Why is Mercury so Dark?
Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system, and closest to the Sun, is only a little bit bigger than Earth’s Moon. But the Moon is comparatively reflective object. Mercury is thought to be made...
View ArticleWhy Pluto Isn’t a Planet, and Why it Was Before
The true story of why Pluto isn’t a planet goes back further than you would think. It has a lot to do with our understanding of science at the time, and a lot more to do with surprising luck. I made...
View ArticleWhat is between a Star and a Planet? Brown Dwarfs
Categorizing objects in the universe can be difficult. The fiasco with Pluto over the last decade is more than proof of that. We generally look to location and then to size as the two main methods...
View ArticleRare Double Meteorite Strike
Around 470 Million years ago, two asteroids collided in the asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. This sent fragments everywhere, and millions of years later these fragments moved into...
View ArticleSpace Rocks Hit Ceres With a Splat
It’s hard to do experiments in space. It costs a boatload of money, takes years of preparation, and even then we can’t get much further than low-Earth orbit. But there is a cheaper alternative to...
View ArticleHalloween Space Photos
Halloween is an amazing chance for people to be someone (or something) they have always wanted to be. To step outside of their norm and live their life as an alter ego, if only for one night. This is...
View ArticleShredded Asteroid
With the recent story of the star with a debris ring potentially being a sign of extraterrestrial life (spoiler alert, it’s not aliens), I had to talk a bit more about debris rings in general around...
View ArticleThe Unpopular Meteor Shower
Everyone in Canada looks forward to the Perseid meteor shower each August. The weather is warm, the skies are clear, and they have a high zenithal hourly rate (ZHR). But once they are done, it’s not...
View ArticleThe Mystery Spot of Ceres
Since the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft in March of 2015, we have seen tremendous views of the dwarf planet Ceres. Lying within the asteroid belt, it is revealed to be a frozen world of ice and rock,...
View ArticleWhy Pluto Isn’t a Planet, and Why it Was Before
The true story of why Pluto isn’t a planet goes back further than you would think. It has a lot to do with our understanding of science at the time, and a lot more to do with surprising luck. I made...
View ArticleWhat is between a Star and a Planet? Brown Dwarfs
Categorizing objects in the universe can be difficult. The fiasco with Pluto over the last decade is more than proof of that. We generally look to location and then to size as the two main methods...
View ArticleRare Double Meteorite Strike
Around 470 Million years ago, two asteroids collided in the asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. This sent fragments everywhere, and millions of years later these fragments moved into...
View Article1000 Things You Didn’t Know About The Universe #6: Earth’s Moon is Big
When we see the Earth’s only Moon up in the sky, we often think about how small it is. It’s only about 1/4 the diameter of the Earth, and at a distance of 384,000 Km, it looks small in the sky. But...
View ArticlePotential Asteroid Impact on Jupiter!
I saw this pop up on Reddit yesterday, where user /u/bubbleweed posted a video to r/astronomy showing Jupiter with a clear sign of an impactor. It was independently observed in Austria at the exact...
View ArticleComet or Asteroid?
What is the difference between a comet and an asteroid? The typical response is that an asteroid is rocky and a comet is icy/gassy. Further than this, asteroids typically orbit closer to the Sun than...
View ArticleDon’t Blink or You’ll Miss it
Have you ever seen a picture of a comet or asteroid in the sky against a background of stars? Here let me show you. Can you spot the asteroid? Okay I confess there is no asteroid in the image above,...
View ArticleAn Ancient Martian Tsunami
A pretty cool result came out of Cornell University this week, showing that Mars was struck by a pair of ancient asteroids that caused massive tsunamis. Not only is it the first evidence of a tsunami...
View ArticleLooking Closer and Testing Theories
Last week, while looking at some of the best images from the Cassini spacecraft, I commented on the fact that the smooth rings of Saturn are small, varied chunks of ice and rock when you get down to...
View ArticleDouble Post: Mini Stars & Morning Micrometeorites on Mercury
Alliteration is accessible to all! Okay I’m done. Start some science! Really done this time. Today’s double post covers the smallest of stars, still larger than most planets, and the only weather...
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