Updated 4 February 2026 As The accidental discovery of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by Penzias and Wilson in 1964 proved to be one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the early twentieth century and since then has made a huge contribution to our understanding of the Universe. One of the first things it achieved… Continue reading How the Cosmic Microwave Background Changed Our Understanding of the Universe
Revised 1 February 2026 In 1964 two young American radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, made an accidental finding which would win them both the Nobel prize and turned out to be one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the twentieth century. The story started when Penzias and Wilson were given observing time on a large radio telescope at… Continue reading The Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background
For revised post containing more tips on how to view the Perseids see The Perseids 2021. On 12 August you may be lucky enough - if it's a clear night and you are somewhere without too much light pollution - to see a phenomenon called the Perseids, which is a meteor shower which appears at… Continue reading The Perseids
On 8 July 2011 Atlantis took off for the final 13 day mission of the Space Shuttle programme and it remains to this day the last American spacecraft to carry humans into orbit. The landing of Atlantis on 21 July 2011, which brought the Space Shuttle programme to a close - Image from NASA. Development of… Continue reading July 8 2011- The Final Mission
On 4 July 2016 the NASA spacecraft Juno will arrive at Jupiter after a 5 year journey. It will be the ninth space probe to visit the planet. The first was Pioneer 10, which flew past in December 1973, (see notes). Juno will go into an orbit around the planet which will take it close to its poles.… Continue reading Mission Juno
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