Now that the January 2009 issue is in the mail, we’ve updated Astronomy.com with our newest Web extras that give subscribers exclusive complementary information to the magazine articles. This month, we preview some stories to look for in 2009, explore a recent survey of the Milky Way, and offer PDF of the van den Bergh catalog to download. Take a sneak peek inside the January 2009 Astronomy magazine If you subscribe to Astronomy , make sure you’re...

NASA just announced a contest for students to name the Mars Science Laboratory rover that is scheduled for launch in 2009. In cooperation with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures’ movie WALL·E , NASA is inviting students ages 5 to 18 who attend school in the United States to submit essays explaining the reasoning behind their suggested name for this car-sized rover. Essays must be turned in by January 25, 2009, and NASA will announce the winning name...

NASA announced a great new opportunity for teachers to use the space program’s discoveries as educational tools in their classrooms. The NASA Endeavor Science Teaching Fellowship Project will award 40 one-year fellowships to educators during the next 5 years. These fellowships will allow teachers to translate current NASA science and engineering projects into usable information for students in grades K–12. According to NASA, the goal of the project...

Today’s the big day of Endeavour’s STS-126 mission (assuming the weather holds up), and I must admit that I’m pretty excited. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been fascinated with space travel, specifically the launches. I never actually wanted to be an astronaut (too afraid of flying and not much of a risk taker), so I live vicariously through the men and women who do have the opportunity to be blasted off into space. I can’t even imagine how thrilling...

In the United States, the first Tuesday of November (this year, November 4) is a very important day in politics — Election Day (and the day the political ads finally come to an end … Hooray!). For those of you who have some random reason as to why you couldn’t vote early or can’t make it to your voting location on Election Day, NASA has ruined your “good” excuse. How? Well, even the two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station cast their...

Now that the December issue has been mailed out, we’ve updated Astronomy.com with our newest Web extras that give subscribers complementary information to the articles in the magazine. This month, we have a cool video of some extreme organisms; some great images of both land and sky from Athens, Greece; and an in-depth look at an image from “Reader gallery.” If you subscribe to Astronomy , make sure you’re registered with Astronomy.com so you can...

In the past few days, I’ve had the pleasure to learn about a woman in Chicago who is truly taking the ideals of astronomy outreach and education to heart. Her name is Audrey Fischer, and she’s a member of the Chicago Astronomical Society . Currently, Audrey is working on two proposals to help spread astronomy education and get children excited about this science. And she’s allowed me to share with you one idea that I find just fascinating. It’s called...

NASA recently released its 2008 edition of Spinoff , a publication that chronicles successfully commercialized NASA technology. They have a web site to go with the print version, and it’s an easy place to lose yourself for a few hours (trust me, I did it one night last week). The 2008 issue features 50 “spinoffs” in the areas of health and medicine; transportation; public safety; computer technology; and more. My personal favorites were the spinoffs...

Next week, Astronomy magazine’s latest special issue hits newsstands, and it’s one I’ve been looking forward to seeing published since I started working here almost 4 months ago. The Solar System was one of the first projects I got to work on, which by that time meant reading all the stories and checking the layouts for any minor errors. So, it was really as if I were getting a sneak peek at the final product. And by doing so, I got a glimpse of how...

Some of you may have already noticed the new section in the rotating box on our home page promoting the Young Astronomers Video Contest , but, in case you haven’t, I want you to check it out, break out those cameras, and start shooting. Because, frankly, I’m really excited for this contest. Now, let me offer some advice to those of you who plan to enter the contest (which I hope is many of you). Start with some research because you do have to document...