Category Archives: Astronomy

Phil Plait, BAD ASTRONOMY (the book)

Posted on 24 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled, “Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing ‘Hoax’” Published in trade paperback by John Wiley & Sons, 2002.

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Links and Headlines: Dark Skies; Misinformation; Critical Thinking; Empathy; Headlines

Posted on 30 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

There have been a handful of SF novels over the years that include as breaks between the prose sets of futuristic news headlines, to indicate the state of the future world without having to explicate it in detail. Gunn’s The … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: APOD; Trusting Science; Trusting Experts

Posted on 24 March 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Another amazing photo from APOD– Which as in previous photos like this that I’ve posted, shows a huge swath of sky, as we would see it with all the stars we *can* see, along with all the nebulae that we … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: APOD: The Enormous Deep Sky

Posted on 11 March 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s another amazing photo from APOD, Astronomy Picture of the Day, that illustrates how enormous some of the famous nebulae in the sky are, compared to constellations.

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Links and Comments: Astronomical Photos from APOD

Posted on 17 February 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

After seeing links to the site Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) occasionally on my Facebook friends’ posts over the past few months, I added it to my morning regimen of sites to check every day. Here’s today’s. Click for … Continue reading →

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APOD: This is Reality: The Origin of the Elements

Posted on 9 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Click for a text description, with many explanatory links (some technical, some funny).

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My History with Astronomy

Posted on 12 April 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

How did it start? There was a specific event: in the 6th grade, I noticed a row of textbooks in a closet, a basic astronomy text called A Dipper Full of Stars. (I already wrote about that here: http://www.markrkelly.com/Blog/2014/05/01/cosmos-and-my-amateur-astronomy/.) I … Continue reading →

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Frank: LIGHT OF THE STARS

Posted on 7 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Frank’s LIGHT OF THE STARS: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth (Norton, 2018) asks, what can thinking about the prospect of alien civilizations tell us about our own fate? Currently our species’ story (by those of us … Continue reading →

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Neil deGrasse Tyson, ASTROPHYSICS FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY

Posted on 9 April 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

This slender volume of magazine essays came out nearly a year ago, and I read it then, and thought it pleasant but nowhere near foundational. But since it still shows up on bestseller lists, nearly a year later, and has … Continue reading →

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The Stars Have Names

Posted on 21 January 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s an interesting article from the December 6th, 2016 New York Times, Twinkle, Twinkle Little [Insert Name Here], by Dennis Overbye (the print title was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Who?”), about how the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has finally sat down to … Continue reading →

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