Category Archives: Astronomy

A Crisis in Cosmology?

Posted on 2 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser, 2 Sep 2023: The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel This is a piece about some of the fall-out of the photos from the James Webb Space Telescope, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Culture, Physics, Science | Comments Off on A Crisis in Cosmology?

More About Who’s to Blame for Trump

Posted on 7 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

A Slate writer responds to NYT’s David Brooks about how the “elites” are to blame for Trump culture; A David Brin post; Some quick links with comments… Phil Plait on seeing the Milky Way; And George Michael’s “You Have Been … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Culture, Music, Politics | Comments Off on More About Who’s to Blame for Trump

Intuitive TV and Movie Physics

Posted on 26 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Remember this? Remind you of anything? This is the logo that would appear at the end of a Universe Pictures movie in the 1930s.

Posted in Astronomy, Physics, science fiction | Comments Off on Intuitive TV and Movie Physics

About New Books by Phil Plait and Jamie Green

Posted on 19 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Phil Plait’s Under Alien Skies Jamie Green’s The Possibility of Life And a Facebook cartoon about the cynicism of anti-intellectuals Phil Plait on John Scalzi’s blog today, about his new book Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe, … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Book Notes, Cosmology, Lunacy, science fiction | Comments Off on About New Books by Phil Plait and Jamie Green

Five Planets Visible in the Sky

Posted on 27 March 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

I missed seeing that greenish comet that was visible in the sky a few weeks ago. The latest sky event being discussed in the media — at least on TV and on websites — is a fairly rare conjunction of … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Science | Comments Off on Five Planets Visible in the Sky

Zodiacal Light, and The Well

Posted on 27 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two more items for today, which I decided not to squeeze into the previous post.

Posted in Astronomy, Personal history | Comments Off on Zodiacal Light, and The Well

Big Sky, Deep Sky

Posted on 2 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s an Astronomy Picture of the Day, for 2022 November 29, that shows how big some nebulae and galaxies are on the scale of the night sky, in a way that we never realize. The highlight here is “The Gum … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | Comments Off on Big Sky, Deep Sky

Maps of the Universe

Posted on 27 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

More things in heaven and earth. As a palette cleanser from my 26th, 23rd, and 16th November posts (and many previous), here’s a status check on the latest of what human beings have discovered, through systematic investigation (i.e. science), of … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Cosmology, Science | Comments Off on Maps of the Universe

Astronomical Failures of Intuition

Posted on 16 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Washington Post, Joel Achenbach and Aaron Steckelberg, 15 Jul 2022: Take a cosmic tour inside the images captured by NASA’s Webb telescope Here’s an excellent interactive guide to the images released this week from the James Webb Space Telescope, highlighting … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy | Comments Off on Astronomical Failures of Intuition

Galaxies Like Grains of Sand

Posted on 13 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Two topics today. About the James Webb Telescope photos; and about why people feel the world is broken. I chimed in on Facebook on Monday with a link to this image, as many of my Fb friends were doing, only … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Culture | Comments Off on Galaxies Like Grains of Sand