The Star That Led the Magi: Miracle, Myth or Astronomy?
The Bible gives us one source, one story, and almost no detail. Two thousand years of astronomers have been trying to work out what was actually in the sky.
The Man Who Moved the Earth: Copernicus, Part One
Before he changed cosmology, Copernicus spent decades doing almost everything else. The first in a series on the man behind the theory.
Let the stars choose your next read
Tell the Oracle what era is calling you — the past, the present, or what's coming — and it will find the right article from the celestial record.
A Year on Mars
The first crew to reach Mars will spend roughly 500 days on the surface before the planets align enough to let them leave. Here is what the first year might actually look like.
The Fermi Paradox: Are We Alone in the Universe?
Are we alone in the universe? The conditions for life appear to be everywhere. The evidence for it, beyond Earth, is nonexistent. The Fermi Paradox has been asking why for seventy years.
Mother Shipton: The Making of a Yorkshire Prophetess
She was born in a cave, lived on the edges of respectable society and allegedly predicted the modern world five centuries before it arrived. But how much of Mother Shipton is real and how much is Victorian invention?
When Will Humans Land on Mars? The Honest Answer
NASA says the 2030s. SpaceX has been saying the 2020s for the better part of fifteen years. The honest answer to when humans will land on Mars requires getting past the press releases and into the engineering, and the engineering is where the story gets complicated.
What Artemis II Proved, and What It Didn't
The heat shield held, the crew splashed down safely, and NASA says Artemis III is on track for 2027. Two weeks on, the post-mission data is telling a more complicated story about a reentry trajectory that had to be redesigned, a valve that needs fixing, and a 2028 landing date that is doing a lot of optimistic work.
They're Home: What the Artemis II Splashdown Actually Looked Like
The heat shield held, the parachutes deployed, and four astronauts are home. Mission Control called it a perfect bullseye. What they did not mention is that getting there required flying hardware several engineers had formally objected to.
Hypatia of Alexandria: The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Hypatia drove her own chariot, lectured to packed rooms and advised the most powerful man in Alexandria. She was killed for it in 415 AD. Sixteen centuries later, everyone claims her and almost nobody reads her.
What Awaits the Artemis II Crew When They Come Home
The lunar flyby is done. The records are broken. Now four astronauts have to survive re-entry on a heat shield several engineers were still arguing about on the morning of launch, and hand their data to the people who will decide whether 2028 is still possible.
The Asteroid That Almost Hit the Moon: 2024 YR4 and What It Taught Us
For a few weeks earlier this year, asteroid 2024 YR4 had a genuine, calculated probability of striking the moon in 2032. Scientists ruled it out in March. What the episode revealed about our planetary defences is considerably less reassuring.
Humanity Is Building a Base on the Moon. Here Is What That Actually Means.
NASA has scrapped its plans for a lunar space station and is building a base on the moon instead. A permanent human presence on another world. The timeline is real, the money is committed and the first phase has already begun.
The Asteroids Nobody Can See: NASA's Warning That Should Be Headline News
In February, NASA's acting planetary defence officer told a scientific conference that 15,000 asteroids large enough to destroy a city remain undetected. We have no spacecraft ready to deflect one. She said it keeps her up at night.
The Eclipse Nobody on Earth Can See: Artemis II and the View from Beyond
Today, four astronauts will watch a solar eclipse that nobody on Earth can see. It will last nearly an hour. The sun will vanish behind the moon and the corona will blaze into view. Some moments belong entirely to the sky.
Artemis II: For the First Time in Fifty Years, We Are Going Back
Four astronauts are flying around the moon today. The first humans to travel beyond Earth orbit in more than fifty years. Whatever you think about space exploration, this is a moment worth paying attention to.