Editor’s Note: Look to the skies as HMNS Astronomer James Wooten explains the sky happenings for the month of December, including the science behind our winter solstice. Jupiter is still in the evening sky; look for it in the south at nightfall. Jupiter is brighter than any star we ever see at night. Saturn remains […]
At 12:47 am CST on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, the Artemis I mission successfully launched from Cape Canaveral. Thus begins NASA’s return to the Moon, as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of our last manned mission to the Moon, Apollo 17. Early Monday morning, November 21, Artemis passed behind the far side of the Moon. […]
Editor’s Note: Look to the skies as HMNS Astronomer James Wooten explains the sky happenings for the month of November, including the highly anticipated rescheduled Artemis I launch. Jupiter is still up most of the night; look for it in the southeast at nightfall. Unless the Moon is up, Jupiter is the brightest thing in […]
Astronomers worldwide got a special Christmas gift this past year with the liftoff of the James Webb Space Telescope. It has just arrived (as of January 24) at its destination. By summer, it will begin 10 years (or more) of probing the deepest regions of the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope is a collaboration […]
Mars continues to fade a little bit each night now that Earth has overtaken it and is pulling away. However, it fades out gradually; Mars remains almost as bright as the stars around it in April 2021. And Mars is high in the west–well placed for observing right as night falls. Jupiter and Saturn are the morning […]
Lecture – Cultivating the Next Generation of Female Space Pioneers by Carolyn Sumners Women have played a vital role in the U.S. space program since its inception in the 1940’s. While women were once considered unfit for space travel, the most recent NASA class is 50 percent female. As we begin celebrating the 50th […]
This fall, in collaboration with Houston Museum of Natural Science, Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies is offering Women in Space, a course (open to the general public) highlighting women who have played pivotal roles in the U.S. space program as astronauts, engineers, flight controllers, researchers and mentors for the next generation of space […]
HMNS is home to 11 permanent exhibit halls that house many wonderful and rare things. Even if you’ve visited our museum several times, we can guarantee you’ll always find something new to see! Next time you stop by HMNS, see if you can spot these five extremely rare items that are on display. Moon Rock Just […]
It only takes a few seconds of a stellar light show in this newly-renovated facility to recognize why the Houston Museum of Natural Science is calling the Burke Baker Planetarium “the best and brightest in the world.” The clarity, the detail, the movement, the science, the imagery, all come together to create one of the […]
Pluto has a heart. A big, icy heart surrounded by a sea of red. It was more of a fluke of photographic composition, a perfect angle for the shot that astronomers and engineers waited for more than nine years to receive, but nonetheless the image has served to anthropomorphize the dwarf planet enough to make […]
