Although the fall season doesn’t officially start for another few weeks, it is time to head back to school (for those who didn’t already start last week). College students probably have just spent an arm and a leg on books, room and board, and tuition. And some might now be thinking, “I could really use some scholarship help right now.” Well, for those studying aeronautics or related fields, NASA offers a great opportunity: the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship...

Two stories last week suggest that the NASA of tomorrow will be substantially different from the NASA of today. The New York Times had a story August 24 questioning whether NASA could possibly reach its stated goals of another Moon landing by 2020 given the poor funding it receives. Apparently, a blue-ribbon panel commissioned by the Obama administration considered the current manned-flight plans “not executable” without serious increases to the organization...

Each week, Astronomy magazine Senior Editor Michael Bakich , a master at explaining how to observe, posts a podcast about three objects or events you can see in the sky. In each episode, Michael highlights: One object you can see without any optical aid One object you can see with a small (4-inch) telescope One object you can see with at least an 8-inch telescope Targets for August 28-September 4, 2009 Binoculars: Thuban Small telescope: The Hercules...

Each year Astronomy magazine publishes an article highlighting what we consider the top 10 astronomy stories of the previous year. I’ve started working on the article for 2009 and thought I’d share a few of our ideas for the big stories. We also want your feedback. So if there’s a story you feel strongly should be on our list, let us know! Of course, the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope has to be on this list. Reviving the aging telescope...

A guest blog from Lynne Hillenbrand, Caltech’s executive officer of astronomy The Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics on the campus of the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California, is home to many of the world's pioneers in astronomical discovery, experiment, and theory. Our new building, opened in January, was designed to incorporate groups from across the campus into a single space and to foster their interactions...

Now that the October issue of Astronomy is in the mail, we’ve updated Astronomy.com with our newest web extras to give subscribers exclusive complementary information on the issue. Take a sneak peek inside the October issue . Also, watch Editor Dave Eicher's video preview of the October 2009 issue . If you subscribe to Astronomy , make sure you’re registered with Astronomy.com so you can access these great extras. Here are this issue's highlights...

As I’m sure we all know, Pluto, the former ninth planet in our solar system, suffered a demotion 3 years ago when the International Astronomical Union reclassified it as a dwarf planet . I won’t get into the specifics behind the decision, but I will say the public outcry over what I’d expect to be a minor scientific matter always baffled me. As Dr. Michael Brown of Monash University in Melbourne has put it, the debate’s like arguing over the distinction...

My 4-year-old godson, Dylan, lives in Las Vegas. His mother, Jennifer, recently bought him an astronomically themed lunch box. On it were the planets of our solar system. After studying the image for some time, Dylan asked his mother why his lunch box pictured only eight planets. You might be asking the same question. This week is the third anniversary of the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) decision to remove Pluto from the family of planets...

In my newest video, I give you an overview of dark matter , that mysterious stuff that makes up some 90 percent of the universe’s mass. During the last few decades, astronomers have gained convincing evidence that stars, gas, and dust aren’t all there is to the universe. Most of it is “dark” — both dark matter and dark energy. This video focuses on dark matter, and it’s the second video in a series called “Cosmology 101.” Also check out the video...

Longtime Astronomy contributor John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, sent us a video we had to share with you. It shows 3 nights of Perseid meteor activity beginning with the evening of August 11 and continuing through the morning hours of August 14. During that time, Chumack recorded more than 240 meteors. He condensed the videos into a movie that runs just under 1 minute. During that minute, you’ll see the stars advance as Earth rotates. The Moon rises...