Rio Rancho Astronomical Society, Inc.

09/03/2026

Missed this year but going to Spain next year!! So glad this was posted now I feel like I didn’t miss this years!!

09/01/2026

The next-generation Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a bus-sized observatory that NASA has developed over nearly two decades, is designed to capture deep, panoramic views of the cosmos, aiming to reveal more than 100,000 planets around other stars, hundreds of millions of stars and billions of galaxies.

The telescope is named in honor of the woman who became NASA’s first chief of astronomy in 1959. Nancy Grace Roman, who died in 2018 at age 93, and earned the nickname “Mother of Hubble."

Roman will be able to survey the cosmos 1,000 times faster than Hubble, thereby mapping more of the sky than ever before, one scientist says.

The Roman telescope is scheduled to launch Sunday at 7:26 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Read more: nbcnews.to/4qBrHQA

08/04/2026

Worth a shot if it’s clear. Not predicting to be much in amateur telescopes but hey…

🚀🌕 In a few hours, humanity is about to make a brand-new crater on the Moon — and we get a front-row seat.

At 6:35 UTC (1:35 a.m. CDT) on August 5 (just hours from now), a discarded upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will slam into the lunar surface at roughly 5,400 mph (8,700 km/h) — that's nearly 7 times the speed of sound. 💥

Here's the incredible backstory: this exact piece of hardware helped launch two real Moon landers back in January 2025 — Firefly's Blue Ghost (which made history landing successfully) and Japan's Hakuto-R Resilience lander. After doing its job, the empty rocket stage was left drifting through space... and now, a year and a half later, gravity is finally pulling it home — straight into the Moon itself.

It will strike near Einstein Crater, close to the Moon's western edge as seen from Earth, punching out a new crater roughly 89 feet (27 meters) wide and throwing a plume of lunar dust and rock miles into space above the surface. 🌑✨

The impact flash itself will be nearly impossible to see — but if the dust plume rises high enough above the Moon's bright limb, advanced amateur astronomers in parts of the Americas might actually catch a glimpse of it against the black sky.

Scientists aren't just watching for fun, either — NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will study the fresh crater before and after, turning an accidental collision into real science about how impacts shape the Moon.

Think about that for a second: a piece of human engineering that once carried robots to the Moon... is about to become part of the Moon itself. 🌕

Would you want to witness something like this happening live, 384,000 km away? Tell us in the comments! 👇 And tag someone who needs to know the Moon is getting a new scar tonight. 🌌

07/17/2026

What people aren’t think g about. Those little kiddos waiting for the bus on winter mornings write your people

Spanish-born philosopher and writer George Santayana, in his 1905 book The Life of Reason, wrote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

In 1974 we tried DST during the winter months and within only a few weeks, many were asking Congress to repeal it. It seems that many did not like commuting to work in darkness . . . and there were numerous reports of young children either injured or killed while traveling to school in the dark. The effect was especially significant for places that were located near the western flank of a particular time zone, where sunrise occurred as much as an hour later compared to localities farther to the east. Examine the graphic below.

By 1975, DST -- by popular demand -- again started in April.
If people do not want to go through the machinations of changing their timepieces twice a year, then the best solution is to remain on standard time year-round.

It's easy for those folks who state that they can readily accept darker mornings now . . . but let's see if they can accept it when they actually have to experience it.

Example: A spate of dark mornings, coinciding with freshly fallen snow or ice, that must be cleared from their cars before heading off to work or school . . . or dealing with uncertain road conditions.

It would appear that if DST becomes a year-round event, the current generation will soon learn the hard lessons that their parents and grandparents learned a half century ago.

In NYC, during the final days of December and early January, sunrise will come at 8:20 a.m. EDT. Good Luck with that! 😨

07/15/2026

🚀 7/15/1975: The last Apollo Saturn vehicle ever launched, carrying NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton and Vance Brand on the - Test Project, the first crewed international mission in : https://www.nasa.gov/missions/apollo-soyuz-test-project-overview/

07/15/2026

The Apollo-Soyuz mission was launched on this day in 1975. It was the last launch of both an Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn family of rockets.

07/11/2026

On this day in 1979, Skylab, America's first orbiting space station, reentered Earth's atmosphere and met a fiery end as it broke apart during its descent to the surface.

07/06/2026

Today is Aphelion, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun in its orbit. Enjoy the nice, cool weather.

07/04/2026

Happy Independence Day!

05/18/2026

On the evenings of May 18–20, don’t miss a beautiful celestial meetup 🌙✨⁠
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A thin crescent Moon will pass by the two brightest planets — Venus and Jupiter — low above the western horizon shortly after sunset. All three will be easy to spot, even from the city. And as a bonus, Castor and Pollux will shine nearby, making the view even prettier ⭐️⁠
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Just keep in mind: the Moon just passed its new phase, so it won’t stay visible for long after sunset. To find the best viewing time for your location, use the Star Walk 2 app 📲⁠
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