Celestial Classics: Artemis

Another in our Celestial Classics series in which we look at aspects of astronomy, usually celestial bodies but also a NASA mission in this case, and the myths that inspired their names. Today is the turn of the Goddess Artemis, the Greek mythological goddess of the hunt, of chastity, of pregnancy and childbirth, of the wilderness, hunting and those aspects of brutality to which humans must accept their place or else be doomed to destroy the very world on which they live. She is my favourite and I won’t hear a word against her!

Celestial Classics: Venus

An exploration of the seemingly inhospitable hellscape that is the planet Venus, the hottest planet in our Solar System. We delve into the reasons why Venus, the Morning Star, became associated with Satan, via the word ‘lucifer’ and we discuss the prodigious fucking, portrayal of feminine beauty and unmatched sexiness of the Goddess of Love, Venus, herself.

Celestial Classics: Pluto and Orpheus

Exploring the far-off dwarf planet, and trans-neptunian object, Pluto as both a planet and the mythological God of the Underworld. Included is a discussion about Orpheus, both the legendary poet and musician of ancient Greece and asteroid 3361 Orpheus, a Near-Earth asteroid designated as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. Exploring themes of death, rebirth, katabasis, eschatology and all sorts of other lovely stuff along the way we come to the ultimate conclusion. Pluto is all about love.

Celestial Classics: Orion

In this Celestial Classics we explore the constellation of Orion, relate back to our previous article about him, and explain the complex mythology behind him and how he fits into notions of comparative mythology.

Celestial Classics: Proserpina

CONTENT WARNING: Contains Greek Mythology, therefore inevitable discussions about rape and abduction. The Roman Proserpina and the Greek Persephone are, effectively, the same god. Although Proserpina’s visage was placed upon the old Italic goddess, Libera, it seems, for the most part they served the same function and share the same mythos. As a result, and

Celestial Classics: Ceres

Ceres is, like Vesta, a hunk-of-stuff in the asteroid belt that generally falls into the dwarf-planet/minor-planet category. I think, more than Vesta, Ceres is planetised due to its closer orbit to the sun and is the largest object in the main asteroid belt. Indeed it is often considered a proto-planet, essentially a planetary embryo, giving

Celestial Classics: Vesta

Vesta. No, not what every self-respecting beige-suit wearer from the 70s passed for exotic food, and not a box of matches. Vesta is an asteroid in the asteroid belt (that bit of rocky stuff mainly between Jupiter and Mars’ orbits), the second largest after Ceres, who we will almost certainly talk about later. It is

Celestial Classics: Introduction

After considering writing an article about ancient astronomy, my cursory research turned up something quite amazing. You won’t believe this, but despite the fact that they didn’t have organised scientific bodies, specific, focussed research grants or even basic telescopy, ancient astronomy was bollocks. In fact just about the only advantage they have over us these

The Importance of Perseverance

I’m not talking about in real life. I mean, perseverance has many important uses in real life, if you wish to undergo trials, tribulations and challenges, anyway. If you want an easy life and to not care by all means pass it up, it inevitably leads to suffering. No, I am talking about NASA’s latest

Bumbler’s Guide: So You Think You Want a Telescope?

Ya probably don’t. It’s not that nobody wants one, they’re awesome. They’re also the single biggest frustration and disappointment in astronomy in terms of expectation versus reality.