Dave Eicher, editor of Astronomy magazine and science popularizer, brings you thoughts about astronomy, cosmology, nature, the hobby of astronomy, the sometimes disturbingly pseudoscientific culture we live in, and more.
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Welcome Samantha Hill!

Posted 2 years ago by Alison Klesman
It’s my distinct pleasure to welcome Samantha Hill as our new editorial assistant for Astronomy and Discover magazines. Samantha hails from Montana, where she graduated from the University of Montana in 2015 with a degree in journalism. During her college years she interned for Metro Boston and Missoulian. She also traveled to the Mekong region of Vietnam to study as part of her minor in climate change studies.  After school, Samantha worked for a newspaper, the Livingston Enterpri...
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Astronomy welcomes Caitlyn Buongiorno

Posted 4 years ago by Alison Klesman
Please help us welcome to Astronomy’s staff Caitlyn Buongiorno as our new associate editor. During her final year at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign, Caitlyn wrote the first alumni newsletter for the Astronomy Department, sparking her interest in science journalism. After earning her bachelor’s degree in astronomy and creative writing, Caitlyn took on an internship with Fermi National Accelerator laboratory. Following the completion of her internship, Caitlyn continue...
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Brian May and David Eicher to give talks in London, Bath, and Amsterdam

Posted 5 years ago by Jake Parks
In just a few short weeks, Queen guitarist Brian May and Astronomy Editor-in-Chief David Eicher will travel to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to discuss their latest book: Mission Moon 3-D. by Dave Eicher In February, Brian May and David Eicher will deliver talks in support of their book MISSION MOON 3-D, published in October by the London Stereoscopic Company and MIT Press. The book features a unique set of 150 stereoscopic images of the Apollo Moon missions and the space race from its...
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Starmus Festival's star-studded lineup for 2019 announced

Posted 5 years ago by Jake Parks
Seven Apollo astronauts, 12 Nobel Prize winners, 20 space explorers, Michael Collins, Alexei Leonov, Brian May, Brian Eno, Richard Dawkins, Jill Tarter, Chris Hadfield, Martin Rees, and Alan Stern head an all-star cast at Starmus V. by Dave Eicher I’m delighted to say that I’ll be at the fifth Starmus Festival as a speaker and participant June 24–29, 2019, in Zurich, Switzerland. I heartily encourage you to attend, as there’s nothing else in the world like this science...
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New Horizons' first look at Ultima Thule reveals cosmic bowling pin

Posted 5 years ago by Jake Parks
Just before the ball dropped in Times Square last night, the New Horizons spacecraft zipped past the distant Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule, located far beyond Pluto. by Dave Eicher A tense atmosphere hung over the auditorium at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab on New Year’s morning 2019, as several hundred scientists, engineers, media members, and guests waited for confirmation that their spacecraft was alive. And then, at 10:29 a.m. EST, Alan Stern and his enormous...
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Why you should join me in Costa Rica

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
The great astronomer Bart Bok, who defined our knowledge of the Milky Way Galaxy, used to say that when it came to astronomical observing, “All the good stuff is in the southern sky.” He said it with a twinkle in his eye, but it wasn’t much of an exaggeration.  A mere 15 percent of Earth’s inhabitants live in the Southern Hemisphere, but a majority of amazingly bright, eye-popping deep-sky objects lie deep in the southern sky.  That’s one reason you sh...
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"New Horizons" for Brian May with new release of solo track

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Limitless Wonders In A Never-Ending Sky We May Never Reach Them That’s Why We Have To Try   “New Horizons” for Brian May With Brand New Solo Track Global Digital Release  12.02am EST January 1, 2019   Queen’s Brian May is to release his first new entirely solo work in over two decades with the global digital release January 1 of a brand new track, “New Horizons”, written by Brian and Don Black, recor...
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Starmus V announced for Zurich, Switzerland, June 24-29, 2019

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
STARMUS V, Host of The Stephen Hawking Medal, Prepare for a Historic Line-up of Apollo Space Pioneers, Science Luminaries and Rock Stars in 2019.  (As anticipation builds for the world’s most celebrated collaboration of science, art and music, STARMUS proudly announces their headlining programme at Davos.) (December 19th, 2018) Zurich, Switzerland: Fans from around the globe will descend on Zurich, Switzerland from June 24-29, 2019, to celebrate the world’s most notable s...
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Get a sneak peek at Mission Moon 3-D

Posted 6 years ago by Alison Klesman
Please join me for this short video about MISSION MOON 3-D, my new book with Brian May. You can order it at MyScienceShop.com.  Keep lookin' up!!! ...
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Flying over Meteor Crater with Dr. Brian May

