I just finished writing an article about the telescope’s history (you know, with the International Year of Astronomy coming up in 2009). I know that in the astronomy world aperture fever runs wild, but wow, some of these telescopes are just ginormous!! It must have been quite an experience just to operate something like the 72-inch “Leviathan of Parsonstown” — even though telescopes like the Yerkes 40-inch (pictured at right) and Lick 36-inch refractors...

Whoever said NASA is only about serious space and aeronautics work obviously hasn’t checked out the government agency’s annual Great Moonbuggy Race . Here’s NASA’s press release about this exciting and entertaining competition: Registration is open for NASA's 16th annual Great Moonbuggy Race, taking place April 3-4, 2009, in Huntsville, Alabama. Each year, NASA challenges high schools and colleges across the country and the world to design and...

NASA announced a great new opportunity for teachers to use the space program’s discoveries as educational tools in their classrooms. The NASA Endeavor Science Teaching Fellowship Project will award 40 one-year fellowships to educators during the next 5 years. These fellowships will allow teachers to translate current NASA science and engineering projects into usable information for students in grades K–12. According to NASA, the goal of the project...

I asked Astronomy magazine’s Circulation Manager Paul Daniel for an update on our first Young Astronomers Video Contest. Here’s what he shared: UPDATED: "We now have 14 entries in the Young Astronomers Video Contest and they are looking great. They have come from New York, Michigan, and Oklahoma. Matter of fact, seven of them came from Oliver Middle School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Boy, are they overachievers! Most recently, we have received...