Most of Slate is focused on the here and now—never more so than during a political campaign—but we’ve also learned that some of the very best (and most popular) stories we run are concerned with the long ago and the far away. That’s why I’m excited about two blogs launching on Slate this morning.
The first blog, Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy, is new to Slate but already beloved by science junkies. Bad Astronomy, which has lived for the past four years at Discover Magazine, may be the best science blog on the planet. An astronomer, author, skeptic, and science evangelist, Plait writes mostly about astronomy and its wonders. He also blogs about science itself, defending it from the morons and villains who seek to attack, distort, and undermine it. And as you can see from today’s post, “the marvelous cosmic train wreck of two galaxies colliding,” Bad Astronomy is visually stunning: Phil collects and highlights astonishing images from across the universe. Follow Bad Astronomy on Twitter here and on Facebook here.
We also launch The Vault today. In The Vault, historian Rebecca Onion will showcase objects and documents that jump out of the historical record and demand your attention, items that are beautiful, poignant, strange, or just funny: the letter a young Abraham Lincoln wrote attempting to take back his proposal to a Kentucky woman he wasn’t much fond of; a list of proposed (and rejected) names for the Space Shuttle; Benedict Arnold’s loyalty oath. Follow The Vault on Twitter here and on Facebook here.
Read them, comment on them, share them, and tell me how you like them at dplotz@slate.com.
