The Galactic Times

Home
The Galactic Times

The Galactic Times is a free twice-a-month astronomy Inbox Magazine, since May 2021.

Regular columns include Sky Calendar (Moon-Gazing, Observing Plan-et, For the Future, Border Crossings), the quirky Astronomy in Everyday Life, and This Just In news. For more information, see http://www.thegalactictimes.com for past Tables of Contents, and read online or subscribe for mailings at https://thegalactictimes.substack.com .

01/07/2025

The estimable stellar observatory, Gaia, has shut down but not without leaving a legacy of observations that will keep astronomers happy for decades. Or would if they didn’t have a followup mission in mind that would dwarf this one.

Read all about their discoveries pertaining to our Milky Way galaxy in the major part of this Issue, reporting from the European Astronomical Society meeting this past week in Ireland.

Additionally, read about finding the outermost two planets the easy way, with them hanging out near easier-to-see brighter worlds.

In This Issue:

Cover Photo — Farewell, Gaia
This Just In - Everything Gaia, from the European Astronomical Society Meeting in Cork, Ireland
Welcome to Issue !
Sky Planning Calendar —
* Moon-Gazing - Sky Shows on the 4th (and 15th)
* Observing—Plan-et - Easy Ways to Find Uranus and Neptune
* NEW! - Calendar Summary

16/06/2025

Issue 25J of The Galactic Times has been published, to all App and email subscribers. It will go on the website later this week.

In this issue two new features are debuted:

A Calendar Summary—Following the usual Sky Planning Calendar narratives is a line-by-line summary, what will happen each day of the next half-month.

Book Preview—The first chapter of an astronomy book I am finishing called Learning Astronomy Under the Northern Sky (tentative titling). In this first look, I write about why the circumpolar sky makes a good teaching resource, and all about what circum- and polar mean with a detailed look at Polaris.

In This Just In we learn about an unusual star system….14 Herculis, visible in the current night sky…and its two Jupiters, one of which isn’t a hot one but a very cold one, and both of which orbit at roughly 90 degrees from each other!

For those who are not familiar with the sky, there are Moon, star and planet straight-line alignments in the next two weeks that will help you find them all. Further, Saturn pals around with fellow gas giant Neptune all the next month, an easy find.

Subscribe and read more about the new book coming in future issues, and sign up for the announcement of availability. Be the first to be able to buy the book!

LK

In This Issue:

Cover Photo — Direct Image of a Cold Jupiter
This Just In - Cloudy with a Chance of Wind (Cover Story)
Welcome to Issue !
Sky Planning Calendar —
* Moon-Gazing - Moon Straight-Line Aligns With Planets and Stars
* Observing—Plan-et - Saturn Hangs With Neptune
* NEW! -Calendar Summary
NEW! -Book Preview - Learning Astronomy Under the Northern Stars

01/06/2025

Back from a month off to recover from a long Spring book tour. Here’s the Table of Contents of the June 1st issue, being mailed late tonight to subscribers and posted on Substack in a week. Subscribe now to read about Astronomy Outreach in India activities you can do on the upcoming June Solstice and with any kind of spectroscope or diffraction grating. See how to measure your area lighting efficiency with spectra. A pair of planet-planet conjunctions in the next two weeks, and Mercury replaces Jupiter in the evening sky.

In This Issue:

Cover Photo — Zero Shadow Day (and Not Always the Solstice!)

Welcome to Issue !
TCA - Towards Cosmic Awareness —
* Astronomy Outreach Ideas from India (Cover Story)
* Measuring Area Lighting Efficiencies
Sky Planning Calendar —
* Moon-Gazing - The Moon Gets Ever Closer to Stars
* Observing—Plan-et - A Pair of Interesting Planet-Planet Conjunctions

03/05/2025

Ashes to Ashes, or Perhaps Space?

