This week I watched Don’t Look Up. I was impressed. Others may have different opinions, but to me it came across as a razor-sharp satire on the current zeitgiest, a social commentary of the highest order and a dark comedy with some solid science behind it. The scary part wasn’t the concept of a planet-killer … More What happens when Earth is hit by a 10km wide banana…
There’s a planet in our solar system that’s the butt of far too many jokes. You know the one (and yes, I said ‘butt’). Nobody pronounces its name properly. Some say it’s ‘Your Anus’ (there, I said it). Others say it’s ‘Urine-us’ (there, I said that too). I know. Lame. And I can’t wait until … More Why Uranus is funny (and how to pronounce it properly)
I’ve decided to call defeat over conspiracy theories. You can’t stop ‘em or change the minds of anybody who believes them. So I’ve decided to join them. From here on, I’m a believer in every conspiracy theory around, especially the ones that contradict each other. So yes, the moon landings were faked (six times), and … More Why I believe every conspiracy theory, including the ones that contradict each other
It’s fifty years today since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out on the surface of the Moon. I was a kid when it happened, but I remember it as yesterday – watching the wobbly image of Armstrong, on TV, as he made his way across the lunar surface. Looking back, we can see through … More Dreams of humanity: fifty years on
I find it incredible to think that this week has marked the fiftieth anniversary of the flight of Apollo 11 – the first landing on the Moon. Half a century: and yet, in many ways, it seems like yesterday. I was a kid at the time. Back then space was the place, as Sun Ra … More A half century since Apollo 11: a personal memoir
Hurrah for the Apollo 50th anniversary – and here’s how Apollo 11 came close to disaster on landing #Apollo50 #Apollo11 … More Hurrah for Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary!
The problem with going to Mars (of which the Moon, I am told, is a part) is that it’s not just a long way off, it’s also kind of desolate. No atmosphere to speak of. Barren. Waterless, except a bit. Was once a fertile place. Then it suffered climate change. All that was about three … More Let’s go to Mars (of which the Moon is a part)
I spotted a thread the other day on Facebook in which someone was screaming about the Moon landings being faked. ‘Wake up!’ this person insisted. ‘The Moon landings were faked.’ Why? Apparently we haven’t been back since 1972 and, according to this person, lack the technology to do so. Well, quite. It was one of … More How my favorite Napier icon proves the Moon landings really happened
Remember Pluto the planet? And then Pluto the not a planet? Well, it’s back. Possibly. Apparently an informal forum held the other week came down in favour of reinstating the ‘planet’ classification. Of course these things carry little weight with the International Astronomical Union. What interests me is the way that the debate over whether … More Pluto might be a planet again. Or not.
There’s growing evidence that not just our Earth but also the solar system we know and love is actually a rarity, as such things go. Many stars, we now learn, have planetary systems. But very few are like ours. That’s a change from even the mid-twentieth century, when we considered our solar system to be … More Our solar system may be unique – let’s look after it
Matthew Wright 
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