Environment & Outdoors

Smiling man next to a large home telescope

After a little break (of 25 years or so) Bob King is celebrating his retirement with a return to The North 103.3's airwaves!After almost 40 years with the Duluth News Tribune, Bob is now retired. But scratch a print guy and you'll find a radio guy; King and then-UMD Planetarium Director Glen Langhorst hosted Startalk on KUMD for several years in the early '90s.Listen for Astro Bob every other Tuesday at 8am on Northland Morning.

Astro Bob's Backyard Astronomy: Mars, the Moon, and Controversial Mirrors

The North 103.3 | By Luke Moravec

Published July 21, 2026 at 9:17 AM CDT

This image illustrates how sunlight scattered by Reflect Orbital’s space mirrors would increase the overall brightness of the sky above European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Similar effects would be observed across the planet. Even though the mirrors are not pointing directly at the observatory, they still diffuse light sideways, which is then further scattered by the atmosphere, making the sky 3 to 4 times brighter.

The night sky continues to offer changes and spectacle - and some controversy as well.

Saturn is starting to show up in the early morning sky, the full "buck" moon will be on display on July 29th, and on Tuesday, July 21st, keep your eyes open for northern lights.

The natural elements of the cosmos are likely to get some additional company in the near future. A company called Reflect Orbital is slated to begin launching mirrored satellites into orbit to potentially provide sunlight around the globe even during nighttime hours. "The hope for this company is to build 50,000 of them," says Bob King. "Astronomers are extremely concerned because they figure it's going to brighten the sky by about 300 percent." With permission to proceed already granted, an act of congress is the only thing that could stop the launch. Information about Reflect Orbital and their mission is available on their website.

You can hear Astro Bob's Backyard Astronomy every other Tuesday at 8:20am on Northland Morning.