We all accept that time zones are totally normal, but they're pretty weird. For some reason, we've all agreed that when you go over certain lines on the globe, not only might you be in a new place, but your time will be different too.
Springtime
Why care about exoplanets?
Nasa made a big announcement last week: seven Earth-sized planets orbit a star 40 light-years away and 3 of them are in the planet's habitable zone. Why should we care?
We’re bracing for impact
66 million years ago, an object the size of Mount Everest crashed down into the sea near modern-day Mexico and radically changed the world. It sent a cloud of dust and molten rock into the air that blocked out the sun, which killed loads of plants, which big herbivores like Triceratops needed, which large carnivores like T. Rex …
Space is Big
I didn't grow up by the sea, so every time I'm faced with an ocean, I get a true sense of awe. The sheer magnitude of the thing in front of me leaves me speechless. I look out and it's just water, as far as the eye can see. On a clear day, the horizon for …
Don’t Worry Pluto, I’m Not A Planet Either
I was at an event today where I had the opportunity to make a little magazine. Â This was my contribution:
M is for (exo)Moons
There are 8 planets in our Solar System (sorry Pluto). Â Most of these planets have companions that follow them around, like obedient pets and criminal records. Â The total count of these moons is 181. Â We are all quite familiar with the big shiny one that orbits Earth (that may or may not be made of …
K is for Kepler
Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife. These words, written by Johannes Kepler in 1611, are profound.  At the time, Galileo had just discovered the Galilean moons (including Europa) in Florence but was being persecuted for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun. Kepler, a staunch supporter of heliocentrism, …
J is for Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
If you look up in the night’s sky and point even a simple pair of binoculars at Jupiter, like Galileo did with a rudimentary telescope 405 years ago, you will see what he did: a reddish-pink planet with swirling masses of clouds. These clouds are beautiful in their own right, but there is one particular …
G is for Gravity Waves
Deep in Antarctica, right on top of the geographic south pole, there is a research station that peers back in time to the very beginning of our universe.  Named the Amundsen-Scott Station, it is home to instruments like the creatively named South Pole Telescope (SPT), the Keck Array, and the BICEP experiments. The temperature is currently sitting …
E is for Europa
Galileo Galilei is quite a famous astronomer but many of the discoveries he's known for are just extensions of the work of others.  For instance, he didn't come up with the idea that the Sun is the centre of the Solar System, he just got in big trouble for it.  He also didn't invent the telescope …
Jon Farrow 