Blood Seen From Space, The Horror In Sudan Continues

Ever learn something, and you don't know how you'll think of anything else, for the rest of the day, for the next few months, or even that you might find yourself reflecting on it time and time again, for the rest of your life? For me it's this, the mass slaughter that is happening in … Continue reading Blood Seen From Space, The Horror In Sudan Continues →

How I Fell Down The Pseudo Intellectual Technological Centrist Pipeline, And How I Got Back Out

So, you’ve probably heard of the alt right pipeline. Many straight white dudes aged twenty to forty fall into that. I didn’t. I was in danger of falling into it sure, there were plenty of close calls as I look back on it. But I don’t think I ever fell down that. The pipeline I … Continue reading How I Fell Down The Pseudo Intellectual Technological Centrist Pipeline, And How I Got Back Out →

Will We Find Life On Europa, And If So What Happens Next?

In a few hours, weather permitting, a rocket will launch, which will send the Europa Clipper to the Outer Solar system. It's always a bit surreal to me when launches are delayed due to bad weather, not because bad weather isn't a real threat, it is, but it's the fact that, in a very short … Continue reading Will We Find Life On Europa, And If So What Happens Next? →

Distance

Something that has always given me a strong sense of calm, and often a strong sense of wonder, is seeing something that is very far away. Being on top of a hill, or a mountain, and seeing a far off village, or town, or other mountain, that might take as much as a day or … Continue reading Distance →

Seeing An Asteroid For the First Time

The Asteroid Vesta, For Some Reason It Looks Like A Satellite, Astronomy Sketching Can Be Weird Sometimes I’ve seen many types of astronomical objects over the years, galaxies, open clusters, globular clusters, and a small few nebula. I’ve seen craters on the moon with hills inside them. I’ve seen the surface of Mars. I’ve seen … Continue reading Seeing An Asteroid For the First Time →

Uranus, The Planet That’s At A Mad Angle

21st January 2021, My Only Sketch Of Uranus I only saw Uranus and sketched it once with my telescope, it’s far further out than Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, which you can just spot with the naked eye first and then train the telescope on it. But I find with Uranus there’s a bit of … Continue reading Uranus, The Planet That’s At A Mad Angle →

Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy, Two For The Price Of One

9th July 2018 These two galaxies had a level of courtesy rarely seen these days in that they are very close together, so you can see both of them at the same time through a telescope. I remember in 2015, the year I bought my first telescope, seeing my first ever galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy. … Continue reading Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy, Two For The Price Of One →

My Favourite Hellscape

Not Safe For Humans Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a furious deathworld of extremely deathy death! So, I’ve explained that this sketch is associated with extreme hellishness, so what do you think it is? It’s the planet Venus. I realized Venus was out last night, and also it’s … Continue reading My Favourite Hellscape →

I Never Thought I’d Get To See Star Trek II, the Wrath Of Khan On The Big Screen

Well, almost as a way of apologizing for the previous two years, 2022 had two events I thought I might never get to experience. In June there was the Yes concert. I never would have imagined I’d get to see them play their album Close to the Edge in full. I’ve done a blogpost on … Continue reading I Never Thought I’d Get To See Star Trek II, the Wrath Of Khan On The Big Screen →