Homage to Neil Armstrong

…and a plea to elevate the human condition August 27, 2012 – On August 25, 2012 America lost one of its greatest heroes.  The first of our species to step foot on another celestial body in our Universe died from complications related to heart surgery for clogged arteries.  Our planet should mourn the loss of […]

AstroDad shares insight on Curiosity’s successful Mars landing

AstroDad shares insight on Curiosity’s successful Mars landing

August 7, 2012 – The modern world seemed to get a hitch in its giddy-up late Sunday night through early Sunday morning as mankind’s largest ever planetary explorer hurtled toward the Red Planet, Mars, at a top speed of 13,201 mph. Throughout the weekend anxiety increased as rapidly as the Mars Science Lab’s velocity to […]

Making sense of science: Higgs Boson explained

July 18, 2012 – On July 4th, in an obvious European/Democrat conspiracy to trump 4th of July Celebrations in America, scientists with funny accents announced that a subatomic particle resembling the long-sought Higgs Boson has been detected at the world’s most complicated and powerful machine, the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland. I’m obviously kidding […]

Transit of Venus visible to Rockwall viewers

Thanks to good weather and good friends Historians will note (or maybe they will overlook this tiny factoid) that several hundred people enjoyed the last Transit of Venus during the 21st century at the Rockwall County Library on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. It was my great pleasure to “deliver as promised” an exceptional stellar event for […]

America is back in the space launch business, thanks to SpaceX and PayPal

(May 2, 2012) – In full disclosure, I started writing this column about a week ago, the day that the Dragon spaceship successfully berthed with the International Space Station.  I was going to submit it that night because of the “great news” but after second thought, I didn’t want to “jinx” the Earth re-entry, descent […]

See the 2012 transit of Venus across the Sun with AstroDad

“Another BIG EVENT in Rockwall brought to you by AstroDad! Actually, I’m merely your celestial tourguide, for this great event is brought to you by the Cosmos itself. ” – Max Corneau, Blue Ribbon News special contributor and NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Join Max Corneau, aka AstroDad, for a special event at the Rockwall County […]

The Sun and its imminent danger to Earth

Jiminy Crickets! The Sun is belching out energy like windmill in a hurricane! This week gave us Sunspot group 1476, also known as Active Region 1476. This vast magnetic region that is blanketing the Sun’s heat and not allowing energy to escape is larger than Earth. These regions are usually 5,000-7,000 degress F. cooler than the […]

Our Universe Today: Airplanes, Anniversaries and Astrocations

To readers who enjoy this column, please accept my deepest apologies for the nearly month long absence. April is an amazing month for our family and this year, April took on a very special meaning as my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Who says romance, commitment, patriotism, adventure and most of all, […]

Our Universe Today: When the sun belches…

Our Universe Today: When the sun belches…

On 29 March, 2012, the Sun came back to life for many of us who pay attention to such events. Active region AR1429 rotated back onto the Earth-facing Sun on its northern hemisphere. In this case, the Sun is like a giant conveyor belt moving from our left to right. The last time the sunspots […]

Our Universe Today: Solar Storm in progress

Our Universe Today: Solar Storm in progress

This week in the Universe, Earth continued to receive a relentless pounding from the Sun, Sol, our home star and the giver of life to our little blue planet. You see ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing a very active Sun right now as the 11-year solar cycle approaches its activity peak, known to scientists […]