Just wanted to say “thanks” to everyone who’s been visiting the site. As of the time of this writing the visitor count has hit 12,000. I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am. 🙂 And thanks to all the missions current and upcoming, there’s so much more to come! – J
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A MONDo Idea
Interesting article from New Scientist:Â A Phantom Menace to Dark Matter Theory by Marcus Chown. In a nutshell, there’s a new theory that tries to explain why stars aren’t chucked out of the galaxy when they are near the edges, like a little kid on the playground merry-go-round. (Hey, it happens.) Newtonian physics say that this…
Poll Position
Because I’m all about my readers, I’d like to know what you’d like to see here on Lights in the Dark! I try to find the most recent and visually interesting images from the various robotic missions around our solar system to post every day, but if there’s nothing new or particularly interesting to look…
Asteroid!
 This is Itokawa, a near-Earth asteroid that was investigated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa probe in September of 2005. The probe made a brief landing on the asteroid on November 19th of the same year, and again on the 25th, in an attempt to collect samples of the asteroid’s material, and also…
Moon
Seems to be an interesting film. Look for it in theaters next month. Nice lunar shots anyway. 😉 It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job,…
Spotlight on the Sun
This month, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory focuses on our solar system’s real superstar: the sun! The video below highlights historical observations of the sun and shows some recent robotic missions that have brought back groundbreaking data about our celestial sovereign. The photo illustration above approximates the comparative size of the sun to our planet Earth….
News: JPL Open House LIVE
JPL is hosting their annual Open House Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3! Watch the live chat feed here as a special broadcast event all weekend. From the JPL site: JPL’s annual Open House gives the public an opportunity to meet scientists, watch demos and tour some of the laboratories where the next planetary…
To The Moon
This HD video is a wonderful overview of JAXA’s Kaguya SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) mission, currently in orbit around the moon. After an amazing launch on September 14, 2007, shown here in stunning high definition, the probe entered orbit around the moon and deployed two remote satellites which communicate with the main probe. This mission…
Happy Easter
LITD will be on vacation until Tuesday. Happy Easter to everyone and as always, keep looking up!
Birthing the Moon
 Where did the moon come from? It seems silly to ask, given that it has shone down upon us, brightening our nights with its cool white light since humans – since life itself – ever existed. But it’s an anomaly. Venus has no moon. Neither does Mercury. Mars has two tiny chunks of rock…
Live Video: Around the World in 80 Telescopes
Follow along with astronomers, scientists and enthusiasts all around the world with live video feed from Around the World in 80 Telescopes! Part of the 100 Hours of Astronomy International Year of Astronomy 2009 Cornerstone Project, over the next 24 hours members of science teams from observatories worldwide will be participating in interviews and sharing their…
What Is Space?
This is a reprint of an earlier article of mine from March 8, 2008. I thought it would have a good home here. Hope you enjoy it. Are We There Yet? We’ve all seen the grade-school models of the solar system. Maybe you made one in science class. Out of painted styrofoam balls or colored construction…
Lights in the Dark 