Author Archives: Allen Versfeld

About Allen Versfeld

Allen is an amateur astronomer, an IT professional, a podcaster, a father of five growing kids, a barely competent chess player, and the owner and publisher of the Urban Astronomer podcast and website. He has formerly served as Director of the Astrophotography and Citizen Science sections of the Astronomical Society of South Africa. You can find his personal social media feed on Mastodon!

Juno launches to Jupiter

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NASA’s Juno mission lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A few weeks ago, an Atlas V rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral marking the beginning of an exciting new robotic space mission.  The Juno spacecraft, powered by the largest solar panels ever equipped on a deep space probe, will spend the next five years traveling to the planet Jupiter where it will study the gas giant from all angles.  Juno is named for … Continue reading →

What are shooting stars?

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“Shooting star” is the common name for a meteor, because it looks just like a regular star shooting across the sky.  The Solar System is full of dust and debris left over from when it first formed, and thousands of tonnes of this stuff falls on Earth every year.  When larger particles (about the size of a grain of sand) hit the atmosphere, they’re coming in at speeds up to 70 kilometers per second, and have a tremendous amount of kinetic … Continue reading →

What is the best way to observe a meteor shower?

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Meteor showers are one of the most accessible astronomical shows around.  They usually last several days, they can be seen by anybody with functional night vision, and they don’t need dark skies to be enjoyed.  Simply lie back and watch the shooting stars!  Best of all, there are many meteor showers which appear throughout the year. But if you simply head outside and look upwards on the right date, you might find the experience a little frustrating – time will pass, … Continue reading →

On hold

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I just realised that I haven’t touched my mirror in almost two months.  Ouch.  I’ll spare you the excuses (nothing much has changed except for the fact that the new baby has severe reflux, which is harmless but does make all baby-related tasks that much slower.  Refluxy babies vomit a lot, and very easily.  Any one feeding might have to be repeated three times and take over an hour.  This is frustrating, and has knock-on effects.  Oh, that bit about … Continue reading →

Will an astronaut explode if he takes off his helmet?

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We’ve all seen it happen in science fiction films. The expendable character is outside the space ship, or trapped in the air-lock.  The space suit is damaged, or the helmet is removed.  His friends frantically bang on the glass as we get a nice close-up of his face as it blows up like a balloon.  And then… well it depends on the film.  Sometimes he freezes solid and shatters like glass, other times he explodes in a messy shower of … Continue reading →