A glimpse of the Eye of God, 650 light years away

(March 25, 2013) It’s that time of the year, when the trees explode in the skies above Rockwall and our school children in just about all grades begin studying the wonders of our Universe. Chances are better than 50/50 that if one of your children passed through the Rockwall ISD in the past decade, they […]

2013 brings nearby comet, and most active time for Sun

 During 2013, as the Sun approaches its maximum energy output, Earth will frequently be bathed in destructive radioactive particles released when the Sun belches out solar flares and coronal mass ejections. (January 3, 2013) Welcome to 2013!  This year promises to serve up at least a couple of remarkable events in our Solar System. These […]

AstroDad invents new image processing technique

…and we are the first to see the results  From 22-25 November, 2012 I took advantage of time off from work and a spate of extremely clear, unusually cold night skies to image the Orion Nebula, also known as M42. During late November this iconic deep space phenomenon does not rise above the horizon until […]

AstroDad reflects on history’s mysteries in space

(November 20, 2012) There is a rich history of astronomy in America, although much more contemporary than, say, the ancient Persian and Chinese practitioners of this field. Known as “astrologers” in ancient times, these (almost exclusively) men frequently held seats of great power in dynastic and even feudal governments. Since America has only been a […]

International Observe the Moon Night at Rockwall County Library

International Observe the Moon Night at Rockwall County Library

September 22, 2012: Under the Same Moon On Saturday, September 22, 2012, our planet will celebrate International Observe the Moon Night. Dear reader, please consider yourself invited to the IOMN event in Rockwall at our very own Rockwall County Library.  The Rockwall County Library is one of our community’s jewels and I really consider it an […]

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 […]