Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 24, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23 ■ Have you ever seen Canopus, the second-brightest star after Sirius? It lies almost due south of Sirius, by 36°. That’s far enough south that it never appears above your horizon unless you’re below latitude 37° N (southern Virginia, southern Missouri, central California). […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 19, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher A December 2024 discovery of a new large asteroid heading our way — even though it has a 99 percent chance of missing the Earth — is nevertheless providing an excuse for China to assemble a “Planetary Defense Force” that could justify China’s building of […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 13, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 oath to “…plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars” has not gone unnoticed in Russia — and very likely also in China. On Feb. 7 Russian dictator Vladimir Putin touted Russia’s longstanding Mars ambitions even though his space […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 10, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10 ■ After dinnertime Sirius the Dog Star blazes in the southeast, the brightest star of Canis Major. Look below Orion. Every February, the Moon is full or nearly so when it crosses Gemini. This February Mars greets it there. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11 ■ Full Moon […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 5, 2025 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher Securing and defending American access to both the Moon and Mars are crucial to the future security of the United States and its democratic allies. Even though during his first term, Trump revived the U.S. manned Moon program in his Executive Order of Dec. 11, […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 3, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2 ■ Today is the center of winter. We cross the midpoint between the December solstice and the March equinox at 6:50 p.m. EST (23:50 UT). That minute is the very bottom of the wheel of the year, astronomically speaking. ■ On Groundhog Day […]
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 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. […]
