Updated 21 November 2025 In 1.3 million years’ time the star Gliese 710 is forecast to pass within 0.166 light years of the Solar System, 25 times closer than Proxima Centauri which is our current nearest star (excluding the Sun of course). The close approach of Gliese 710 will be the strongest disrupting encounter known… Continue reading Gliese 710: The Closest Future Star Encounter
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
September 22 2024 – the equinox
In 2024 September 22 is the date of the September equinox and is also the first day of autumn (or the first day of spring if you're one of my readers in the Southern Hemisphere). In this post I’ll talk about the equinoxes and discus the commonly held, but not quite correct, view that they… Continue reading September 22 2024 – the equinox
Guide to Observing the Perseids Meteor Shower 2024
The night of 12/13 August will be the peak of the Perseids, one of the most famous prolific meteor showers. Meteors (also known as shooting stars) are bright streaks of light caused by small lumps of rock or metal called meteoroids hitting the Earth’s atmosphere at very high speed (in the case of the Perseids around 200,000 km/h).… Continue reading Guide to Observing the Perseids Meteor Shower 2024
Understanding Solar Day Length Variation
Revised and updated 12 February 2026 July 25, is one of the four days a year in which the length of the apparent solar day, the natural day measured by the rising and setting of the Sun, is 24 hours. I have written about this in previous posts but I thought it be worth mentioning… Continue reading Understanding Solar Day Length Variation
Starlink and other Large Satellite Constellations
Back in 2019, the year before the pandemic, many of you will have seen images of long ‘trains’ composed of up to sixty SpaceX Starlink satellites crossing the sky in a straight line. These pictures hit the headlines not only because of the number of satellites, but because of their brightness. A 'train' of… Continue reading Starlink and other Large Satellite Constellations
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