Not all fiction is created equal. To create any good piece of fiction, you have to get a lot of things right: prose, dialogue, pacing,...

Alright, friends. Here it is, my 100th and final astronomy fun fact! And what better topic to end on than the ultimate fate of the...

Astronomy is often viewed as an unnecessary science because people think astronomy research doesn't directly affect people's lives....

If you look closely enough at the Big Dipper, you might notice that one of the points in the handle is actually two points. They are...

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing... Only 12 humans have walked on the Moon. They are 1. Neil Armstrong 2....

The Moon is tidally locked, which means one side of the Moon is always facing the Earth. An interesting consequence of the Moon’s tidally...

As of 2019, the heaviest thing humans have ever launched into space is the Saturn V rocket, which carried the Apollo Lunar Module. Saturn...

The universe is expanding, and that expansion is speeding up. But even though the universe is getting bigger, it's not creating any new...

I don't believe in astrology, but I know that there are people who do, and I want those people to know how their signs are assigned. The...

Total solar eclipses are possible because the apparent size of the Moon on the sky is bigger than the apparent size of the Sun. Both take...

If you're lucky enough to be standing outside at sunrise or sunset with an unobstructed view of the Sun as it dips below the horizon in a...

You learned in Fun Fact #89 that there's a lower limit for the mass of a star. There's also a theoretical upper limit. Stars are a...

Some people say that Jupiter is a failed star -- that it could have been a star if it were just a bit more massive. So how massive does...

The footprints that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left on the Moon are still there because there's no wind to blow them away. There is a...

It's common knowledge that there are different unit systems. That's why Americans use units like inches, pounds, and degrees Fahrenheit...

The second popular coordinate system used by astronomers is the Galactic Coordinate System. This system is centered on the Sun, but it...

Space is huge and has no single reference point, which means there are no set directions. So how do astronomers keep track of the...

Uranus rotates on its side! You may have heard that the Earth’s axis is tilted at 23 degrees. That’s nothing compared to Uranus’ tilt of...

The Earth is only the third planet from the Sun. We’re so close to the Sun that it keeps us all from freezing. But “close” means...

In December of 2013, the European Space Agency launched Gaia, a powerful astrometric telescope, into space. The telescope cost 650...