Not all light passing in front of our beloved stars and deep-sky objects is bad. Sometimes cosmic dust motes enter our atmosphere, super-heat, and create streaks called meteors. And the more, the merrier. When lots of streaks come from the same point in the sky, astronomers call the event a meteor shower. Amateur astronomers observe lots of meteor showers. This type of observing is easy: You don't need any special equipment; it's cheap; it's...

They've discovered Earth ... again. The astronomy blogosphere is abuzz with news of "shrunken versions of our solar system" and "miniature worlds in the making," at least according to the press releases I've been reading. Nobody has called them " Hobbit solar systems" yet, but give them time. Alexander Scholz of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland , and Ray Jayawardhana from the University of Toronto reported...

In my spare time, I collect vinyl albums. My collection mostly includes 45s and LPs from rock's early days and formative years. In my digging through stacks, I've found a few gems, but never a rarity that would compel a collector to sign for a second mortgage. Although it isn't listed in most catalogs, I know where you can find the Holy Grail — or Grails — of record collectors. You'll have to go beyond eBay for these records. These...

Happy Thanksgiving! Many of us will take this holiday as an opportunity to reunite with family and friends. We'll cook, enjoy a variety of food, nap, and watch our favorite football teams. Ok, then what? I have a suggestion. If it's clear, pull out your telescope. Better yet, have it already set up and ready to go. If you're like me, you won't be helping out much in the kitchen. Not that I don't want to, mind you. My talent just...

Today marks the birth of 18th-century astronomer Frederick William Herschel. Born November 15, 1738, Herschel made many discoveries during his lifetime. Most notable among his contributions to astronomy include determining the shape of the Milky Way, determining the rotation period of Saturn's rings, and sketching changes in Jupiter's atmosphere. Discoveries Mars and Jupiter show axial rotation Planet Uranus (1781) Uranus's two largest...

I am devastated. Our blog didn't win the 2007 Weblog Award for best science blog! The competition was pretty fierce. And the other bloggers blog every day, and post lots and lots of pictures and hot links. Show offs! There were 4,000 nominations in 49 categories. Voting for the 2007 Weblog Awards began in October 2007. The winners received their awards at the Blogworld and New Media Expo in Las Vegas November 9. Of interest to sky fans, the winners...

It's amazing that Tom Hanks has evolved from Bosom Buddies ' Kip to an Academy Award-winning actor and a leading proponent of World War II veterans and space exploration. Recently, Hanks reprised his role as a space ambassador by narrating the IMAX film Magnificent Desolation — Walking on the Moon . Unfortunately, you'll be hard-pressed to find the production on an IMAX screen now. Released on November 6, you can now view the movie from...

If you've followed my blogging, you know I love books. On Friday, November 2, I visited Linda Hall Library in Kansas City with Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher and contributing editor Raymond Shubinski. Linda Hall ranks as one of the world's finest science libraries, and it has a terrific collection of rare astronomy books. During the visit, we sat at a table and paged through a first edition of Isaac Newton's Principia — the book in which...

It’s the year 2030, and humans are finally undertaking interplanetary travel with a historic mission to the Red Planet. This is the premise for Discovery Channel Canada’s 4-hour “Race to Mars” mini-series, which the network describes as its most ambitious project to date. (Watch the trailer .) The show premiered in Canada September 23, but air dates for the U.S. are not yet available. However, the companion book to the series is. In Race to Mars ...

My recreational reading ebbs seasonally in a manner generally corresponding to the release of select DVD sets. While I prefer to keep my fanboy side from showing too prominently, my recent excuses for letting the books pile up include the second season of Battlestar Galactica and Season 3 of Stargate Atlantis . For me, the best science fiction explores our relationship with and the limitations of technology, and both TV shows do so in different ways...