CATEGORIES

“IT'S THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THAT WE'RE NOT WRITING ABOUT”

All About Space speaks with the former NASA astronaut about his time in space and his newfound ‘cosmic perspective’

LAUNCH PAD

YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE

WORLDS WITHOUT SUNS

Astronomers are still on the hunt for rogue planets, but what can they tell us about the layout of our cosmos?

ON BOARD THE VOMIT COMET

You’d better have a strong stomach: in space, everyone can hear you spew

APOLLO ANNIVERSARY BACK TO THE MOON

MANY NATIONS ARE INTERESTED IN RETURNING TO THE MOON TO EXPLORE AND MINE IT

Could Life Exist Around Black Holes?

They warp time and space, but could they also nurture life?

Marriage of misery

FERN RIDDELL recommends a vivid biography of a women’s rights campaigner who shook off the shackles of married life

Redrawing the battleground

MICHAEL WOOD gives his verdict on an ambitious book that attempts to finally provide a definitive location for one of the most famous battles in Anglo-Saxon history

Class dismissed

News that some UK universities are to cut their history degrees in favour of more “vocational” courses sparked a strong online reaction. ANNA WHITELOCK charted Twitter’s response

Mary Wortley Montagu The scourge of smallpox

That humanity won its battle with smallpox is in no small part down to the resilience of a woman who pioneered inoculation in 18th-century Britain, in the teeth of tremendous resistance. JO WILLETT reveals how Mary Wortley Montagu changed the course of medical history

Best and brightest?

PETER MANDLER considers a sweeping analysis of meritocracy’s role in shaping the western world and debates the effectiveness of attempts to usher in equality

Scheming and slaughter

NIGEL JONES appraises an extensive survey of assassinations throughout history, from the blood-soaked stabbings of ancient Rome to the drone strikes of modern warfare

Traditions constitute the invisible, under-the-surface flow of history

LIVING HISTORY IN THE AMERICAS

ROME GLORIED IN CLEOPATRA'S TALE OF DECADENCE, LUST AND DEATH

Joyce Tyldesley on an Egyptian queen’s ill-fated entanglements with three Roman generals

Flying the royal nest

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure from the royal family is the latest in a string of shock exits from the monarchy dating back centuries. TRACY BORMAN looks to the past to consider how one can leave “the Firm” successfully – and the difficulties of life as a royal exile

FORGOTTEN PLANS TO REACH THE MOON

Before Apollo, many ingenious lunar landing schemes were proposed that could have changed history

RISE OF VERA RUBIN'S SUPER OBSERVATORY

Astronomy’s new era will be defined by a wider and deeper view of the universe

JEREMIAS PFAFF: THE BOUNDARIES OF QUANTUM PHYSICS

Jeremias Pfaff speaks to All About Space about what it takes to measure gravity on such a minute scale. The next step? To go even smaller

HUNT FOR THE UNIVERSE'S MISSING STARS

An international team of astronomers is on the hunt for objects that should be impossible

FOUND! SAFEST PLACE TO LIVE IN THE MILKY WAY

Astronomers have searched our galaxy to identify the safest places to live. As it turns out, we’re in a pretty good spot

HOW TO SPOT A FAKE SPACE PHOTO

Reveal if that sensational image is real or a fraud with All About Space’s top tips

CELESTRON CPC 800 GPS (XLT)

With its StarBright XLT technology, this catadioptric instrument is worth every penny: an excellent investment for serious sky-watchers

Deep sky challenge: A Gaggle of glittering globular clusters

Messier 13 isn’t the only stellar gathering to see in the early summer sky

THE TRUTH ABOUT ROSEWELL FILES

Did a flying saucer really crash land in America in 1947, only to be hushed up by the government?

DR QUEENIE HOI SHAN CHAN - SEEKING THE ORIGINS OF LIFE

A planetary scientist with a very steady hand, Queenie Chan speaks to All About Space about her work on tiny specks of asteroid samples collected by the Hayabusa mission

SIGNALS FROM SATURN

An unusual signal from the ringed planet’s moon Rhea now has a possible explanation

PERSEVERANCE ON MARS

NASA’S LATEST MARTIAN ROVER HAS BEGUN ITS EPIC QUEST TO FIND EVIDENCE FOR PAST LIFE RESIDING IN JEZERO CRATER

Tulsa Race Massacre

A century ago, America’s simmering racial tensions boiled over on the streets of one Oklahoma city, leaving dozens dead and hundreds more injured. Scott Ellsworth explores what remains the worst single incident of racial violence in US history – the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Triumph and tragedy

GILES MILTON applauds a masterful new account of the Special Operations Executive and the female agents who put their lives on the line to sabotage the Nazi war machine

Empire of chains

CLARE ANDERSON embarks on a lively journey through a series of convict tales that shed new light on centuries of penal transportation across the British empire