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
OK, catching up on writing now. A few weeks ago during that Arizona trip, Michael Bakich and I had the opportunity to fly over Meteor Crater with Brian May, who was on a short holiday from playing Las Vegas with Queen. We circled the crater from the air, took numerous pictures and video, and then had a remarkable visit to the crater on the ground. We discussed the crater’s history and geology at length with David Kring, one of the world’s leading experts on the crater, and were hos...
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A visit to Lowell Observatory with Dr. Brian May

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Writing projects have been consuming me over the past few weeks — a special issue in March upcoming, and many featured Apollo stories you will see shortly. I am FINALLY able to catch up on a little blogging. Here goes: Last month I had the distinct pleasure of taking my friend Brian May, astronomer and founding member and guitarist of Queen, to Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Discovering that I would be in the area, and so would he, we decided to rendezvous for a several-day-l...
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Mission Moon 3-D by David J. Eicher and Brian May arrives! Order now!

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
MISSION MOON 3-D by David J. Eicher and Brian May arrives; order now at https://myscienceshop.com/product/book/81192 !!! Foreword by Charle Duke; afterword by Jim Lovell. “Get as close to walking on the Moon as possible . . . without ever traveling there.” — Charlie Duke • 150 stereo photos of the Apollo missions and space race, the largest collection ever published — many never seen before in stereo. • Special 3-D viewer and introduction to st...
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Thebookseller announce #MissionMoon3D to the industry

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Thebookseller announce #MissionMoon3D to the industry "Brian May’s London Stereoscopic Company (LSC) is publishing its seventh title in October to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing. The Queen guitarist has teamed up with Astronomy magazine editor Dave Eicher to write the book, which also has a foreword from astronaut Charlie Duke to create a “visual masterpiece” about the Space Race and the Apollo Moon Landings." https://www.thebookseller...
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David Eicher to discuss Meteor Crater on Asteroid Day

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Asteroid Day is here again!!  So much is going on that I have been silent on my blog for a long time. Many, many projects swimming in various states.  I will be honored to be a guest on the Asteroid Day broadcast tomorrow, June 29, at approximately 7:20 a.m. CDT (2:20 p.m. in Berlin, from the broadcast point), discussing my recent journey to the floor of Meteor Crater. Very interesting scientific things are happening with the analysis of the world’s best preserved impact crat...
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A visit to Miami University's Geology Museum

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
When I was down in my hometown of Oxford, Ohio, a few weeks ago, delivering a talk and visiting folks at Miami University, my old stomping grounds, I had the pleasure of seeing the newly rebuilt and reopened Karl E. Limper Geology Museum. I’ve been a fan of geology and mineralogy for a long time, and the new museum in Miami’s Shideler Hall, is really, well . . . pun intended . . . a gem. Under the directorship of Kendall Hauer, the museum now has opened with a large, clean, and mod...
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A visit to Miami University's Physics Department

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Trips, trips, trips. I’ve been running around a bit and desperately trying to catch up with various things. One of those is to share this blog about the delightful visit I had to Miami University’s Physics Department a few weeks ago.  As I wrote about earlier, I had the good fortune to deliver the annual George C. Benson Memorial Lecture at Miami on April 12, talking about “The New Cosmos.” As a guest of Physics Department chair Herbert Jaeger, my good friend As...
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NEAF 2018 a spectacular success!

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
The Northeast Astronomy Forum, the largest telescope show and astronomy equipment fair in the United States, took place at Rockland Community College, Suffern, New York, April 21–22, 2018. As always, it was a great success, with more than 100 vendors showing telescopes, cameras, binoculars, and all manner of accessories, books, magazines, and collectible goods for the hobby of astronomy. I was privileged to represent Astronomy magazine at the show, along with my comrades in the advertisi...
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Astronomy Magazine at NEAF 2018

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
The largest consumer telescope show in the nation takes place this coming weekend at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, about an hour away from New York City. I’ll be there along with advertising gurus Steve Meni and Dina Johnston, and will be hanging out mostly in the Astronomy Magazine booth in the fieldhouse. Stop by and say hello to us, and catch up with what’s happening at Astronomy Magazine these days. It’s a lot. We’ll have plenty of magazines and o...
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David Eicher delivers Benson Lecture at Miami University

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
On Thursday, April 12, I had great fun back in my hometown of Oxford, Ohio, where I was born, grew up, and went to school. The gracious folks of the Physics Department at Miami University, my alma mater, invited me to deliver the annual memorial lecture for the department, the George C. Benson Memorial Lecture. The lecture honors its namesake, George Benson, who was a very well liked postdoc at Miami in physics. He was killed tragically in a plane crash in early 1967. One of the highlights o...
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David Eicher to speak about "The New Cosmos" at Miami University

