Stories

Longer pieces about science, outreach, travel, and observations.

Quest Vraag & Antwoord special 2026

Are there rainbows on other planets?

I answered a reader’s question for Quest: are there rainbows on other planets? The answer leads from water droplets on Earth to methane rain on Titan, sulfuric-acid clouds on Venus, and cloudbow signatures from cloud tops that may help us recognise liquid-water clouds on distant exoplanets.

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Coming soon

Measuring Earth as an exoplanet from the VLT in Chile

I will write about my trip to the Very Large Telescope in Chile to observe Earth via sunlight reflected by the Moon. Such Earthshine measurements help test how we may one day recognise oceans, clouds, and atmospheres on distant Earth-like exoplanets.