One little known and infrequently observed phenomenon in the natural night sky are “bright nights” during which observers have reported being able to read a book when both the Sun and Moon are both well below the horizon.By Albert D. Grauer

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was observing with our team's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona when he discovered a relatively large space rock, 2017 FD157, which can theoretically come closer to the Earth's surface than the communications satellites. We don't have enough data to predict when it will make a very close approac…

On a single February night my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jacqui Fazekas reported the discovery of 5 Earth approaching objects using our small but mighty Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona.Rest assured that on any given night there are asteroid hunters on the look out for seriously dangerous space rocks.…

Asteroid hunters have become aware of the many small space rocks which come near Earth because of improvements made to telescopes, cameras, and computer analysis software. Recently, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny used her skills and a new camera to discover the second small space rock in 32 days which came between the communications s…

As the Earth travels in its orbit around the Sun it collides with objects called meteoroids traveling through space. These tiny members of the solar system range in size from dust grains to objects a meter in diameter.By becoming part of the GMN’s network , your data will help to discover and document meteor showers, aid in identifying the parent c…

In 2013 a 56 foot diameter space rock exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia releasing the energy of 450 kt of TNT and filled local hospitals with some of the 1,500 people who were injured. Fortunately no one died. In 1908 a 200 ft diameter meteor exploded over a largely unpopulated region at Tunguska, Siberia knocking down trees over a 750 square mile …

On 27 December 2024 the Atlas group in Chile discovered an object now known as 2024 YR4 which appeared to have a significant chance of impacting Earth 22 December of 2032. The most recent data indicates the chance that 2024 YR4 impact Earth is about 1 in 25,000. These data indicate our moon has about a 1 in 700 chance to be impacted by this space r…

I was observing with the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt Lemmon, Arizona when a fast moving object appeared on a set of four images of the same area of the night sky. After I sent the discovery observations to the Minor Planet Center this new object was observed by telescopes in Arizona, Germany , South Bohemia in the Czech Republic , C…

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Hydra with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when a fast moving unknown point of light passed through a set of his images. After Greg reported his observations to the Minor Planet Center for the next 10 days it was tracked by observatories in Arizo…

A clear night with excellent pinpoint star images allowed me to discover 16 near Earth approaching asteroid candidates with the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt Lemmon, Arizona. This 9 hr period of time provides us with a snap shot of the kinds of objects which constantly zip past our home planet. Thirteen of the candidates turned out to…

Astronomers have yet to discover any long lasting natural object, beside our Moon, which orbits the Earth, however, occasionally, a small space rock enters into a temporary dance with our home planet.By Albert D. Grauer

If you are luckier than a hundred million dollar power ball winner you will see your space rock as a meteor streaking across the sky, fall to the ground, and land in a place where can you walk over and pick it up. On the other hand, with more persistence than luck you can find a space rock where it has been waiting for you on the surface of planet …

NASA has decided to make the lunar south pole the focus for human space exploration. It is a rough area consisting of high mountains, valleys, and craters.One serious problem is that the highest possible elevation of the Sun in the target landing areas is 7° making it akin to driving your car into the west at sunset. Such lighting conditions provid…

Eliminating NASA's climate research programs is a bit like someone who has a CT scan which reveals a health problem demanding that the CT scan machine be destroyed instead of looking for a cure for themselves. On March 7, 2017 the Arctic Sea ice reached a record low wintertime maximum extent. The maximum Arctic ice cover in 2017 was about a half mi…

Recently , for the first time, the sight and sound of a meteor impact was recorded by a doorbell camera on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Fortunately the event occurred a few minutes after Joe Velaidum the home’s owner had been standing at the impact point on the way out to walk his dogs. Joe himself considers it to be a near death experience.…

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was using the University of Arizona's 60 inch telescope atop Mt. Lemmon when he discovered a 50 foot diameter asteroid with an orbital period around the Sun of 364.4 days. After the discovery observations were posted this small asteroid was observed by telescopes in Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, England, New …

Using high powered graphics processing units, a team of 21 astronomers led by Dr. Artem Y. Burdanov of MIT used 93 hours of data from the James Webb Space Telescope or JWST for short to serendipitously search for asteroids which happened to be present in images taken in the of study planets circling distant stars. JWST and the new Vera C. Rubin Obs…

Near Earth Asteroids or NEAs which are accessible are those objects whose orbits bring them close to Earth at speeds which are reachable by our rockets. They are potential space mission targets for science as well as for asteroid mining to obtain the raw materials necessary for humans to colonize space.…

We will continue to search for life as we know it by studying the chemistry of the atmospheres of extraterrestrial planets and trying to detect signals from alien civilizations while being aware that alien life could be so weird that it is unrecognizableBy Albert D. Grauer

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Jacqueline Fazekas was asteroid hunting with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when she spotted a glowing patch of light moving through the constellation of Cancer.By discovering her first comet Jacqui became the 483 person to discover a comet since 1758 when Charles Messier created a catalogue of diffuse …

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered an asteroid, 2017 EA, which is so tiny that it could pass under a basketball hoop. It missed exploding in our atmosphere by only about 9,000 miles as it streaked between the communications satellites and the surface of our planet high above the eastern pacific ocean. After Greg discovered it, …

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Aries with the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona when she spotted a fast moving point of light in a set of her images. Nearly 10 hours later it entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Eastern Siberia north of Olekminsk…

To travel to the edge of space you can strap yourself into a capsule and ride atop of a carefully controlled explosion or you can enter a crew capsule and be gently lifted by a balloon into the stratosphere. Unlike a suborbital rocket flight lasting for a few minutes a ride under a balloon can give you several hours to enjoy the wonders of the Eart…

From our vantage point on planet Earth asteroids appear as moving points of light which strictly follow the law of gravity as they orbit the Sun. On the other hand comets appear as gas clouds which sometimes deviate from their gravitational orbits when they burp bursts of gases as they are warmed by the Sun. Dark comets appear as points of light li…

My team was excited when our Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls discovered his first comet, C/2017 D1 (Fuls), when it was traveling between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter about 257 million miles from Earth. It is classified as a Jupiter Family Comet and orbits the Sun once every ten and a half years on a path that keeps it hundreds of million…