We Did Not Go Back to the Moon, Because It Is Hard

Saturday, March 31, was kind of a big day for the moon. It was full for the second time this month, making it a blue moon — the second of 2018. It was also the first full moon after the spring equinox, what’s known as the Paschal moon. The first Sunday after such a moon […]

A Vocabulary for the Almost-Disappeared

“Look, our snowman is still there,” I said Monday morning. “Oh!” my daughter said. “It is! Mommy, will it be there for all the times?” I picked her up. “No, it won’t,” I said. “I think it will melt. Remember how we talked about snow melting?” “Oh,” my 3-year-old said. “Okay.” Her disappointment was audible. I […]

Defending Government-Subsidized Performance Art

The other day, a giant rocket riding a triple tower of fire lifted a rich guy’s car into space and on to the asteroid belt. You probably heard about this, if you have access to the internet or a newspaper. It was the coolest thing you have seen in a long time, or the most […]

New Person of LWON: Rebecca Boyle

I am delighted to introduce, Rebecca Boyle, a supremely talented independent journalist and the newest person of LWON. Becky got her start as a newspaper reporter covering state and local politics. But then she returned to her first love: space. Her abiding love for astronomy drives her outside on frosty winter nights even though she […]

Guest Post: Warm Feelings About the Void (A Rebuttal)

Last week Cassandra Willyard wrote that space bores her, and argued that astronomy writers need to highlight the human drama to hook her and other spacephobes. This is my response. This essay being one exception that probes the rule, I am a writer who does not get assignments from editors. At best, they ask me […]