When Worlds Collide

There’s a lovely little article in today’s Guardian that illustrates the phenomenon of colliding worlds perfectly. The worlds are that of rock stardom and astronomy, and the epicentre of the collision is in the totally unexpected figure of Brian May, guitarist of Queen. He has just co-authored a book on astronomy with Patrick Moore, renowned astronomer and eccentric, and Moore’s co-presenter on the BBC’s astronomy programme, Chris Lintott.

 

The article is a delight, with some wonderful images, like the occasion when May was visiting an observatory on the Canary Islands, and a bunch of world-class astronomers shuffled up to him, produced their guitars and asked him to sign them…