Astronomy Items
Many of you will have seen the images back in 2019 which showed long ‘trains’ composed of up to sixty SpaceX Starlink satellites crossing the sky in a straight line. These pictures hit the headlines not only because of the number of satellites, but because of their brightness. A 'train' of SpaceX Starlink satellites,… Continue reading Effects of Large Satellite Constellations on Astronomy
In 2022 March 20 is the date of the March equinox and is also the first day of spring (or the first day of autumn if you're one of my readers in the Southern Hemisphere). In this post I’ll talk about the equinoxes and discuss the commonly held, but incorrect, view, that they are the… Continue reading The equinox 20 March 2022
I recently read an article from a popular astronomy website called Universe Today. It stated that: “…the CMB [cosmic microwave background radiation] is visible at a distance of 13.8 billion light years in all directions from Earth, leading scientists to determine that this is the true age of the Universe. “ This statement isn’t quite correct.… Continue reading Understanding Cosmic Distances
On 18 December a Ariane 5 rocket will take off from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, aboard it will be the $12 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) - the most expensive scientific instrument ever launched into space. In this post I’ll talk about this remarkable telescope and the mission to deploy it.… Continue reading James Webb Telescope
In 2021 September 22 is the date of the September equinox and is also the first day of autumn (or the first day of spring if you're one of my readers in the Southern Hemisphere). In this post I’ll talk about the equinoxes and discus the commonly held view that they are the two days in… Continue reading September 22 the equinox
Explaining Science 