Duncan SteelDuncan Steel

Dr Duncan Steel is the Chief Systems Architect at the Centre for Space Science Technology in Alexandra

The girth of Venus

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Is there life on Venus? A multinational team of astronomers using high-altitude infrared telescopes in Hawaii and Chile have identified the gas phosphine in the upper atmosphere of the planet. So what? The significance of this discovery is that phosphine is regarded as a biosignature, possible evidence of microbial life, as Duncan Steel explains.  Venus … Read more

Set your alarm for 8am Saturday to glimpse a once-in-a-lifetime horizon

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In the south especially, New Zealanders will get the chance to witness a rare celestial event: a selenelion, writes Dr Duncan Steel. What is a selenelion (or selenehelion)? It’s when the eclipsed Moon can be seen on one horizon, while the rising Sun can also be observed near the opposite horizon. One might think this … Read more