Mercury is one of The five classical planets and an easy naked eye object. The planets stood out from the other stars to our ancestors because of the way they all moved in regular patterns against the night sky, but Mercury was unique in its rapid motion and the way it never strayed far from the sun. If the planets were to be named for gods, then it was only natural that the flighty mercurial one should be their messenger. … Continue reading →
Nikolaus Copernicus is commonly believed to be the father of the Solar System, the first brave soul to stand up to the orthodoxy and declare the Sun to be the centre of the universe and not the Earth. This isn’t quite true — the bulk of the credit should go to Johann Kepler, for providing a model that not only worked but was based on physical evidence — but he did make some very important observations and he does indeed … Continue reading →
Isaac Newton was born in 1642 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and is the author of probably the most important scientific book in history. He was a difficult man, and a genius, who spent the majority of his time pursuing heretical religious beliefs and trying to solve the great problems of alchemy – the science for which he is famous was merely a distraction.Young Isaac had an unhappy childhood. His father, a wealthy landowner, died before he was born, and his … Continue reading →
Mysterious light spotted in the sky – evidence of “Secret” US Airforce spaceplane. Image Credit: Greg Roberts On Tuesday 11 December, at around 8:40pm SAST, people across the Cape Town area looked up and saw something marvelous in the sky. A shining apparition of light, spreading out from a point and slowly fading, prompting many to phone their local observatories and astronomy clubs to ask about UFO’s. The story reminds me of a similar event several years ago, in Norway … Continue reading →
A dwarf planet a member of the Solar System that doesn’t quite meet the definition of a planet. It is defined as an object that is in orbit around the Sun, that has enough mass for its self-gravity to squeeze it into a mostly spherical shape, that has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and that is not a satellite. The most famous dwarf planet is Pluto, but others include Haumea, Makemake, Eris and Ceres (which is also the … Continue reading →
