The sky: July 16-23

The sky: July 16-23

Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 17, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, JULY 16 ■ The tail of Scorpius is low due south after dark, to the lower right of the Sagittarius Teapot. Look for the two stars especially close together in Scorpius’s tail. These are Lambda and fainter Upsilon Scorpii, known as the Cat’s Eyes. […]

NASA announces 3rd space launch vehicle, fosters competition for moon program

NASA announces 3rd space launch vehicle, fosters competition for moon program

Special to CosmicTribune.com, May 23, 2023 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher As long as the nation can afford it, redundancy in spacecraft adds to the assurance that the United States can build a presence on the Moon sufficient to deter predations from the Chinese Communist Party’s hegemonic ambitions to control the Earth-Moon System. So, despite a […]

China’s evolving space station raises specter of manned combat operations

China’s evolving space station raises specter of manned combat operations

Special to CosmicTribune.com, May 9, 2023 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher China’s Tiangong space station continues to evolve, raising concerns that China’s dual-use civil/military People’s Liberation Army (PLA) controlled space program is covertly developing military capabilities for its space station. On Dec. 6, 2022, the Chinese publication “Spacecraft Engineering” noted that the Chinese space station could […]

Those spectacular James Webb Space Telescope images: Real or fake?

Those spectacular James Webb Space Telescope images: Real or fake?

Analysis by CosmicTribune.com, July 21, 2022 What are we to make of the new images ostensibly from the James Webb Space Telescope? “These aren’t photographs. They are data visualizations!” noted Tim Fernholz in a report for Quartz. So are we to take these spectacular presentations on faith and the word of the Biden White House […]

Micrometeroid puts a tiny dint in one of 18 mirror segments in James Webb Space Telescope

Micrometeroid puts a tiny dint in one of 18 mirror segments in James Webb Space Telescope

Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 9, 2022 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was struck by a larger than expected micrometeoroid in late May, slightly damaging one of the spacecraft’s 18 primary mirror segments. NASA said that the telescope is “still performing at a level that exceeds all mission requirements.” The telescope cost NASA nearly $10 billion […]

James Webb Space Telescope aligns its 18 hexagonal mirror segments

James Webb Space Telescope aligns its 18 hexagonal mirror segments

Special to CosmicTribune.com, March 23, 2022 2MASS J17554042+6551277 is the coordinate-based catalog designation of the star centered in this sharp field of view of the world’s largest space telescope which was launched on Dec. 25, 2021. The diffraction pattern is created by the 18 hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope. After unfolding, […]

Why does FBI care about solar hurricanes? Observatories closed worldwide for unspecified reasons

Why does FBI care about solar hurricanes? Observatories closed worldwide for unspecified reasons

Special to CosmicTribune.com At the same time Hurricane Florence was bearing down on the east coast of the U.S. and a massive hole opened in the Sun’s corona, at least seven solar observatories/space webcams shut down worldwide, reports say. The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico shut down on Sept. 6 and has not […]

Early astronomers: ‘Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe’

Early astronomers: ‘Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe’

Special to CosmicTribune.com By Bill Federer, Aug. 25, 2018 The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), made a major contribution to the scientific revolution by discovering that the planets revolved, not around the Earth, but around the Sun. Copernicus, who had a doctorate in cannon (church) law, wrote: “The Universe, wrought for us by a supremely […]