Why Voyager 1 has NOT left the solar system
Something has been bugging me for a while. In recent years astronomers have realised there might be another planet in our solar system. For now it is called Planet Nine and we think it is there because we can see its gravity lining up smaller solar system objects. It...
What size of piano is needed to play universe’s lowest note?
Most of us have a very limited vocal range. The average human singing voice encompasses just three octaves, where an octave spans eight ascending musical notes in such a way that the last note is twice the frequency of the first. Sometimes well trained singers can...
How many bananas would it take to get to Mars?
No humans have left Low Earth Orbit since 1972, an achingly long time given the fervour of excitement surrounding the Apollo program that saw twelve men walk on the Moon. That said, eyes are starting to focus on Mars as a credible target for people to explore. The US...
What if the Moon was really made of cheese?
Of all the stories we pass on from generation to generation, one of the most persistent is that the Moon is made of cheese. The idea is a very old one, dating back at least as far as 1546 to The Proverbs of John Heywood which carries the line “the moon is made of a...
Asteroid (15347) Colinstuart
I was delighted and stunned to learn that, in recognition of my work to popularise astronomy, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has renamed the asteroid formerly known as (15347) 1994 UD. It is now called (15347) Colinstuart. A main belt asteroid, it sits...
Why your bathroom taps have been lying to you for years
Do you ever get the sense that you're being lied to? That those around you have fed you untruths your entire life and no-one else seems to question it? I'm not talking about the latest twists in the current crazy political landscape or any half-baked conspiracy...
The day hasn’t always been 24 hours long, and it’s getting longer
The day may be 24 hours long now, but that hasn’t always been the case. Nor will it be the case in the far future. The Earth’s rotation is slowing under the gravitational influence of the Moon. Billions of years ago, the day was just 18 hours long. The Moon and the...
The ingenious way Victorian astronomers communicated comet discoveries
In today's hyper-connected world we take communication for granted. A few taps and you can fire a message around the world in seconds. You can even tweet from space. But things weren't also so easy, and back in the 1880s the technology of the day was hampering...
How to be a better public speaker… according to science
If you are afraid of speaking in public, then you certainly aren’t alone. Survey after survey has shown it to be one of the things that people fear the most. In a now infamous poll from the 1970s, forty-one per cent of people said they were afraid of public speaking,...
The Cosmic Microwave Background
The theory that our universe began with a ‘big bang’ is one of the most famous ideas in all of science. It has seeped into popular culture, too, with one of the most famous television shows in the world named after it. Yet, despite its fame, it was only confirmed...