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Astronomy

May 6, 2020 | Patty Wetli
“Chicago Tonight” viewer J. Scott Sykora shared this photo of a harvest supermoon eclipse on Sept. 27, 2015.

There hasn’t been a lot to get excited about in 2020, but one bright spot has been the moon, specifically the string of supermoons we’ve enjoyed this spring. 

Apr 22, 2020 | Patty Wetli
Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders’ photograph of the first earthrise witnessed by humans. (NASA)

Apollo 8 astronauts were the first to ever witness an earthrise, a view of the planet that put its fragility into perspective and helped propel the environmental movement.

Apr 14, 2020 | Patty Wetli
On Tuesday morning, the moon appeared at the far "right" of a Mars-Saturn-Jupiter string. (Photo by Joe Guzman)

The moon will align with Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the pre-dawn hours this week.

Apr 13, 2020 | Associated Press
In this April 15, 1970 photo made available by NASA, a group of flight controllers gather around the console of Glenn S. Lunney, foreground seated, Shift 4 flight director, in the Mission Operations Control Room of Mission Control Center in Houston. (NASA via AP)

Apollo 13’s astronauts never gave a thought to their mission number as they blasted off for the moon 50 years ago. Even when their oxygen tank ruptured two days later — on April 13.

Apr 7, 2020 | Patty Wetli
(Fiona Paton / Flickr)

There hasn’t been a whole lot of good news in 2020, but here’s something to get excited about: Tuesday’s supermoon will be the closest the full moon gets to Earth in 2020, meaning it will look bigger and brighter than any other full moon this year.

Mar 13, 2020 | Patty Wetli
An illustration of exoplanet WASP-76b, where it rains iron. (ESO / M. Kornmesser)

Think things are bleak on planet Earth? At lease it’s not raining metal. That’s the kind of bizarre climate scientists recently observed on an ultra-hot exoplanet they’ve dubbed WASP-76b, located 640 million light-years away.

Mar 9, 2020 | Patty Wetli
Super Worm Moon, photographed in March 2019. (Twelvizm / Flickr)

March’s full moon is called the Worm Moon, and it will be an extra bright supermoon.

Feb 28, 2020 | Patty Wetli
The moon and Venus are in conjunction, as seen in this image from 2015. (Tuchodi / Flickr)

The young crescent moon and the blazingly bright planet are in conjunction. Look to the western sky shortly after sunset Friday to see for yourself.

Feb 26, 2020 | Paul Caine
The Very Large Array (VLA) is a collection of 27 radio antennas located at the NRAO site in Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna in the array measures 82 feet in diameter and weighs about 230 tons. (Photo: Luke Jones / Flickr)

Are we really alone in the universe? A new effort to search for extraterrestrial life is underway.

Feb 12, 2020 | Paul Caine
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (Photo courtesy of NSO / NSF / AURA)

A local scientist talks about his work to help capture the most detailed images ever of the sun’s bubbling surface.

Feb 11, 2020 | Paul Caine
An image from the 1972 Apollo mission. (Credit: NASA)

Local scientists use a powerful new tool to make fresh discoveries from moon dust first collected nearly 50 years ago.

Feb 10, 2020 | Patty Wetli
An artist’s impression of Solar Orbiter. (Credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

It may not seem like it lately, but the sun does indeed still exist. And NASA is sending a spacecraft to our friendly neighborhood star to get some answers.

Dec 30, 2019 | Paul Caine
Using the Event Horizon Telescope, scientists obtained an image of the black hole at the center of galaxy M87, outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon. (Credits: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al.)

From the first-ever image of a black hole to growing concern over climate change, we review some of the year’s top science stories with three of our regular science contributors.

Dec 11, 2019 | Paul Caine
Prior to its August 2018 launch, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is packed safely inside the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket payload fairing. (Credit: NASA / Bill Ingalls)

An update on the mission and findings of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, named after pioneering University of Chicago astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who first proposed the existence of the solar wind in 1958.

Nov 25, 2019 | Paul Caine
Scientist Dan Hooper appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Nov. 25, 2019. (WTTW News)

Dan Hooper spends his time contemplating the biggest mystery of all: how the universe came to be. He joins us to discuss his book, “At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of our Universe’s First Seconds.”

Oct 28, 2019 | Alex Ruppenthal
A 4-pound piece of a meteorite that struck Costa Rica earlier this year was handed over to the Field Museum on Oct. 7, 2019. (John Weinstein / Field Museum)

A 4-pound chunk of a rare type of meteorite that crashed into a Costa Rican village this spring has found its way to Chicago, and experts say the rock likely contains clues to the origins of life on Earth.