SkyCaramba

It's been a half-century since Pioneer 10 went by Jupiter. And it's been 20 years since anyone last heard from the probe. Whatever's next for it will probably be in almost 40,000 years.

Mars just went through solar conjunction. Not only can ordinary observers not see the red planet, scientists can't stay in touch with the space probes there either. That's not a small concern. Missions to Mars have been hard. Here's the story of the first successful Mars probe to report back and what finally did shut it down.

Mercury's slowly making it into the evening sky. Saturn rules the evening. Jupiter's still up all night. So is Uranus as it's at opposition this week. Venus dominates the morning. Mars is hidden in the sun's glare. A listener wants to know why the moon always seems to pass or over certain stars but not others. The answer goes back billions of years.

The first known crowdsourced scientific study began one morning 190 years ago when it looked like the stars were falling from the sky. Nobody knew yet just what meteors are. A professor's letter asking people to tell him what they saw set scientists on the path to figuring it out.

Jupiter will be up all night this week. This opposition isn't as close as last year's, but it'll be the closest for about a dozen years.

Stars zoom by the spacecraft in sci-fi movies and TV shows. Just how fast would you have to go for that to happen? Even light doesn't go anywhere near fast enough for it to look like the stars are barely moving.

For about two centuries, astronomers made mistakes and missed the chance to be credited for discovering Neptune. Finally, some mistakes led to someone discovering it.

This is the week of the annular solar eclipse that crosses the Americas. You don't have much time to get ready to see it. Find the times for your location with the

The celestial dragon may deliver some fireballs courtesy of Comet Halley next week. If you're in the Americas, you want to prepare for the solar eclipse on the 14th.

Mars continues riding into the sunset. The moon passes by Saturn. Venus approaches the lion. The Daytime Sextantid meteor shower peaks. See a star when the sun is up.

Mars keeps getting harder to see. Saturn gives a lonely star a little company. Jupiter and Uranus hang out between Cetus and Aries. Venus sparkles in the morning. Mercury at its greatest viewing. Neptune up all night. A quick guide to figure out when you can see the moon.

Mars passes by Porrima. Saturn continues a nearly all-night show. Jupiter and Uranus rise early. Venus gleems in the morning with the moon. Maybe see Mercury. A somewhat recently named constellation is a lizard. A couple observers tried to name the stars for different kings.

Mercury goes through conjunction this week. Mars continues heading out of the evening sky. Saturn still looks good after opposition. Jupiter and Uranus await you in the morning. Venus is looking good too. Some scientists want to know more about Uranus and propose a mission. And people in most of the Americas will get a solar eclipse next month. Start getting ready now.

Try to find Venus in the morning. Mars is still an evening object. Saturn's up all night. Technology keeps giving us better ways to understand the ringed planet, how it formed, and what that may mean about how the solar system formed.

Venus moves into the morning. Jupiter and Uranus rise in late evening. Saturn's almost at opposition. Mercury and Mars barely grace the evening sky. And the moon passes in front of the reddish star Antares in an event reminiscent of the moon-Mars occultation in December.

Leo dives into the sunset. Mercury and Mars finish their pairing nearby. Saturn continues approaching opposition. Jupiter rises earlier. And Venus transitions to morning. The moon will soon occult Antares. Two galaxies--one of them the one we live in--will merge in a few billion years. What will we call the new amalgamation? Will people even be around to call it anything? A lonely star in the sout...

Different planets axes point at different north and south celestial poles. Find out where the north and south stars are on bodies other than Earth. Venus heads toward inferior conjunction. Mercury and Mars tickle Leo's belly. Saturn rises earlier heading toward opposition. The Perseid meteor shower will peak soon.

Two meteor showers peak early this week. Evening planet watching's getting hard. Saturn's approaching opposition. And what's with that face on Mars?

Two meteor showers peak at the end of this month. And it's not too early to start looking for one shower that peaks next month. Three planets gang up on the lion. Saturn rises in late evening on its way to opposition next month. Jupiter and Uranus remain near the sea monster.

Mars, Venus, and Mercury are evening objects near Regulus this week. Saturn's close to Sigma Aquarii. Jupiter and Uranus rise in the morning. Pluto's up all night. It's hard to see. Its five moons are even harder to see. Mathematics helped prove--at least to some people--that the first known Plutonian moon exists. It certainly wasn't distinct in the first pictures.

Lots of things to talk about this week: Mercury becomes an evening object. Mars is close to Regulus. Venus turns around. Spectroscopic binaries. The moon passes Saturn and Jupiter. Solstice on Mars. The summer triangle. Star-crossed lovers.

The first of four so-called supermoons is this week. The reason for tides maybe isn't exactly as you've heard. Mercury is missing from the night sky. Mars and Venus are by Regulus in the heart of the lion. Earth is at its farthest from the sun.

Do scorpions have foreheads? The one on the celestial dome does, at least according to one of the star names. What looks like one star in the scorpion is actually six! Venus pursues Mars in the evening sky. Mercury's at perihelion and heading toward conjunction with the sun.

The June solstice is this week. A Greek mathematician observed shadows during the solstice, had people make measurements, ran some calculations, and came up with the first known estimate of how big around the earth is. Venus follows Mars in the space between Cancer and Leo in the evening sky. Saturn stays in Aquarius in the second half of the night. Jupiter's up at dawn.

The story of Apollo taking out his wrath on a servant bird, a bowl, and an innocent water snake is remembered in our modern constellations. But modern astronomers call the snake by the wrong name. It's Venus's turn to pass through the Beehive Cluster this week. The planet is following Mars in the evening sky. The moon passes Jupiter in the morning. And if you can see Mercury in the morning...