I read an article recently in the New York Times about a building owner discovering the ashes in a building basement of the great 1950s-1960s science writer W***y Ley who wrote over 150 books that were the training manuals for many of the early space pioneers and engineers. The image in this note is one of his major books, which I have a copy. Ley died as Apollo 11 was launched and never got to see men on the Moon. Or his own grave.

I’ve been in touch with the people holding on to Ley’s ashes and they and the only known relative of Ley want to send those ashes in space. Deep Space. Or at least the Moon.

In my story you can read not only all about this saga but find the links to the NYT article but also a GoFundMe to raise at least $12,000 to send this great writer into space, a ride he deserves.

[Note: I have nothing to do with the GoFundMe.

Additionally, Issue 25H of Tthe Galactic Times has in it….

Cover Photo — Send W***y Ley to Space!
Welcome to Issue !
This Just In — Ashes to Ashes, or Perhaps Space?
Sky Planning Calendar
* Moon-Gazing - A Month of Sky
* Observing—Plan-et - Saturn’s Big Day and Other Observations
Astronomy in Everyday Life - Charlie Brown’s Spaceport?

Subscribe at https://thegalactictimes.substack.com to get issues in your email on issue date!

31/03/2025

The April 1st Issue of The Galactic Times is scheduled for tomorrow night (no fooling) ( couldn’t resist….). It will be emailed to subscribers, and posted on the Web in a week. Why wait? Subscribe at https://thegalactictimes.substack.com !

TGT - Brown Dwarfs and X-rays and Triplets, Oh My!

TGT 4/1/25: This Just In--News About Brown Dwarf Stars and Archaeology of a Dead Star, A Hail and Farewell; Sky Gazing Calendar--A Time With No Moon and Planets, A Fast Re-emergence of Three Planets.

25/03/2025

In This Issue:
Cover Photo — What a Difference Two Weeks Makes

Welcome to Issue of The Galactic Times! Learn about the Partial Solar Eclipse for the NE of the USA and Europe. Don't think of the state of Georgia as particularly astronomical? Think again. Where else do you find a town named for the Southern constellation of the Peacock?

Now posted on the Substack website (subscribers get it in the email one week earlier!)
- - - - -

Sky Planning Calendar —

* Moon-Gazing -

* Observing—Plan-et - Venus and Mercury, Planetary Space Rocks, Drop Like Rocks Out of the Evening Sky, Quickly Enter Dawn

Deeper Look: A Partially Shy Sun - March 29th Solar Eclipse

This Just In — A World Minus Rings But Plus Many Moons

Astronomy in Everyday Life —Georgia on my….Universe?

27/02/2025

The next Galactic Times Newsletter-Inbox Magazine Issue comes out Friday night, and you’ll be in orbit with it. There is a total lunar eclipse coming—we’ll not only give you the details but two things to do with it. Speaking the Moon, you can before that track the Moon in the evening sky and measure its orbital tilt with our chart. And speaking of orbits, how come asteroid 2024 YR4 might hit us, or might not? Why the uncertainty? All this Friday night, in your inbox, if you are a subscriber. (It goes onto the homepage in a week).

In This Issue:

Cover Photo — The Almost City Killer
Welcome to Issue !
This Just In —
* The Almost City Killer, 2024 YR4 and Why Chances Keep Changing
* NEO Resources
Sky Planning Calendar —
* Moon-Gazing - Use the Moon and Jupiter To View Moon’s Orbital Tilt
* Observing—Plan-et - Venus and Mercury Almost Meet But Go Away Together
TCA — Astronomical Teachniques with the 3/14 Total Lunar Eclipse
Astronomy in Everyday Life — Physics Terms in AEL

17/02/2025

The Galactic Times Inbox Magazine mid-February issue is out! A more education oriented issue but with lots of articles and items pertinent to the current night sky….if the current run of winter storms allows us to see it…..

