A morning view from Mt. Wilson Observatory. Lots of smoke, but the fires seem to have calmed (©UCLA) Update (Aug. 31st, 15:00 PDT): The situation has taken a turn for the worse it appears. Ground crews have been pulled off Mt. Wilson and the fire is approaching the observatory rapidly. The fire...

The view looking west from Mt. Wilson Observatory at 8:17pm PST (Aug. 30th) Update: Monday, August 31st, 05:45 PDT: In the early hours of Monday morning, it would appear the situation atop Mt. Wilson remains the same. The Towercam is showing smoke and fires to the West of the summit, but there is no...

The Mount Wilson Observatory webcam, looking west. City lights to the left is the approximate location of Burbank (image corrected for contrast. ©UCLA) August 29th: As the fires rage in Southern California, the “Station Fire” continues to burn unnervingly close to the famous Mount Wilson...

Just as one mission begins (Discovery’s STS-128), another ends. Unfortunately, only 10 months after launch, the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1 has mysteriously ceased communication with mission control. ISRO officials have declared that the mission...

Discovery on Launch Pad 39A... Friday launch? (NASA) To be honest, I wasn’t going to post an update on the progress of Discovery’s continuing delay, but when I saw this photo I couldn’t resist. In the shot, you can see the pad floodlights and a flash of lightning. Outstanding. So, the...

My wife turned to me as the credits rolled and asked, “Can you sue a production company for inaccurate science in a movie?” “Hmmm… good point!” I said. “Unfortunately, though, I think it’s just called ‘being creative.’” But that got me thinking....

Blood-thirsty bunnies? If only you knew... (The Oatmeal) Thank you Kate (@KateSherrod) for thinking of me and sending me this hilarious post called “8 Ways To Prepare Your Pets For War” from The Oatmeal. No science here, just funny cartoons. However, do you think Barney could be trained for...

The M87 black hole blasts relativistic plumes of gas 5000 ly from the centre of the galaxy (NASA) I just spent 5 minutes trying to think up a title to this post. I knew what I wanted to say, but the subject is so “out there” I’m not sure if any title would be adequate. As it turns out,...

Mars Express to Beagle 2: "But you forgot your... ah, never mind." (ESA) Over Christmas in 2003, I was watching the BBC news with my grandfather, hoping to hear that ESA or NASA had picked up a signal from the Martian surface. We waited. We waited a bit more. However, it wasn’t until...

Wikus (Sharlto Copley) on the run from the MNU (WingNut Films). Astroengine District 9 Review. I managed to watch District 9 last night, and it was awesome. I may as well tell you my conclusion up-front, just in case you don’t want to read on, because I’m not going to be able to avoid mentioning...