Posted 6 years ago by Amber Jorgenson
David Eicher, the editor of Astronomy Magazine, will be returning to his alma mater to lead a talk on "The New Cosmos" at Miami University's Benson Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 12, 2018. The annual event honors George C. Benson, who earned his Master's Degree in Physics at Miami University and lost his life too soon. The event has hosted speakers with impressive backgrounds in science, including three Nobel Laureates, and features wide ranges of discussion topics — f...
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Remembering Stephen Hawking

Posted 6 years ago by Amber Jorgenson
Astronomy’s Editor David Eicher pays tribute to the great physicist, lost to the world last week.  Click on the image for a PDF of the article. ...
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Dark skies over Costa Rica

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Last week I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of 39 Astronomy Magazine readers to Costa Rica for our 2018 Southern Sky Star Party. What a wonderful trip it was. In conjunction with our travel partner, TravelQuest, and its leader Aram Kaprielian, we were able to see great treasures of the southern sky that can’t be viewed from the north. The Southern Cross, the Coal Sack, the Carina Nebula, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and deep-sky gems in Centaurus, Scorpius, and Sagittarius, held ...
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Dark-sky viewing in remote Arizona!

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
I spent several days having fun last week in the astronomical capital of the United States, Tucson, Arizona. I’ve long had a love of Tucson — it’s everything that Milwaukee isn’t. Great skies, warm temps, and the desert is beautiful. Moreover, not only is Tucson the capital of professional astronomy, it’s also the center of another great hobby, mineralogy and mineral collecting. Last week I spent a couple vacation days at the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, an...
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Astronomy's Tucson Star Party a big success!

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
On Saturday, February 10, 2018, 180 astronomy enthusiasts showed up at Pima Community College’s East Campus in Tucson, Arizona, for the latest Astronomy Magazine Public Star Party. Despite an afternoon threat of hazy clouds, we persevered and thanks to great local support, had several hours of observing the sky. Amateur astronomers from the beginner level all the way through experienced old hands enjoyed looking at the Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, star cluster M41, the Pleiades, and...
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Starmus V announced for Bern, Switzerland, June 24-29, 2019

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
PRESS RELEASE — —  Starmus V announces a star-studded 2019 line-up, featuring five original members of the Apollo Mission crew May-Britt Moser, Brian Cox and Arthur McDonald will join Tim Peake, Gennady Padalka and Nicole Stott at the fifth world-famous festival of science and art in Bern, Switzerland.   Starmus has announced a stellar line-up of Nobel Prize Winners and prominent figures from science and art for its fifth festival, next year. Timed to coincide with ...
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Exciting year ahead for Lowell Observatory

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
I’m really pleased to be involved with Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, a cherished institution, as a member of their Advisory Board. Last year’s meeting was my first, and now Jeff Hall, the observatory’s director, has announced that the annual board meeting this year will take place again in June. I expect to take a trip to the observatory and create several exciting projects while there — filming some locations like Lowell, the U.S. Naval Observatory, Meteor ...
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Join us for an incredible trip to Iceland!

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Save the dates: October 3–13, 2018. On those dates, Astronomy Magazine and our travel partner, TravelQuest International, will host an amazing trip to Iceland to bask in the overhead glow of auroral displays and wander in amazement at Iceland’s unique geology. It’s one of the best places on the planet to see the Northern Lights, and also a place so geologically interesting, with geysers, geothermal pools, waterfalls, and amazing landscapes, that you will have never seen anyth...
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Dave Eicher to speak at Miami University

Posted 6 years ago by David Eicher
Astronomy Magazine Editor Dave Eicher will deliver the annual invited Miami University Physics Department Lecture on Thursday, April 12, 2018, in Oxford, Ohio. Returning to his native town and the university where he studied, Eicher will speak on “The New Cosmos” in the Benson Memorial Lecture, which is named for and honors George C. Benson, a hard-working Miami physics student whose life tragically ended much too soon.  Eicher’s lecture will touch on recent discoveries...
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Did you know Astronomy Magazine sells a cool Mars globe?

Posted 7 years ago by David Eicher
Did you know that Astronomy Magazine created and sells the coolest Mars globe in the solar system? This amazing new product is extremely handsome — an absolute must for anyone who loves the Red Planet. These things are selling like hotcakes and now you can have your own to adorn your desk, office, study, observatory — wherever you want to plant Mars.  Our globe is a full 12 inches across, affording incredibly good resolution of the numerous labeled surface features. In all, s...
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Astronomy Magazine Celebrates 45th Anniversary Year

Posted 7 years ago by David Eicher
Get ready for an exciting year upcoming with Astronomy Magazine. On May 27, 1973, Stephen Walther, a Wisconsin astronomy enthusiast, founded the magazine. The first issue, August 1973, was published soon thereafter. Now, 45 years later, Astronomy Magazine is the largest circulation publication on astronomy in the world, a title it has held since 1981. Our 100,000 monthly print circulation, 700,000 monthly website unique visitors, and 1.4 million social media followers make us the largest commu...
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