For the last two weeks, McDonald Observatory’s mountaintop perch has been under siege, as a catastrophic inferno noe called the Rock House Fire has scorched more than 215,275 acres of the surrounding countryside. Dozens of homes and businesses have been destroyed in Fort Davis, which is about 10 miles to [...]
The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, are not a common sight in South Central Texas. An aurora is caused by the collision of charged particles from a coronal mass ejection (CME) with the Earth’s magnetic field. As a result of natural mechanism, energy releases in the atmosphere are made visible [...]Astronomers and Star Gazers need a challenge when observing. Novices can be easily overwhelmed by long lists of challenging objects. Expert observers can be so focused on their projects, they easily can ignore the challenge provided by observing with different instruments. By presenting three objects in each of several different [...]In Memoriam Nine years ago today, February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia was returning from a routine research mission to study microgravity and Earth science with a multitude of international scientific investigations conducted continuously during its 16 days in orbit, when it disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana. Although the [...]In Memoriam Twenty six years ago I was on my way to class when I decided to watch the the Challenger launch at the Student Lounge in the Science Building at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Little did I know that the two dozen students in the lounge [...]In Memoriam It was 44 years ago today that a fire in the cabin during a launch pad test at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members – Command Pilot Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee – and destroyed the Command [...]CME IMPACT: As predicted by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, a CME hit Earth’s magnetic field on 24 January at ~1500 UT (9 am CST). A geomagnetic storm is brewing in the aftermath of the impact, but as this alert is being written it is too soon to [...]One of the more prominent stars in the night sky and the brightest is α Canis Majoris, better known as Sirius or the “Dog Star. At a distance of 8.6 lightyears, Sirius is the fifth closest known star. It is a slightly bluish, white main sequence dwarf star of spectral [...][don't censor the web] [Translate]Astronomers and Star Gazers need a challenge when observing. Novices can be easily overwhelmed by long lists of challenging objects. Expert observers can be so focused on their projects, they easily can ignore the challenge provided by observing with different instruments. By presenting three objects in each of several different [...]One the questions often posed to and by astronomers this time of year is “What was the Star of Bethlehem?” Was the Star of Bethlehem a real astronomical event? Was it a myth created by the early church? Or could it have been something else? The Star of Bethlehem is [...]
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