Time for, well, not a distraction so much as a palate cleanser: a truly phenomenal shot from Hubble of a galaxy that is rippling like a pond that had a rock tossed in it… because that's what happened! Kinda. And YES you want to grab the hi-res version.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

INCREDIBLE and spectacular Hubble image of a galaxy that got whacked by another galaxy

The collision caused easily visible multiple rings of stars to ripple outward

Trump and the GOP are in a full-out war against science. I have a lot to say about that.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

The Attacks on Science

Science is under siege like never before in the US. What can we do?

With the small asteroid 2024 YR4 still on the risk list for Earth impact, I wrote an explainer on how we know what the orbits of these objects are in the first place, and why the chance of one hitting us changes over time.

Scientific American

How Can We Know If an Asteroid Will Hit Earth?

“Keep your eye on the ball” is a motto for many athletes—and for astronomers trying to find Earth-threatening space rocks

Is Pluto a planet? How many planets do we have in our solar system then? Turns out, *these are the wrong questions to ask*.

Scientific American

How Many Planets Are in the Solar System?

The number of planets that orbit the sun depends on what you mean by “planet,” and that’s not so easy to define

D O N ' T P A N I C A decently big (50-meter) asteroid called 2024 YR4 has a 1.2% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Here's what we know, and why I'm not terribly worried about it.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Will the asteroid 2024 YR4 hit Earth in 2032? Probably not.

DON’T PANIC! At the moment there’s a 99% chance it’ll miss.

YES, YOU *DO* WANT TO SEE THE MIGHTY 11,000 X 8,000 PIXEL IMAGE OF THIS NEARBY CLUSTER FULL OF GALAXIES UNLESS HAVING YOUR BRAIN LEAP OUT OF YOUR SKULL IN WONDER IS SOMETHING YOU *DON'T* WANT

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

The Antlia galaxy cluster is spectacular! But which galaxies are actually in it?

The full 11,000 x 8,000 pixel image will destroy you.

Hi! I'm a Libra! Except not really. But the zodiac is a real thing, even if it's not at all what astrologers claim it is.

Scientific American

What Is the Zodiac—And What Does It Mean for You?

The familiar zodiac constellations are defined by Earth’s motion around the sun, but they don’t define your fate

20 years ago today, a tiny neutron star reached halfway across the galaxy and slammed our planet with a gamma-ray hammer.

Scientific American

An Earth-Rocking Cosmic Explosion Turns 20

Twenty years ago today a magnetar’s epic tantrum made our planet ring like a bell from tens of thousands of light-years away

Wanna get away from the news, or maybe family? Then how about taking a deep dive into a quasar with me?

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Take a deep dive into a quasar. Though not literally. That would be bad.

Using STIS, my old camera on Hubble, astronomers have taken the best look yet at a nearby quasar

My book Under Alien Skies was just translated into Estonian! That's a 1st for me. You can get it at fine Estonian booksellers. Also? I really like this cover!