Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 22, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 ■ Goodbye to summer — at last! Today is equinox day. Earth passes the September equinox point in its orbit at 8:44 a.m. EDT (12:44 UT). This is when the Sun, in its six-month journey south, crosses the celestial equator — and equivalently, […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September18, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher U.S. Space Force Commander Gen. B. Chance Saltzman used his Sept. 17 keynote address to the 2024 Air, Space, Cyber Symposium of the United States Air Force Association to highlight U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s imperative that the Space Force prepare for “Great Power Competition” […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 15, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 ■ The two brightest stars of September evenings are Vega high overhead and Arcturus in the west, both magnitude 0. ■ Saturn this evening glows about 5° to the left of the nearly full Moon. Watch the Moon close in on it as the […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 11, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher China revealed how it plans to occupy the Moon, conduct asteroid defense of the Earth, and propagandized about its space program at the Sept. 4-6 second annual conference of China’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL), or Tiandu Forum. China’s Moon plans were briefed by Wu […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 9, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 ■ Right after nightfall, the thickening crescent Moon shines low in the southwest. Look almost two fists upper left of it for orange Antares. Two thirds of the way from the Moon to Antares is the near-vertical row of three stars marking the […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 4, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher In order to meet the National Air Space Administration’s (NASA) new goal of putting Americans back on the Moon in September 2026 for the Artemis III mission, does the United States need new but simpler space architecture, or should it seek to rationalize elements of […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 1, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. The thin waning crescent Moon guides the way to Mercury low in bright dawn on the mornings of August 31st and September 1st. Bring binoculars. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 ■ Look for bright Vega passing the zenith as twilight fades away, if you live in the world’s […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 28, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher An article in the June 2024 issue of the Chinese journal Aerospace China offers a review of China’s growing commercial space sector focusing on space launcher and mega satellite constellation makers, but it offers fewer insights into potential commercial manned space efforts. Ultimately, the Chinese […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 25, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 ■ The last-quarter Moon rises late, around 11 p.m. (It’s exactly last quarter at 5:26 a.m. Monday morning.) Spot the Pleiades a few degrees to the Moon’s upper right. Once it rises high it shines above much else in Taurus, as shown below. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 20, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher A recent report reveals that one or more Western governments are concerned that China is in the process of proliferating satellite data services and satellite technology to Iran, that could eventually enable Iran to achieve precision targeting against Israel and then against global targets, for […]
