January 3, 2013
Readers will have noticed that this site had not been updated for the past two months. I have been dealing with some difficult personal issues during the recent past, and probably will continue to deal with these for some time yet to come. I have placed all Earthrise activities on hiatus while I work through these issues. I am hopeful that I will be able to re-engage Earthrise, and the world of astronomy and space in general, at some point within the not-too-distant future, but all I can really say at this time is "watch this space."
I do continue to observe the comets that are visible, but have not updated the comet update page in several months. I will try to begin doing so again before too long, although I may utilize a more abbreviated format. I note that there are two potentially bright naked-eye comets that should appear in 2013: Comet PANSTARRS C/2011 L4 during March, and Comet ISON C/2012 S1 during November and December. (Comet Lemmon C/2012 F6 may also be a dim naked-eye comet from the southern hemisphere during March.) At the very least, when the time comes I will try to convey information about these comets on this web site, and perhaps develop some observational activities to go along with their respective appearances.
The "In Our Skies" e-book available through the Earthrise Store now has columns up through the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. Among the recent columns are: "The Longest Leap" (October 5), "Centauri Planet" (October 26), "A Return to Origins" (November 23), and "Not the End of the World" (December 21).
November 2, 2012
We have successfully arranged a webcast of the November 13-14 total solar eclipse from Cairns, Queensland, Australia; this webcast will be carried at http://www.ustream.tv/cairnseclipse2012.
October 10, 2012
Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale will be traveling to Cairns, Queensland, Australia to observe the total solar eclipse on November 14 (local time; November 13 east of the International Date Line) and to give a series of talks at schools in that area. We are in the process of arranging a webcast of the eclipse that will be made available to schools and other educational institutions, and we will be announcing (on this page) the details for accessing this webcast as the time for the eclipse approaches. Interested schools and other organizations are invited to contact Earthrise for additional information.
We have posted a new update to our comet update page.
We congratulate the company Space Exploration Technologies ("SpaceX") for its recent successful cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.
September 30, 2012
The "In Our Skies" e-book available through our Earthrise Store now has columns up through the end of the third quarter of 2012. Among the recent columns are: "Three Years 'Til Pluto" (July 20), "Sally's Last Ride" (August 3), "First Man on the Moon" (August 31), and "The Kuiper Belt at Twenty" (September 7).
September 26, 2012
We have posted a new update to our comet update page. This update includes the fact that Comet 168P/Hergenrother has undergone a recent outburst.
September 12, 2012
Earthrise Institute President Alan Hale will be attending the 100 Year Starship 2012 Public Symposium in Houston, Texas from September 13 through 16, as a representative of Project Icarus.
We have posted a new update to our comet update page. This update includes the new tally additions Comets LINEAR C/2012 K5 and 168P/Hergenrother.
August 29, 2012
We have posted a new update to our comet update page. This update includes the new tally addition Comet 260P/McNaught P/2012 K2.
August 26, 2012
We mourn the passing of Neil Armstrong, the commander of the Apollo 11 mission, and the first human being in history to walk upon the moon.
August 11, 2012
We have posted a new update to our comet update page. This update includes the new tally addition Comet Catalina C/2012 J1.
Australian amateur astronomer David Herald has successfully obtained a recent image of Comet Hale-Bopp C/1995 O1, when it was located 32.86 AU from Earth and 33.16 AU from the sun -- a new record for the most distant comet ever observed.
The annual Perseid meteor shower is expected to reach its maximum on Saturday night/Sunday morning, August 11-12. The shower may produce up to 60-100 meteors per hour; the moon is three days past its third quarter phase and thus will interfere at most only slightly.
We congratulate the team of the Curiosity Mars rover for their successful landing on the surface of Mars this past August 5, and we look forward to many exciting discoveries over the next two years.
July 29, 2012
We have posted a new update to our comet update page. This update includes the new tally additions Comets 185P/Petriew and 96P/Machholz 1, as well as the retroactive tally addition Comet La Sagra P/2012 NJ.
July 16, 2012
We have posted a new update to our comet update page. This update includes the recently-discovered "cometary" asteroid 2012 NJ, which is currently bright enough to be detectable visually.
July 3, 2012
The "In Our Skies" e-book available through our Earthrise Store now has columns up through the end of the second quarter of 2012. Among the recent columns are: "Riches in the Rocks" (April 27), "To the Future!" (May 25), "Teller of Tales" (June 15), and "Passing and Renewal" (June 22).
We have posted a new update to our comet update page. This update includes Comet 96P/Machholz 1, which has been briefly visible in the southern hemisphere's morning sky and which should become accessible from the northern hemisphere by the end of July.
We wish a Happy Fourth of July celebration to our participants and friends here in the U.S.