About Orbit & Wonder

An independent astronomy website about space news, the universe, stargazing and astrophotography, written for curious readers.

What this site is

Orbit & Wonder explains space news, the universe and the night sky for curious readers. It is published from the Netherlands and written in English for readers anywhere. There is no company behind it, no investor and no partnership with the space agencies, observatories or researchers we write about.

What we cover

• Space News: results from missions and telescopes such as James Webb, explained with their original sources.
• The Universe: how stars, planets and galaxies work.
• Stargazing: what to look for in the night sky, and when.
• Astrophotography: photographing the night sky.

How a story is made

• One reader question per story. Every article starts from a question a reader might ask, such as what to look for tonight or what a new telescope result actually shows.
• Original sources first. Scientific papers, mission and observatory announcements, and public data from agencies such as NASA and ESA. Coverage by other outlets is used for context and checked against the original source.
• We try things ourselves when we can. Stargazing apps and tools are tested on our own devices, and charts are made from public data we downloaded ourselves. When we could not test something, the article says so.
• Observation and interpretation, kept apart. What was measured, what the scientists conclude from it, and what we conclude.
• Every image is credited to the person or institution that made it.

How we use AI tools

We use AI assistants for research support and drafting, and we say so. We do not use AI-generated pictures of planets, stars or galaxies: space images come from the missions and observatories that took them, and diagrams we make ourselves are labelled as diagrams. Facts, numbers and conclusions are checked by a person before publication, and the person named in the byline is responsible for the story.

Corrections and independence

Mistakes are corrected in the article itself with a note. Advertising and affiliate links are labelled, and they never decide what we cover or how we judge it. The full rules are in our editorial standards.

Contact

Questions and corrections: hello@orbitandwonder.com. See the contact page.