Yet Another Facebook Hoax

It is that time of year again where those “once in a lifetime” kind of astronomy hoaxes begin circulating on social media and wow an uninformed crowd. Here’s a hoax which I came across today purporting that Saturn will appear closer to Earth than the moon to offer an spectacular sight. Anyone with a basic understanding […]

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The Clock That Changed the World

In the 18th Century, navigating across the seas was fraught with danger and error. With no practical method of determining longitude, sailors had no accurate means of pinpointing their position at sea. Ships had sailed forth only to blunder off course and never return. Sailors had died by the thousands. And, mistakes had jeopardized trade […]

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The Happenstance of Existence

The mere happenstance of a coincidental sequence of events, put together by the blind works of nature, has serendipitously manifested itself in this fascinating complexity around us today, that only appears to bear the illusion of an orderly calibration of deliberate design. This happenstance of undirected natural processes has led to self-directed sentient beings, pondering […]

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The Wandering Planet

Rogue planets wander about in interstellar space, detached from their stars and dislodged from their orbits to float freely into the desolate void of the cosmos! A mechanism which presents a very intriguing phenomenon for astronomers. Although such planets are quite elusively hard to detect owing to their relatively faint nature, a number have been discovered. […]

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Peering Back into the Cosmos

As our sense-extending technologies continually project the far elusive reaches of the universe into the confines of our cognition, we find ourselves constantly defining the word observable. NASA’s long-awaited Hubble successor, the James Webb Telescope, is finally taking shape as it promises to give us an unprecedented glimpse into the history of our early universe. Just today […]

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The Raging Cosmic Superstorm

Jupiter’s spectacular surface is further embellished by a vast cosmic wonder, a signature feature that wonderfully complements the planet’s majestically colourful layers. The largest known storm in the Solar System, Jupiter’s Giant Red Spot has always been exceedingly fascinating since its discovery in 1655 by Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Located below Jupiter’s southern equatorial belt, it […]

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An Intrepid Jovian Explorer

A very remarkable mission has finally been brought to pass by the European Space Agency! Set to be launched in 2022, the JUICE (JUpiter ICEy moons Explorer) will venture into the Jovian system, with planned flybys at Jupiter’s moons Europa, Callisto, and finally Ganymede! A very ambitious project to reconnoiter the basic lay of these […]

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