Astronomy Items
Updated August 2026 Watching the Sun set below the horizon and the sky gradually get darker and darker is an almost magical experience. Twilight is that time of the day, just after sunset, or just before sunrise when the Sun is below the horizon but the sky is not completely dark. It is valued by photographers… Continue reading The Three Phases of Twilight Explained
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
Updated August 2026 - 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… Continue reading The Perseids
The June solstice will fall on June 20 or June 21 this year, depending on where you are in the world. It is the longest day in the northern hemisphere and the day when the Sun is at its highest in the midday sky (see note). The origin of the word solstice is from the Latin words sol,… Continue reading June 20- The Solstice
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