible in the southwest around 8 pm. If you have an unobstructed view, Jupiter will also be visible about 5 degrees above the horizon. To measure 5 degrees, hold your first three fingers perpendicular to the horizon at… Continue reading →

January 7, 2022 Galileo Galilei discovered four moons of Jupiter on this date in 1610. This is one of the most significant discoveries ever made with a telescope. Today these moons are named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto. The four Galilean moons of Jupiter and views of their surface. Image credit: NASA.

January 6, 2022 A waxing crescent moon can be found in the southwest after sunset. About 23% of the lunar disk will be illuminated. A waxing crescent moon with roughly 23% of the lunar disk illuminated will be seen after sunset on January 6, 2021. Image credit: NASA, SVS, Ernie Wright.

January 5, 2022 On this date in 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a bill that marked the start of the space shuttle program. In total, five different space shuttles would fly to space over a period of 30 years. 135 space shuttle missions occurred during the space shuttle era. Image on left shows early space… Continue reading →