Happy new year to all my readers and followers. I hope you have all enjoyed the festive break and that you have some great plans for 2015. I have taken a short break from blogging, although during the break I managed to purchase the domain thesciencegeek.org, which will hopefully make my blog easier to find. I… Continue reading Happy New Year 2015
Author: Steve Hurley
Hi I am Steve Hurley. Although I work in the IT industry. I studied for a PhD in astronomy in the 1980s. My real passion is explaining scientific concepts to a non-scientific audience. My blog (explainingscience.org) covers various scientific topics, but primarily astronomy. It is written in a style that it is easily understandable to the non scientist.
Publications and videos
For links to my books and videos please visit www.explainingscience.org
Understanding Christmas Dates: Gregorian vs. Julian Calendar
The celebration of Christmas varies, with most Christians observing it on December 25, while Orthodox Christians celebrate on January 7 due to differences from the Julian to Gregorian calendars. These calendar changes, initiated by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, addressed drift issues in previous systems, affecting seasonal alignment and date consistency in Christian practices.
The Shortest Day
Updated and revised 11 December 2025 As I write this post, it's completely dark outside and it's only 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Today is 4 December, and most people I come across think that it will continue to get dark earlier and earlier in the afternoons until 21 December, the shortest day of the year… Continue reading The Shortest Day
A Brief History of the Universe
Updated August 2026 This post gives a (brief!) history of the Universe from the Big Bang until the the present day. As I am sure you'll agree, it's a big topic; so I'll only give a outline of some of the key events and when we believed they happened. This post is one of many… Continue reading A Brief History of the Universe
Philae has landed
Like millions over people I was cheered to see that the probe Philae landed successfully on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet after a 6.4 billion km ten year journey. In a mission this complex there will inevitably be a few hiccups and the biggest one so far has been that the probe has been unable to secure itself to… Continue reading Philae has landed
