I’m once again headed to Pasadena, California, to attend the fifth annual Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (PATS). This manufacturers show, to be held Saturday and Sunday, September 22–23, at the Pasadena Convention Center, exists on three...

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I don’t like the Olympics. The incessant coverage, the ridiculous posturing, the overt commercialization, the faux patriotism (oh, yeah, you really cared about the American badminton team five months...

On August 26, the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona discovered a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) that now has the designation 2012 QG 42 . This space rock measures approximately 1,000 feet (300 meters) across. Astronomers classify any asteroid as a...

Well, Jupiter’s done it again. The biggest planet in the solar system was the site of a bright impact early Monday morning, similar to collisions in the summers of 2010 and 2009 . Scientists and observers aren’t sure exactly what hit Jupiter...

One of the reasons Astronomy chose the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU) as its 2010 Out-of-this-world Award winner was its clear dedication to outreach. That’s why I was happy, but not surprised, to see the group’s interest in joining...

Magazine editors can be excused if they sometimes can be heard muttering aloud, “If our readers only knew what went into making this issue.” That thought has occurred often to me in the last two months after I came over from The Writer magazine...

As fellow Associate Editor Liz Kruesi and I approach our 20th episode of Liz and Bill's Cosmic Adventures , we feel like it’s a great occasion for a new title sequence. By the time it airs, we’ll have been using the same music and goofy walking...