In This Issue:
Cover Photo — The Ursa Major in the Ursa Major Group
Welcome to Issue !
This Just In —

* Close By and Moving Stars
Sky Planning Calendar —

* Moon-Gazing - Mostly Lunar Quiet….
* Observing—Plan-et - Locating the Ecliptic!
TCA — Astronomical Teachniques
Astronomy in Everyday Life — Round and Flat
Interested? Subscribe to get issues emailed to you! Issues are posted on the Substack site a week later.

Thegalactictimes.substack.com

02/02/2025

Tonight February 1st, go outside and see the twin (in shape but not size) crescents in the western twilight—-the Moon and Venus (even in binoculars!) Then go online and subscribe to The Galactic Times so you can read issues in your email (the Web posting waits for a week).

In This Issue:

Cover Photo — Earth and Solar System from Afar (HWO Simulation)
Welcome to Issue 25B!
This Just In — * Looking for Earth-like Planets—Are We Actually Not Alone? , Part 2 (Cover Story)
Sky Planning Calendar —
* Moon-Gazing - Catch Crescent Venus Next To Crescent Moon!
* Observing—Plan-et - Moon Covers Saturn and Mars But Not for Most of Us.
TCA — Sky Lessons: Chasing the Moon
Astronomy in Everyday Life — On February 6th….

Your home is in the photo attached.....

22/12/2024

So you plan on getting good and so**ed at the moment of New Years' Day's start, at midnight between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1? Sorry. Wrong date and time. It's 8:42AM on the morning of January 1st, EST. See when the astronomical moment of a New Year actually begins!

Also, four weeks of astronomical sky events, including the Moon covering up Mars and the Seven Sisters (hmmm, sounds like a Greek Myth or movie to me....)

See issue #24 of the Galactic Times at https://thegalactictimes.substack.com .

In This Issue:
Cover Photo — 2:42 PM, Happy New Year! (Huh?).

Welcome to Issue 24W!

Sky Planning Calendar —
* Moon-Gazing - Moon Passes or Covers Up Four Brightest Planets, Mars, and Pleiades Spectacularly!

* Observing—Plan-et - Mercury Maxes in the Dawn, Venus in the Evening dark; Saturn’s Last Good Month—-and The Same for its Rings.
* Border Crossings - Which Sagittarius Do You Want?

Deeper Looks — Is There An Astronomical Way to Know When 2024 Actually Ends?? (Cover Story)

05/12/2024

In my ongoing series of “writers get some perks“, last Saturday I was the astronomer/speaker at a public lecture celebrating the 70th anniversary of the only known meteor that hit a woman and she survived. I gave a PowerPoint talk at the Comer Museum talking about what happened 70 years ago, what’s the status of the people, the places, and the things, including the meteor, showed some of my collection of meteorites and talked about how you don’t really have to worry about getting conked on the head by a meteor even in the upcoming in a week and a half Geminid shower or future Leonid meteor storms, the first one coming in three years. All based on my story in The Galactic Times newsletter on Substack.

26/11/2024

My Fall book presentation tour is in full swing....and wow, is it varied!
Nov 30, Sylacauga, AL Headline speaker at Comer Museum on the 70th anniversary of the meteorite that hit a housewife--and she survived!
Dec 3 Auburn, AL, DAR private presentation on Lafayette in Alabama 200 years ago.
Dec 9 Near Buena Vista, GA, attending the new park dedication in honor of the Federal Road and the discovery through my book "From River to River, Guide to Lafayette's tour of Georgia" of the lost location of Spain's Inn along the Federal Road where he and his group sought shelter in a terrible storm.
Dec 14 Mobile, AL The Ben May Mobile Public Library, public presentation on Lafayette in Alabama, Mobile, and Mobile Point.

Larry Krumenaker, Publisher of The Galactic Times

Address

Website

http://www.thegalactictimes.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Galactic Times posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Address
Alerts
Contact The Business
Claim ownership or report listing
Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Country:

City: