Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 29, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher On the way toward fulfilling a campaign promise and beginning a shift of the global strategic balance of power back toward the United States — to include putting defensive U.S. weapons in space — on Jan. 27 President Donald J. Trump signed his executive order […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 27, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, JANUARY 27 ■ While the evenings are still dark and moonless, use big binoculars or a telescope to hunt down the 8th-magnitude globular cluster M79 in Lepus below the feet of Orion. Summer is the season for most globular clusters, but here we have a rare […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 22, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher On Jan. 20, 2024 a reelected President Donald J. Trump began his peaceful “revolution of common sense,” inaugural address featuring national optimism and purpose. But Trump also laid down a momentous challenge to Americans, allies and enemies alike with the potential to upend the global […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 20, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, JANUARY 20 ■ Zero-magnitude Capella high overhead, and zero-magnitude Rigel in Orion’s foot, have almost the same right ascension. This means they cross your sky’s meridian at almost exactly the same time: around 9 p.m. now, depending on how far east or west you live in […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 15, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher A deadly space competition between China and the United States was demonstrated by Jan.12 article in the unofficial Chinese state media South China Morning Post (SCMP) on how Chinese engineers are developing the means to target U.S. satellite mega-constellations. The SCMP article was likely coercive […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 13, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 ■ Mars is nearest to Earth tonight, appearing 14.6 arcseconds wide and magnitude –1.4. That’s as bright as Sirius, which sparkles whitely about four fists to Mars’s lower right in early evening, and directly below Mars when they’re highest around midnight or 1 a.m. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 8, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher For its first satellite launch for 2025, China decided to demonstrate the dual-use nature of its space program, by launching its Shi Jian (Experimental)-25 satellite, ostensibly to test satellite refueling, but which can also perfect satellite interception, capture and destruction skills for the new Aerospace […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 6, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, JANUARY 6 ■ First-quarter Moon (exactly first-quarter at 6:56 p.m. EST). Find the Great Square of Pegasus to the Moon’s upper right shortly after dark, and directly right of the Moon later. A diagonal through the Square points at the Moon (for evening in North America). […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 1, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher In Dec. 2024 China has revealed that it is making advances that could enable its domination of “Near Space,” which could go far to ensure that China can dominate military conflicts on Earth. Like the United States, China has long viewed the region known as […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, December 30, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29 ■ As the year nears its end, Orion fully comes into his own. He’s striding up the east-southeastern sky as soon as it gets dark, with his three-star Belt nearly vertical. Left of the Belt is orange Betelgeuse and right of the Belt […]