Gus Grissom snuck dimes aboard the Liberty 7 capsule. Alan Shepard trumped that by taking a modified 6 iron and a golf ball on Apollo 14. Today, NASA permits astronauts to take a few items along on shuttle flights, as long as they aren’t potato chips...

I just finished the second edition of Observing the Moon — the Modern Astronomer’s Guide by Gerald North ( Cambridge University Press , 2007). Nice. If you fancy yourself a lunar observer, have made a commitment to one day observe the Moon, or even if...

Back in March, I wrote about Astrocast , a non-profit web channel that produces videos on astronomy. The show is designed to reach anybody with an interest in the sky, who may have seen astronomy information on television or the web and wants to learn...

Have you heard the news? Astronomers have observed the early phase of an exploding star. It’s 2008d, the “ supernova caught in the act .” If you are in the science media, you can’t help having heard about it. For days, we’ve been in the midst of a...

The Space Place's Jim Lattis as he showed us around the facility. David J. Eicher Tucked away in a strip mall in Madison, Wisconsin, lies one of the nicest astronomy education and outreach facilities that I’ve ever seen. The Space Place , located...

NASA engineers have proposed a mission to an asteroid threatening Earth. Bruce Damer (DigitalSpace) I’m happy to report NASA may be planning to do more about the as-yet unaddressed asteroid threat to Earth than helplessly watch giant space rocks whiz...

Have you downloaded Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope (WWT)? If not, you can find it here , free of charge. Once you kick the tires, be sure to join our community. WWT communities provide tours, images, and other information relating to the night...

Have NASA astronomers discovered the black hole in the Milky Way’s center where lost socks turn into X rays? Tune in next week to find out. Ute Kraus (Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik) NASA has found something amazing in our galaxy. Unfortunately...

Marlon Cowart (right) presents Bob Shutan with the the LakeSky Star Award. LCAS The Lake County Astronomical Society (LCAS) is based in northeastern Illinois, just across the border from Astronomy ’s home state of Wisconsin. The group’s outreach efforts...