Author Archives: Alex R. Howe

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About Alex R. Howe

I'm a full-time astrophysicist and a part-time science fiction writer.

Two naked-eye comets in the northern skies

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

The northern hemisphere has been drawing the short straw when it comes to comets for the last few years. The last few really bright comets have all been in the southern sky. But that streak finally appears to be ending, … Continue reading →

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Movie review: Ender’s Game

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is considered one of the modern classics of science fiction, about a genius boy named Ender Wiggin, who is recruited to fight a war against alien invaders. Now, the movie is out, and I … Continue reading →

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National Novel Writing Month begins

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

It’s that time of year again. Hundreds of thousands of writers around the world are gearing up for the biggest writing event of the year: NaNoWriMo. The goal is simple: write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of … Continue reading →

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Mismatched planets

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

We would expect that planets that form close together would be similar to one another. We would also expect that planets that form close together would stay close together and planets that form far apart would stay far apart. Therefore, … Continue reading →

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Government reopens, NASA back on track

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

On Wednesday, the US Congress passed a budget deal reopening the government and avoiding the much worse debt ceiling collision by only a couple of hours. Of course, we can expect loads more fun when the short-term deal runs out … Continue reading →

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Confirmed! 9 lost episodes of Doctor Who recovered

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Doctor Who is an excellent British science fiction show about the titular time traveling alien, which has enthralled audiences literally for generations with the help of (depending how you count them) 13 lead actors. It celebrates its 50th anniversary next … Continue reading →

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Movie review: Gravity

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Well, this is a treat. It’s not often you see such quality hard science fiction on the big screen these days. Gravity is a film about two astronauts trying to survive after the Space Shuttle is destroyed by flying space … Continue reading →

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Government shuts down: now what?

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

By now, you’ve probably heard that the United States government is shut down, having failed to pass a budget, something that last happened in 1996. I’ll spare the annoying political details and just say that neither of the two parties … Continue reading →

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In the sky: Venus

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Venus, the nearest planet to Earth, has long been an object of interest in the heavens. It is the brightest point-like object in the sky (for now: it only narrowly edges out the International Space Station), and aside from the … Continue reading →

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Welcome to the Future: the year we became an interstellar civilization

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

When the Voyager 1 spacecraft was launched in 1977, it’s mission was to explore Jupiter and Saturn. But 35 years and 122 astronomical units later, the venerable probe entered interstellar space. Read that again: We put a spacecraft in interstellar … Continue reading →

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