The FAS Astronomers Blog

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter November 2019

    The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 11 November 2019 By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: NASA publishes striking images of the center of the Milky Way taken by the X-ray space observatory, Chandra. Astronomy is featured in this year’s Nobel Prizes in physics. This year marks the…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter October 2019

    The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 10 October 2019 By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: India’s attempt to land the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft on the moon. British and Canadian groups have detected water in the atmosphere of a distant planet. NASA has announced the go-ahead for planning a…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter September 2019

        The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 9 September 2019 By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: What problems would be created by a prolonged transition period while the Earth’s magnetic field flips? What indicators do we have that suggests life may exist on certain distant bodies…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter August 2019

        The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 8 August 2019 By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: NASA is carefully comparing the physiology of identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly. Scott spent nearly a year on the International Space Station while Mark remained on Earth. Some…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter July 2019

      The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 7 July 2019 By Bob Patsiga   In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: An annotated outline of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the Moon is presented. Results of analysis of the Apollo 11 Moon rocks and soils given by a group at the Smithsonian…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter June 2019

    The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 6 June 2019   By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: European Space Agency’s GAIA spacecraft has discovered three asteroids which are puzzling astronomers. The gold, silver and other heavy elements that we find on Earth are proposed to beformed during the…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter May 2019

    The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 5 May 2019     By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: Planetary scientists are trying to determine the origin of methane that has been detected in the atmosphere of Mars. Astronomers use the mechanics of star revolutions in binary systems to…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter April 2019

    The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 4 April 2019   By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: The privately run Space X program has sent the Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station with a load of supplies. The capsule was returned safely back to Earth. The…

  • Young Astronomers Newsletter March 2019

    The Young Astronomers Newsletter Volume 27 Number 3 March 2019 By Bob Patsiga     In this month’s edition of the newsletter Bob discusses: Exoplanet hunter TESS has begun surveying the southern hemisphere sky for planets orbiting stars. After 15 years of productive exploration, Mars rover Opportunity has been declared dead by NASA. The dust storm…