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Vintage Micro: The Amateur Space Telescope
There seems to have been increasing interest in the last decade or more in microsatellites (small satellites with masses in the 10 to 100 kg range), nanosatellites (1 to 10 kg range) and even smaller...
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Vintage Micro: The Original Gamma Ray Observatory
Whenever I think “gamma ray observatory”, impressive orbiting platforms come to mind like NASA’s massive 17 metric ton Compton Gamma Ray Observatory launched in 1991 or maybe some of its more modest...
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The Original Lunar Observatories
The landing of Chang’e 3 on the Moon on December 13, 2013 rightfully received a lot of attention not only because it was China’s first landing on the Moon, but because it was the first landing on the...
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A Cautionary Tale of Extraterrestrial Chlorophyll
The desire to find life on another planet is as strong today among scientists and lay people as it has ever been. While this search had been largely confined to a relative handful of worlds in our own...
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Christmas 1973 on Skylab
This season is witnessing the 15th celebration of Christmas on board the International Space Station (ISS) which has been continuously occupied since October 2000. If we go back before the ISS to the...
View ArticleAstrobiology: A Cautionary Tale
The desire to find life beyond Earth is as great as it has ever been. While the systematic study of Mars and its potential for harboring life – past and present – continues to be explored, new...
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Astron: Venera Turned Space Telescope
When thinking about the old Soviet space program, people usually remember its long history of crewed space missions or its somewhat checkered lunar and planetary programs or constellations of military...
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The Best Images of Mars – 1909
About twenty years ago while I was still teaching classes in astronomy for a local adult and continuing education program, an elderly student of mine gave me a very special gift – a couple of boxes...
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A Century of Progress: Telescopic Views of the Triangulum Galaxy
Back in the late 1990s, while I was still teaching classes in astronomy for a local adult and continuing education program, an elderly student of mine gave me a very special gift – a couple of boxes...
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