STS-125 astronauts Mike Massimino (lower left) and Mike Good (right, on arm) rehearse Hubble Space Telescope repairs in NASA’s NBL in this IMAX footage from Hubble 3D . NASA photo Toni Myers is my kind of big-time Hollywood director. She’s worked on such famous space-themed IMAX movies as Space Station 3D , Destiny in Space , and 1985’s The Dream is Alive . I remember seeing Dream is Alive when I was just a kid, and it played no small role in my fascination...

I’m at the 2009 Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (PATS) that runs Saturday and Sunday. Early Friday, I ducked into several sessions of the Riverside Astroimaging Workshop (RAW). Organizers of RAW this year found speakers to present sessions on “affordable” and “advanced” imaging. Don Goldman from Astrodon Filters gave more seasoned astrophotographers a 2-hour talk on narrowband imaging. Don contributes fabulous deep-sky images to Astronomy, and...

Following the dedication of Astronomy magazine’s observatory , and of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh’s telescope at Rancho Hidalgo, New Mexico, desert adventure awaited us. Astronomy ’s publisher Kevin Keefe had joined me to trek out to visit developer Gene Turner and Loy Guzman, our hosts at Rancho Hidalgo. With the many guests from the night before now departed, we set about exploring nearby attractions surrounding the Hidalgo site — Portal, Arizona...

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 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 21-28, 2009 Binoculars: Stars Algedi and Dabih Small telescope: M73...

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 July 31-August 7, 2009 Binoculars: Small Sagittarius Star Cloud Small telescope...

In a twist on the amateur-astronomer-helps-professionals storyline, Yale astronomers discovered a group of galaxies by enlisting citizen scientists’ help not with stargazing, but computer gazing. The galaxies, dubbed the “Green Peas” because of their small, green appearance, were discovered as part of an online project called Galaxy Zoo , where volunteers have helped classify galaxies in a huge online picture gallery since 2007. Apparently the volunteers...

It looks like gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) just became even more inscrutable. And that’s saying something for the brightest — and potentially most destructive — known objects in the universe. Even though it’s still a mystery just how these things work, scientists believed GRBs originated from a giant “fireball” made up of traditional matter, spewed out during black hole formation. But a recent paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters (August 1, 2009...

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 July 17-24, 2009 Binoculars: Barnard's E Small telescope: The Double...

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 July 17-24, 2009 Naked eye: The Coathanger Small telescope: Globular cluster...