Giles Sparrow

Giles Sparrow

Contributor

After studying astronomy at University College London and Science Communication at Imperial College, Giles set out on an Exciting Adventure with Illustrated Publishing. He's since written a string of beautiful and successful books on astronomy, science and other cool subjects, and is also a regular contributor to magazines. When he's not doing the day job, you’ll find him fanboying about Doctor Who or lost in some obscure corner of history…

Latest articles by Giles Sparrow

Sun emits a solstice flare. Image from June 20, 2013. Source: NASA/SDO

What are solar flares?

By Giles Sparrow last updated

High-energy eruptions of radiation from the sun's atmosphere can sometimes launch blobs of plasma toward Earth.

The Sun
The sun launched this coronal mass ejection at some 900 miles/second (nearly 1,500 km/s) on Aug. 31, 2012. The Earth is not this close to the sun; the image is for scale purposes only.

What are coronal mass ejections?

By Giles Sparrow last updated

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a vast cloud of electrically charged particles that the sun releases with a huge burst of speed.

The Sun
False-color image of Hyperion captured during Cassini's flyby on September 26 2005.

The 10 weirdest moons in the solar system

By Giles Sparrow published

Some of the most fascinating worlds in our cosmic neighborhood are not planets, but the moons that orbit around them.

The Moon
Could the "missing stars" be a completely new phenomenon?

Some of the universe's stars have gone missing. But where did they go?

By Giles Sparrow, All About Space magazine published

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

Cosmology