Terraforming Venus

Updated December 2025 In a previous post I have discussed living on Venus in floating colonies. I'll now discuss terraforming. This the process of changing the global environment of a planet  in such a way as to make it suitable for human habitation. Because it is so far beyond our current technological capabilities, most articles about… Continue reading Terraforming Venus

Transit of Venus

On 6 June 2012, a transit of Venus occurred. This rare astronomical event, when Venus passes directly in front of the Sun, and appears as a large black dot on its surface slowly moving from one side to the other in about 3 hours, has only happened eight times since the invention of the telescope (ref 1). This post… Continue reading Transit of Venus

Happy new year 2016

Happy new year to all my readers and followers. I hope you have had a good festive break. My and wife and I went on a cruise to the Canary Islands, Lisbon and Madeira over Christmas to get away from the cold and damp North West of England. During our holiday I was hoping to… Continue reading Happy new year 2016

The evenings are drawing out already

Revised 14 December 2025 As I complete this post, it's completely dark outside and it's only 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Today is 14 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 date of the winter solstice in 2025), the… Continue reading The evenings are drawing out already

Akatsuki – a second chance – Updated (7 Dec 2015)

This an update to my original post from 4 December. In a press release today the Japanese space agency JAXA confirmed that the smaller rocket motors had fired as planned and the Akatsuki is now in orbit round Venus.  The announcement (http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2015/12/20151207_akatsuki.html) went on to say: "The orbiter is now in good health. We are… Continue reading Akatsuki – a second chance – Updated (7 Dec 2015)