Newton, Halley, and the “Prodigious Comet of the Year 1680”
A surprising celestial event may have ripple effects on the progress of science. It can be a catalyst for reexamination of old paradigms,...
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Douglas MacDougal
- May 16
- 15 min
Modeling Mars, Second Century AD
Early next year in the night sky, Mars will glow like a brilliant ember. As it nears earth for its January opposition, I thought I’d try...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Mar 6
- 16 min
How Cecilia Payne Found Hydrogen in Stars and Disbelievers on Earth
About a century ago astronomy had a momentous year. Two discoveries in 1925 were to reshape cosmology and astrophysics. From Mt. Wilson...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Dec 30, 2023
- 11 min
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Arriving! Rare Line-up with April's Solar Eclipse
You’ve probably never heard of 12P/Comet Pons-Brooks. But if you’d been riding on it, you’d now have a grand view of the inner solar...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Oct 8, 2023
- 4 min
Eclipse Special! Moon on Track to Intercept Sun
It would be refreshing if newspaper headlines reported current astronomical events this way. Think what it would do for collective...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Aug 1, 2023
- 8 min
In Search of the 'Perfect' Solar Eclipse
Is there such a thing? I don’t mean a perfect observing experience (which we all hope for but don’t always get), but an aspect of an...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Apr 23, 2023
- 12 min
A Quick Look at 1,500 Years of Lunar Eclipses
I've long been intrigued by lengthy cycles of natural phenomena that overlay shorter ones. Nature has countless such extended cycles...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Feb 5, 2023
- 16 min
Saros, Spirals, and the Antikythera Project ~ Revelations from an Ancient Shipwreck
In 1901, sponge divers off the tiny Aegean island of Antikythera, Greece, discovered the remains of a Hellenistic era cargo ship which...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Dec 2, 2022
- 10 min
Historical Snapshot: Henrietta Leavitt Deciphers the Cepheid Code
It’s sometimes satisfying in this age of new rockets to the moon, space probes around the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, and the...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Aug 30, 2022
- 13 min
What is Saros? ~ Using Babylonian Astronomy to Track Eclipse Paths
It is a remarkable coincidence that the size and distance of the moon in our time just happens to cover the disk of the sun during an...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Jul 19, 2022
- 10 min
Pushing Z ~ JWST’s Stunning Galaxy Images
Everybody was waiting for the big day, July 12th when the initial images from the James Webb Space Telescope would be released to the...
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Douglas MacDougal
- May 26, 2022
- 14 min
Astrophysics for People Not in a Hurry
I was thumbing through Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Nice, easy writing from an engaging popularizer. I...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Mar 31, 2022
- 9 min
Fast Stars and Hotrod Galaxies ~ Vesto Slipher’s Astonishing Discovery of Galactic Redshifts
One of the greatest discoveries in the 20th century was made by one of today’s lesser-known scientists, a man called Vesto Slipher. When...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Jan 31, 2022
- 10 min
Space-Age Milestones: Ham Goes Parabolic, Shepard Follows, Glenn Orbits
Six decades ago was a very special time for America. I’m not talking about the fact that you could buy a Mercury Comet for $1,898 at the...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Dec 16, 2021
- 11 min
James Webb Space Telescope to Lift Off to L2 ~ But What’s L2?
There’s a buzz of activity at the Arianespace's launch complex near Kourou, French Guiana. Finally, after so many delays, the James Webb...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Nov 19, 2021
- 7 min
The Parker Solar Probe ~ Wild Ride to the Sun’s Furnace
On November 21, 2021, at 08:24 UTC, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will be at perihelion in another of its orbits around the sun, and it is...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Sep 28, 2021
- 11 min
The Myth of Our Goldilocks Earth ~ A Conversation with a Climate Change Skeptic
Once at a party a good friend parked me in front of her mother, an intelligent and inquisitive woman who had deep connections with one of...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Aug 15, 2021
- 8 min
Comet Halley Remembered, 35 Years Ago, 40 to Go
Portion of the Bayeux Tapestry showing Comet Halley One of the benefits of astronomy is time travel: I enjoy moving around in time,...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Jun 22, 2021
- 7 min
Juno Greets Ganymede, Solar System's Biggest Moon
When as a middle schooler I got my first real telescope (a beautifully-painted 4 ¼ inch reflector) I was fascinated by the four bright...
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Douglas MacDougal
- Jun 14, 2021
- 7 min
A Farewell to Mars
My article in the August 2021 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine under the title Alas Babylon! When Mars Draws Near. . . is about the...
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