These are some of my latest posts
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Venus the Morning Star
Anybody who has observed the eastern sky just before sunrise in the last few weeks will have noticed a brilliant white object – the planet Venus, also known as the morning star. It is brighter than any other planet and at its brightest ten times brighter than Sirius the brightest star. Its brightness has often…
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The Lyrids 2025
The night of 22/23 April 2025 will be the peak of the Lyrids, 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. As they pass through the atmosphere they get…
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Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles: A Green Alternative?
Hydrogen vehicles use fuel cells to produce electricity, but their carbon footprint remains significant due to hydrogen production methods, primarily steam methane reforming. Additionally, while hydrogen can be produced greenly, green hydrogen is currently expensive and only makes up a small portion of global production. The only hydrogen car available in the UK is the…
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Challenges of Electric Vehicle Battery Technology
Updated November 25 2025 In what is a departure from my usual topics of astronomy and space science, I’ve written a series of posts on the transition to electric vehicles. In this post I’ll discuss the issues of the lifetime of EV batteries, their lower energy density compared to traditional hydrocarbon fuels and the secondhand…
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Public Charging Availability: Key Issues for Electric Vehicles
Updated 25 November 2025 In what is a departure from my usual topics of astronomy and space science, I’ve written a series of posts on the transition to electric vehicles. This is the third in this series. In this post I will discuss the issues of the lack of availability of public charging and long…
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Electric Vehicle Range Challenges
Updated November 25 2025 In what is a departure from my usual topics of astronomy and space science, I‘ve written a series of posts on the transition to electric vehicles. This is second in this series. In this post I will discuss the issues of the limited range of EVs and the high costs of…
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Understanding the Shift from ICE to Electric Vehicles
The UK is transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs) and will phase out the internal combustion engine (ICE). Challenges remain, including public charging infrastructure and EV battery costs. These posts explore these issues and highlight improvements in ICE emissions, emphasizing the need for a shift to greener transport alternatives.… Continue reading Understanding the Shift from ICE…
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Creating Videos
I started my Explaining Science blog nearly 11 years ago in April 2014. Back then I wasn’t sure how long I’d want to keep it going. But now in 2025 I still find that I enjoy blogging very much. In July 2020, the year of the first covid-19 lockdowns in the UK, I started the…
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eBooks from Explaining Science 2024
Update 30 August 2025 I have extensively expanded and rewritten all three “A Short Guide to…” e-books. I will make these books available on Kindle for a competitive price. However, in future I won’t do any deals where I offer free or discounted prices on these books for a limited time period. I believe the…
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Understanding the Magnitude Scale in Astronomy
Astronomers use the magnitude scale to measure the brightness of celestial objects, originally developed by Greek astronomers. Standardized by Norman Pogson in 1856, the scale uses whole and fractional values. Today, it encompasses all luminous objects, with both apparent and absolute magnitudes.… Continue reading Understanding the Magnitude Scale in Astronomy →
Explaining Science 