Astronomy Items
Revised March 2026 The Steady State theory is an elegant alternative to the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe . It was very popular among astronomers in the 1950s, but is now obsolete. What is the Steady State Theory? The Big Bang theory states that the Universe originated from an incredibly hot… Continue reading The Steady State Theory
It has been a very exciting week for space exploration with the pictures sent from New Horizons as it flew past Pluto on Tuesday. Monday next week (20-th July) marks the 46-th anniversary of the first landing on men on the Moon, which was one of the iconic events of the last century. To celebrate this anniversary… Continue reading 20 July 1969 The First Men on the Moon
On 14 July 2015 the New Horizons Spacecraft will fly past the dwarf planet Pluto which lies on the edge of our Solar System. This is the culmination of a nine and half year voyage which started when it was launched in back in January 2006. Artist's Impression of New Horizons passing Pluto - Image… Continue reading New Horizons
The June solstice, which for most of the world will fall on June 21 this year, 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, which means Sun, and sistere, to stand… Continue reading The June Solstice
On June 30 2015 an extra second will be inserted into the very end of the day. This extra second is called a leap second. Why do we need leap seconds? Although we take the average length of a day to be 24 hours, the mean solar day, or average "natural" day measured by the… Continue reading Jun 30 2015 – Leap Second
Explaining Science 