These are some of my latest posts
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Dark energy an unexpected finding
I offered recently to write an article for my local astronomy society on the discovery of dark energy. It is an expanded version of the blog post I wrote on the topic last year and, at over 3000 words, it is longer than my usual posts. I thought it would be of interest to many…
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Arecibo Update
Since the publication of this post on 2 December 2020 it appears that Arecibo observatory may be rebuilt. Although the $8 million pledged by the Puerto Rico Rico government is clearly not enough https://www.engadget.com/puerto-rico-approves-8-million-to-rebuild-arecibo-telescope-155454170.html I was saddened to see that the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has closed following catastrophic damage to its cables and…
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Reasons for the Great Silence
In recent years there has been an increase in interest in SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). SETI now has its own telescope, an array of 42 separate radio dishes known as the Allen Telescope Array. The Allen Telescope Array In 2016 the Breakthrough Listen programme started and is expected to run for ten…
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The changing pole star
Updated 21 November 2025 Many people know that Polaris, the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor (The Little Bear), is also known as the pole star. Indeed, the name Polaris itself was invented in the sixteenth century and is derived from the Latin stella polaris -pole star. The location of Polaris – Image credit…
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Life on Venus?
Many of you will have seen the story widely reported in the media of the discovery of the gas phosphine in the clouds of Venus – if not, you can find the story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54133538. On Earth phosphine is produced by bacteria and it has led to the interesting speculation as to whether there could be…
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Surveying the Cosmos – Part II
In a previous post I talked about the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a large telescope being built in Chile which will spend 90% of its time surveying most of the sky a total of 1000 times over a 10 year period (in the remaining 10% it will revisit areas of specific interest). In this…
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11-12 August 2020 – the Perseids
For revised post containing more tips on how to view the Perseids see The Perseids 2021. 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 a very high speed (in the case of the Perseids around 200,000 km/h). As…
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Short Guide to the Moon – ebook
While others spent lock down perfecting their baking skills or becoming experts in home exercise routines, I have been beavering away revising and reissuing the book I originally wrote about the Moon five years ago. I am very pleased to offer this to my readers for free for the next five days, and I hope…
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Surveying the Cosmos – Part I
In this post I’m going to talk about a new 500 million dollar telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), being built at Cerro Pachón in Chile, and the survey of the cosmos it will be undertaking over a 10 year period. Cerro Pachón is located in the foothills of the Andes at a latitude…
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How tides work (Original)
This post has been superseded by a later post. To view the revised post click here
Explaining Science 