History & Culture
Column: The Rarity of Celestial Events
Among rarely observed celestial events, the rarest is possibly the passage of one planet in front of another.
(coming soon)
Science & Discovery
Column: Taking in the Moon on a Gondola Ride
Gondolas and ziplines may be the first forms of long-distance lunar transportation.
(coming soon)
Science & Discovery
Feature: A complex storm and its complex history
Humankind has been enamored with Jupiter's Great Red Spot since shortly after the telescopic age began. Now, hundreds of years of observations are revealing a more complete picture of the atmospheric feature.
Welcome to Mercury, an online magazine focusing on the various ways astronomy intersects with science, education, culture, history, and art.
Astro News
Unintended Radiation from Starlink May Endanger Radio Astronomy
Astronomers found the newest iteration of Starlink leaks 32 times more radiation than the previous version, and is leaking radiation across frequency bands.
History & Culture
From the Archives: The Lunacy of It All: Lunar Phases and Human Behavior
In the 1980s, two experts re-examined studies regarding whether there is a relationship between aberrant human behavior and phases of the Moon.
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History & Culture
Column: The Hottest Topic is Ancient Astronomy
The most fashionable aspect of the history of astronomy in 2024 is from ancient times. With discoveries from two sites, these old, cold stones are the focus of recent research and news.
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Science & Discovery
Book Review: Life Among the Stars
A new book explores life, its origins, and its prevalence in the solar system and greater cosmos.
Astro News
Seeking CubeSats for Education
NASA has put out a call for education-related proposals for its CubeSat Launch Initiative. Proposals are due November 15, and NASA expects to make selections by March 14, 2025.
Education & Inspiration
Column: Education Matters: Inspiring the Sun-Earth Connection
Several years ago, the author incorporated astronomy and the connections between the Sun and Earth into a year-long physical science course. It was a successful experiment and captured his student's interest.
Science & Discovery
Feature: Losing Silence
Near-Earth space isn't just getting brighter and more crowded. Invisible to the unaided eye, radio pollution is overpowering faint signals from the cosmos and threatening radio astronomy's "quiet zones."
Science & Discovery
From the Archives: An Interview with Stephen W. Hawking
In 1975, a member of the ASP Board of Directors interviewed Stephen W. Hawking for Mercury. They discussed black holes, Hawking radiation, and more profound discoveries in astrophysics.
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Astro News
Translating Data into Sound Aids Learning
According to a new study, people from both sighted and blind-and-low-visual communities report that audio representations of data enhanced the learning experience and inspired them to learn more about the universe.
History & Culture
Feature: From Apollo to Artemis
Today's space exploration initiatives, including NASA's Artemis, are only the tip of the figurative iceberg of women’s contributions to spaceflight. And society is getting better at telling the stories of female astronauts and cosmonauts.
Astro News
Found: Three Ancient Stars
What started as a classroom project has led to the discovery of several stars that formed some 12 to 13 billion years ago and currently reside in our Milky Way Galaxy's outer diffuse "halo" — making them some of the oldest stars yet found.
History & Culture
From the Archives: An Interview with Carl Sagan
In a conversation five decades ago, former Mercury editor Richard Reis discussed with Carl Sagan the problems of both interstellar and interhuman communication, the need for a greater reliance on rationality, the anti-science movement at that time, and his own research efforts in planetary science.
Astro News
Omega Centauri’s Black Hole
A favorite observing target in the southern sky hosts an elusive intermediate-mass black hole, say astronomers in a new study published July 10.
History & Culture
Book Review: Our Debt to the Moon
A new book takes the reader through the connections between the Moon and our planet’s earliest era, modern-day life, and everything in between.
Science & Discovery
Feature: Vatican Astronomers Aid the Search for Solar System Origins
To measure the physical properties of asteroid Bennu's sample material, NASA is using an instrument provided by a scientist who is employed by a different government: the Vatican.
Education & Inspiration
Column: Education Matters: Science as a Creative Endeavour
Incorporating the arts into science curricula promotes deeper relationships with the natural world.
History & Culture
Feature: How Amateur Astronomy Has Evolved
Amateur astronomy has changed drastically over the past couple hundred years, but it’s always encouraged people to look up.
Art & Imagination
From the Archives: Approaching the Universe Through Art
In an attempt to explore the philosophical relationship between art and astronomy, artist Iris Reis talks with prominent California artists whose works echoes their cosmic concern.
Astro News
Euclid Team Releases Early Science Results
The Euclid observatory has been in space for nearly one year. The team has now released several new images and early science papers from the mission.
Astro News
How Hubble Observes is Changing
After multiple Hubble Space Telescope gyroscope issues in the past six months, NASA announced it would change the telescope to single-gyro mode. HST will lose efficiency in this new mode, but the telescope should last until the mid-2030s.
Education & Inspiration
From the Archives: Creative Teaching with Astronomically Inspired Music
How incorporating music in astronomical teaching can not just reinforce science concepts, but also expand students’ awareness of the creative aspects of music.
History & Culture
Column: Our Island Universe: History’s Most Profound Total Solar Eclipses
Eclipses are an opportunity to do clever scientific research that can yield profound consequences about our understanding of the cosmos. Perhaps the most famous example was in 1919.
Science & Discovery
Feature: Discovering the Dark Universe
Most of the universe is undetectable, and yet astronomers have learned an incredible amount about this invisible and mysterious part of the cosmos in the past five decades.
Astro News
NASA Revising Its Mars Sample Return Plan
The space agency has reached out to industry partners and individual NASA centers to investigate innovative technologies that could reduce costs and speed up the timeline.
Education & Inspiration
Column: A Little Learning: Poetry in Motion
Poets have long conveyed the ethereal experience of witnessing a total solar eclipse. Perhaps it’s time to give students something beyond diagrams and demonstrations, and let poetry accompany them.
Astro News
Chandra X-ray Observatory on the Cutting Block
NASA's 2025FY budget dramatically reduces funding for the Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of NASA's "Great Observatories" and the premiere X-ray astrophysics facility.
History & Culture
Column: Our Island Universe: Two Small Pieces of Glass Ushered in a Revolution in Science
In January 1610, Galileo Galilei made a series of observations that would forever change how humanity views the cosmos.
Astro News
Solar Gamma Ray Oddities
The solar polar regions emitted more gamma rays at times that seemed to coincide with the Sun’s 11-year magnetic cycle.
Education & Inspiration
Feature: The Sun, Moon, and You
This guide will help you prepare yourself, students, friends, and neighbors — and provide tips on running events — for the April 2024 solar eclipse.
Science & Discovery
Feature: Searching Hubble’s Archive for Hidden Gems
Because of its data collection and archival system, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed how — and who — can do science.
Astro News
New Horizons Mission Has Led to Discovery of 89 Kuiper Belt Objects
A new paper describes the discovery of dozens of objects in the Kuiper Belt, thanks to the New Horizons mission and its related searches to better understand this region in the outer solar system.
Astro News
A Commercial Craft Sticks Its Landing
The Odysseus spacecraft, built and operated by Texas-based company Intuitive Machines, successfully touched down at the lunar south polar region on February 22.
Education & Inspiration
Column: A Little Learning: Radio Frequency Interference
How should you monitor cell phone use in the classroom?
Astro News
New Views from Old Images
In a new paper, planetary scientists used modern computational techniques to reprocess images of the largest Uranian moon, Titania. They were able to map several geologic surface features.
Astro News
Satellites Streak Images
Astronomers have calculated how much of an effect communication satellites have on images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Mercury is distributed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a nonprofit organization dedicated to astronomy literacy, education, and outreach.
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