Beyond Bones

During the next few weeks, Comet Pan-STARRS will grace our skies as a naked-eye comet. As its name indicates, astronomers discovered this comet on June 6, 2011, using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, a planned array of telescopes in Hawaii. This array’s primary mission is to detect near-Earth objects (comets and asteroids […]

Perhaps you were able to observe Comet McNaught this past June and July.  In case you missed that comet, however, another brighter than average comet has approached the Earth this October. Comet Hartley 2 is now visible in binoculars, and could be a naked-eye object around the time of its closest approach to Earth on October 20. […]

Are you an early riser and up before the crack of dawn?  If so, I encourage you to look up as you pick up that morning paper as there are two special treats in the June 2010 morning sky. photo credit: c.j.b In January 2007, a brilliant comet, known as Comet McNaught dazzled observers in the […]

Thomas D. Jones, PhD is a veteran NASA astronaut, scientist, speaker, author, and consultant. He holds a doctorate in planetary sciences, and in more than eleven years with NASA, flew on four space shuttle missions to Earth orbit. In 2001, Dr. Jones led three spacewalks to install the centerpiece of the International Space Station, the […]