Mercury Setting

Mercury Setting

Apr 07

Mercury, the innermost planet, is currently making one of its elusive appearances in the night sky. Being so close to the Sun, and fairly small, Mercury is only visible when our line of sight to it places it at its most easterly or most westerly point. The orbit of Mercury is not very wide and so this means that even at its greatest elongation from the Sun it is still only visible for a few days,...

Carnival of Space 125

Carnival of Space 125

Oct 18

I am pleased to be hosting this week's quasquicentennial Carnival of Space - a collection of the best space-related blog posts from the past week.

Tonight: A Line of Planets

Tonight: A Line of Planets

Jul 05

Tonight, July 5, look west and you’ll see a temporary “Belt of Three Stars”. Saturn, Mars and the star Regulus are sitting by Leo in a chance alignment that literally will only happen tonight. Very cool.

Martian Skies

Martian Skies

Jun 23

An awesome page about atmospheric effects on Mars, including a great dust devils animation. Mars has a rich atmosphere and this is the first planet for which we are really starting to understand the climate.

Mars Ice Sublimates

Mars Ice Sublimates

Jun 20

There is ice on Mars. Phoenix has made a significant step with this great shot of ice turning into vapour.