About Orbit and Atom
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Orbit and Atom explains space and science in plain English: what the missions are finding, what to look for in the night sky, and the physics behind it all.
Who writes this site?
I'm Marcos Salles, and I write and edit every page here. I lived in the United States for five years, and I write Orbit and Atom in English for readers who want to know what is going on in space without wading through jargon.
I'm not a scientist, and I don't ask you to take my word for anything. Every article is built from what the people doing the work publish: NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), mission teams and the research papers behind the news. The sources are listed at the end of each article, so you can read them yourself.
What will you find here?
- Night sky: meteor showers, eclipses, bright planets and Moon phases, with dates and simple viewing tips.
- Solar system: the planets, their moons, comets and asteroids, explained from what spacecraft have measured.
- Missions: where spacecraft are, what they found and what comes next.
- Stars and galaxies: black holes, nebulae, exoplanets and how astronomers know what they know.
- Atoms and physics: the science behind light, gravity and matter, without the equations.
Each article opens with a short, direct answer, then explains the details.
How are the articles made?
I use AI tools to help with research and first drafts. Before anything is published, I read the original sources, check every date, distance and number against them, and edit the text myself. Headlines describe what the article actually says; there is no clickbait here.
When a mission or a source publishes something that changes an article, the article is updated and the date at the top changes. You can read the full method on the How we write page.
Where do the images come from?
Most images are from NASA, which makes its images free to use, and are credited under each picture. Images from other sources, such as ESA, are used under their license terms and credited the same way.
How is the site paid for?
Orbit and Atom may show ads served by Google. Advertisers never choose topics, review articles or influence what is written. There are no sponsored posts.
Found a mistake?
Please tell me. Write to boldlaunches@gmail.com with the page and what you think is wrong, and I'll check it against the source and correct it if needed.