Two things NOT to buy for Christmas…

So, here we are again… Hallowe’en. And you know what that means, don’t you? Yes, that’s right – Christmas is only TWO WHOLE ****** MONTHS AWAY!!!!! So, that means three things. Firstly, you can’t move in the shops without tripping over Christmas displays (and again, well done Oxfam Kendal for selling your first Christmas cards in SEPTEMBER, [...]

Watch “Curiosity” being built – LIVE!

On one very special, amazing, nerve-wracking, tail-biting day between Nov 25th and December 18th next year, a rocket will blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre, carrying with it one of NASA’s most precious ever cargoes – “Curiosity”, the Mars Science Laboratory, aka “The Next Mars Rover”.  If all goes well, Curiosity will drop onto the [...]

“Sagan Day” – join in!

As regular readers of this blog will know, I’m very busy in the field of “Outreach”, which is the new, fancy-trendy term for “giving illustrated lectures and presentations about space and astronomy.” Most months I visit at least one or two schools, church halls, community centres or hotels to talk to a group about space. [...]

Book review: “Science 1001″ – Dr Paul Parsons

I’ve received another science book to review! This time the book in question is “Science 1001″ by Dr Paul Parsons. If that name rings a bell it’s because you’re either a science enthusiast, or a Dr Who fan, or both (and it is probably both, or you wouldn’t be reading my blog, let’s face it!), [...]

Ah, Comet Hartley… THERE you are!

…or at least, there you were, last night. Yes, after several tries I finally tracked down Comet Hartley last night – exactly where it was supposed and predicted to be, i.e. close to the Double Cluster in Perseus – but boy, it was faint, So faint, waaay fainter than naked eye brightness. It didn’t look [...]

See the space station!

The ISS is in the sky again! Here are the dates and times you need to watch it sail across the heavens during October…

Carnival of Space #172…

… is now online for you to enjoy! So, to catch up on the best of the week’s space blogging, just go here… http://lightsinthedark.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/carnival-of-space-172

Where IS Comet Hartley?

So, you’ve heard that there’s a comet in the sky… where IS it? Well, at the moment it’s passing just beneath Cassiopeia, which you would think would make it easy to find, but I’ve been reading that the comet is quite a bit fainter than predicted, and owners of 8″ scopes have found it quite [...]