In August, we asked you if astronomy should be included in middle school or high school curriculums through our Astronomy.com Online Poll. The results overwhelmingly favored including astronomy as either a mandatory or an optional course. Well, even though many schools still don’t include astronomy as a mandatory course (or offer it at all), there are some great computer tools that now educate and let users participate in active research. In its 13th...

The third night at the Great Lakes Star Gaze (GLSG) started out clear but turned cloudy around 11 p.m. That’s too bad, because lots of observers were waiting for some great objects to climb high in the sky. Editor's note: Visit the online photo album, " Astronomy on the road: Great Lakes Star Gaze 2008" for images from Michael's trip. During the day, I spent several fun hours chatting lots of attendees, including well-known amateur...

The day after we had a wonderful night of observing at El Camino Real, the Enchanted Skies Star Party slowed down a bit. Attendees spread out doing a variety of things during the day. Editor's note: View the photo album, Enchanted Skies Star party 2008 , to see images from Dave's time in and around Socorro. I checked out the New Mexico Tech Mineral Museum on the campus, with its spectacular collection of minerals. Thursday, I wrote about the...

Now that I have Internet access, I can report the first two nights at the Great Lakes Star Gaze (GLSG) were clear. Unfortunately, they also were quite humid. Editor's note: Visit the online photo album, " Astronomy on the road: Great Lakes Star Gaze 2008" for more images from Michael's trip. The clarity ensured that, with the naked eye or through binoculars, we all could trace the Milky Way’s ethereal outline down to the horizon...

Trillions of miles way, disks and gas and dust encircle baby stars just a few million years old. Rocky planetary cores form, then sweep through the disks, accreting additional material around themselves like a cardboard tube swirling through a carnival cotton-candy machine. As the protoplanets gain mass, they carve racetrack-like gaps in the gaseous disk. How do I know this? Dan Watson told me. He’s an astronomer at the University of Rochester in...

Getting a multi-hour, behind-the-scenes tour of the Very Large Array radio telescope is a very enriching experience — and that’s exactly what a group of 10 of us from the Enchanted Skies Star Party experienced yesterday, Thursday, September 25. Our expert guide was Jon Spargo, who retired a few years ago after 35 years of service with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. He’s now busier than ever, and one of his activities (lucky for us) is leading...

Yesterday I spent a bit of time reading through the scientific paper regarding the flow of galaxy clusters pulled by possible dark matter beyond the universe’s horizon. I don’t know what it is about cosmology, but I find it fascinating. It’s weird stuff, completely crazy ideas, and very difficult to understand, but something about it just gets me. Maybe it’s the knowledge that we (well, scientists) are learning so much about our universe. Not just...

Here is the transcript for my podcast about how to see Great Square of Pegasus, globular cluster M15, and Stephan’s Quintet during the next few days. Check out the Astronomy.com's interactive star chart to see an accurate map of your sky. It'll help you locate some of this week's key targets. Astronomy magazine subscribers have access to a slew of cool functions with StarDome PLUS. --Start transcript-- Hello, I’m Astronomy magazine senior...

As Matt Quandt told you yesterday , I’m on the road in Socorro, New Mexico, this week at the Enchanted Skies Star Party. Although it’s a relatively small gathering, the star party is a great one and an event you should consider attending next year. The former residence of Astronomy ’s longtime editor Robert Burnham, Socorro stands in a scientific district that holds the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the Very Large Array radio telescope...

On Thursday, I’ll leave Milwaukee and drive around Lake Michigan to the Great Lakes Star Gaze (GLSG), near Gladwin, Michigan. This will mark the 6th year of this annual event. In 2008, GLSG runs from September 25–28. As the invited speaker, I won’t need to bring a telescope or even binoculars. I’m just going to wander the observing field chatting with folks and looking through their scopes. I’m giving two talks while at GLSG: “How the Constellations...