These are some of my cosmology posts
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The Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background
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…
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The Perseids
Updated August 2026 – ForĀ 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…
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July 8 2011- The Final Mission
On 8 July 2011 Atlantis took off for the final 13 day mission of the Space Shuttle programme and it remains to this day the last American spacecraft to carry humans into orbit. The landing of Atlantis on 21 July 2011, which brought the Space Shuttle programme to a close – Image from NASA. DevelopmentĀ of…
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Mission Juno
On 4 July 2016 the NASA spacecraft Juno will arrive at Jupiter after a 5 year journey. It will be the ninthĀ space probe to visit the planet. The first wasĀ Pioneer 10, which flew past in December 1973, (see notes). Juno will go into an orbit around the planet which will take it close to itsĀ poles.…
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June 20- The Solstice
The June solstice will fall on June 20 orĀ June 21 this year, depending on where you are in the world. Ā It is the longest day in the northern hemisphere and the day when the Sun is at itsĀ highest in the midday sky (see note). The origin of the word solstice is from theĀ Latin words sol,…
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Spaceport UK?
I was very pleased to hear a couple of weeks ago that the UK government plansĀ to introduce a piece of legislation calledĀ the Modern Transport Bill. Ā This may not sound very exciting, but behind the uninspiring name is the intention to ultimately establish the UK’s first commercial spaceports, from which space tourists as well as scientists…
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Giving Venus an artificial magnetic field
As discussed in aĀ previous post,Ā in the far futureĀ humanity may decide to terraformĀ Venus so that the planetĀ hasĀ a similar temperature and atmosphere to that which currently exists on the Earth. However, the lack of a global magnetic field would cause significant obstacles to humans settling on Venus. Without this protective shield inhabitants would be exposed to the…
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The Earth’s magnetic field
Revised and Updated 1 February 2026 The Earth is unique among the inner planets in our Solar System (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) in that it has a strong magnetic field. It is this invisible field whichĀ causes the needle of a compass toĀ point North that has been used by navigators for centuries and is used…
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ExoMars TGO: Tracking Methane in the Martian Atmosphere
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, launched in 2016, aimed to study methane on Mars, a gas that might indicate geological or biological activity. Initially suspected to exist in trace amounts, recent findings revealed no detectable methane, leading to questions about previous measurements and highlighting mysteries around Mars’ atmospheric composition.… Continue reading ExoMars TGO: Tracking Methane…
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Breaking news!
News is justĀ reaching usĀ of the most amazing astronomical discovery which I am ever likely to experience in my lifetime,Ā one which I never thought I would see.Ā As regular followers of this blog will know, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute has been searching for evidence of life in the universe by looking for some…
Explaining Science 