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“And yet it moves.”
Attributed to Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) “And yet it moves.” (“Eppur si muove”) Even if Galileo never spoke those words, they have much relevance for us currently, when even provable facts are under attack by science deniers. Galileo’s legendary intellectual defiance — “in spite of what you believe, these are…
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Atom puns & jokes no.15
Everyone loves a pune (or pun) or joke. Here follows more ‘atom’ puns/jokes – enjoy or groan or meh. More to follow! ____________________________________________________________________ What’s an atom with a bad sense of humour?Not a laughing matter. ____________________________________________________________________ PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at…
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Do you share a birthday with an astronaut? 23 – 29 October (no.9)
Follow for a weekly list of forthcoming astronaut* birthdays. Maybe you share a birthday?! If not, perhaps it will be you who adds your name to the list?! If you do share a birthday, what does it mean to you? Do you feel a connection, pride? They take to the skies (on controlled explosions) to…
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#The sun, the sky, the moon, the stars; Jupiter, Neptune and Mars; All these things I clearly see; It don’t take a telescope for you to love me#
– Dumb, Beautiful South Songwriters: Dave Rotheray / Paul Heaton Dumb lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group Full lyrics: #It doesn’t take a mathematician To add a simple sum Either you are simply beautiful Or I am simply dumb Dumb, dumb, dumb #It doesn’t take Robert The Bruce To see the web…
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Atom puns & jokes no.14
Everyone loves a pune (or pun) or joke. Here follows more ‘atom’ puns/jokes – enjoy or groan or meh. More to follow! ____________________________________________________________________ How do we know that atoms are Catholic?Because they have mass. ____________________________________________________________________ PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at the…
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Do you share a birthday with an astronaut? 16 – 22 October (no.8)
Follow for a weekly list of forthcoming astronaut* birthdays. Maybe you share a birthday?! If not, perhaps it will be you who adds your name to the list?! If you do share a birthday, what does it mean to you? Do you feel a connection, pride? They take to the skies (on controlled explosions) to…
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“Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe.”
– Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) – attributed 1 October 1847 is the day Maria Mitchell swept the sky with her telescope and discovered the comet of 1847 (comet Mitchell 1847VI). Honoured and recognized internationally for her discovery, Mitchell, who lived from 1818 to 1889, became one of the most famous American scientists of her day. Vassar…
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Atom puns & jokes no.13
Everyone loves a pune (or pun) or joke. Here follows more ‘atom’ puns/jokes – enjoy or groan or meh. More to follow! ____________________________________________________________________ Oxford University researchers have discovered the densest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving…
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Do you share a birthday with an astronaut? 9 – 15 Oct (no.7)
Follow for a weekly list of forthcoming astronaut* birthdays. Maybe you share a birthday?! If not, perhaps it will be you who adds your name to the list?! If you do share a birthday, what does it mean to you? Do you feel a connection, pride? They take to the skies (on controlled explosions) to…
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“Space isn’t remote at all. It’s only an hour’s drive away, if your car could go straight upwards.”
– Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) Observer 9 September 1979 ‘Sayings of the Week’ Where does space start? It’s ‘up there’, but where? Most people would say it’s above the atmosphere, but where does the atmosphere stop? There is no sharp boundary line, like the equator, where you can…
Stargazing Guy
Connecting people to the Stars
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“Science Fiction Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.”
– Peter H. Diamandis, Metatrends substack, 17 July 2026 Why are people so pessimistic about the future – and view the past as some form of pastoral utopia? On these pages we promote hope – not cope or mope. Hope lives here. An interesting insight is from Peter H. Diamandis in his substack, where he…
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“I believe in evidence.”
– Isaac Asimov, The Roving Mind (1997), (2 January 2 1920 – 6 April 1992) Scientist and science fiction author Asimov’s output of novels and books popularising and explaining science was prodigious. As a rationalist he often railed against superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs that tried to pass themselves off as genuine science and had this…
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What is a light-year?
A light-year is a measure of distance – not time (or anything to do with Disney’s Toy Story). It’s used to indicate the distance to stars and galaxies. It’s the distance light travels in one year in a vacuum, which is about: – 4.2465 light-years OR 5.88 trillion miles OR 9.46 trillion kilometres Light travels…
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How far is that star?
Basically, far! The Sun is the closest (and brightest) star. It is about: – 93 million miles – 150 million kilometres The next closest star (Proxima Centauri) is invisible to the unaided human eye and you need to be in the Southern Hemisphere to see it with a telescope (it’s too dim to see with…
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Death rates from disasters have fallen over the last century.
Good news. Recent data indicates that natural disasters are NOT going to kill us all. The global death rate from all natural disasters (drought, floods, storms, earthquakes, wildfires, extreme temperatures, etc.) has fallen by more than 90% over the last century. The total number of deaths has fallen substantially, despite there being four times as…
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“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”
– Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie (Marie Curie) (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) She was a was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize. The first person to win a Nobel Prize twice. The only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.…
Stargazing Guy 