Mercury’s greatest elongation Mar 6, 2021

Mercury, the innermost planet, has a close conjunction with the king planet Jupiter on March 5, and then reaches its greatest elongation from the sun on March 6. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercurys-greatest-elongation-march-6-2021…

Pebble Founder Says His New App Brings iMessage To Android With a Little ‘Trickery’

Beeper is a forthcoming app from the founder of Pebble that claims to be a hub for all your messaging services, including support for iMessage on Android. Gizmodo reports: Instead of managing half a dozen apps for keeping in touch with friends, family, and co-workers, Beeper allows you to funnel everything to one interface. According to its website, the app supports…

Moon, Mars, Uranus December 22 to 24

Uranus likely won’t be visible to the eye alone. But you’ll easily see red Mars near the moon on December 22, 23 and 24, 2020. Mars isn’t exactly blazing now. But it’s bright, and very red, still a stunning sight, high in the sky at nightfall. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-mars-uranus-december-22-24…

Aiming for the moon with NASA’s Artemis I

Artemis I is the first in a series of NASA missions that will enable human exploration on the moon again, and ultimately Mars, scheduled to launch in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/all-about-nasa-artemis-1-mission…

Moon passes Spica on December 10, as Venus blazes below

The waning moon passes bright Spica – Virgo’s sole 1st-magnitude star – before sunup on December 10, 2020. As viewed from across Earth that morning, the illuminated side of the moon points in the direction of brilliant Venus. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/see-moon-spica-venus-before-dawn…

2019 LD2: A very interesting orbit-hopping comet

Prior to Comet 2019 LD2, discovered last year, astronomers had never witnessed a comet in the process of orbiting from being between Jupiter and Neptune to orbiting inside Jupiter’s orbit. Now … witness the power of gravity! Source: https://earthsky.org/space/comet-2019-ld2-transitioning-orbit-hopping-jupiter-family…

Celebrating the Path-Breaking Research That Lead to Coronavirus Vaccines

The Washington Post tells the remarkable story of how both Moderna’s vaccine and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine relied on a specially designed spike protein partially created by America’s Vaccine Research Center — along with messenger RNA, “a technology never before harnessed in an approved vaccine.” And also decades of path-breaking research: If, as expected in the next few weeks, regulators give those…

Steve Wozniak Is Starting Another Company, 45 Years After Co-Founding Apple With Steve Jobs

45 years after co-founding Apple with Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak is starting a business in the green tech and blockchain space called Efforce. CNBC reports: Efforce, which has been in stealth mode for almost a year, is a marketplace for corporate or industrial buildering owners to have “green” projects funded. According to Efforce, “investors can participate in energy efficiency projects buy…

EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions Down 24% Since 1990

Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union have been reduced by 24% compared to 1990 levels, according to the bloc’s annual climate report, but the EU said Monday it still needs to intensify efforts to keep to its target of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by mid-century. The Associated Press reports: The EU’s executive arm said Monday that emissions in…

Darth Vader Actor From Original ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Dies at Age 85

Reuters reports: David Prowse, the English actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films, has died aged 85, his management company said on Sunday… The champion weightlifter-turned-actor starred as the body, but not the voice, of one of cinema’s best-known villains. Director George Lucas opted to dub another voice onto Prowse’s portrayal of the towering, masked antagonist Darth…