Who wants to be an astronaut?
This could be you, if the upcoming reality show Starwalker goes through with its plans to send two winners into orbit. NASA photoReality shows have been promising to transform people for almost a decade now, whether it's into a millionaire, a married person, a beautiful person, or someone smarter than a fifth grader. But soon a TV show may document a group of people jockeying for what may be the grandest transformation of all: becoming an actual sp

Smoke trail left by brilliant meteor
Michael J. Fraughton photoLast week, I received an e-mail from Michael J. Fraughton of West Jordan, Utah. At 6:45 a.m. (November 18), his wife showed him a cloud formation of loosely formed rings. He took several photographs of the clouds, two of which accompany this blog. He used a Canon EOS Rebel XTi digital SLR with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens on the automatic setting.Well, it turns out

Try these weekend observing targets
Did you ever find yourself out under a clear, dark sky in November wondering what to look at? How about targeting a few objects in the constellation Pegasus, one of my favorite autumn constellations. Here are some suggestions:Galaxy NGC 7479 is one of the most popular objects for viewing in the constellation, as it shows a distinct, nearly face-on barred spiral structure. Photos of NGC 7479 appear frequently in astronomy magazines and on the web and give this object a familiar form. This galaxy lies at the end of a long string of stars that appear starkly to viewers with a 3-

NASA technology in your world
NASA recently released its 2009 edition of Spinoff, an annual publication that chronicles successfully commercialized NASA technology. It’s easy to get lost in the magazine or its Web counterpart.The 2009 issue features 49 “spinoffs” in the areas of health and medicine; public safety; consumer, home, and recreation; environmental and agricultural resources; and more. I enjoyed many of them, but my favorites are the life rafts that use water to prevent the them from capsizing, the star-

Leaving Earth behind
The International Space Station may not inspire everyone with awe, but it has kept humanity consistently in space at all times for just over 9 years. NASA photoI inadvertently let an anniversary slip by a few weeks ago. It wasn’t a major one (I’m not sleeping on the couch), but it was nifty enough that I wish I could have celebrated appropriately.I refer, of course, to the ninth anniversary of the last day every human being