Welcome to Project Halley

The journey of an amateur stargazer’s quest to learn and explore the wonders of the Universe.

Founded by Shaun Johnston, Project Halley emerged from a lifelong passion for the night sky and an enduring curiosity about the universe. Inspired by the return of Halley’s Comet in 2061, the project was created as a long-term journey of learning and discovery, with the hope of reaching that moment with a deeper understanding of what lies above us. Project Halley is about treating Halley’s return not just as something to wait for, but as a reason to spend a lifetime learning, looking up, and sharing the wonder of the universe with others.

Founded in

Years to Halley's Comet

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Articles published

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Questions asked

Astronomy was the first science, the cradle of civilization, the heartbeat of curiosity that pulsed through ancient minds.

Heather Couper

Why We Look Up

Throughout history, humans have looked up at the night sky, crafting tales to explain the vastness of the universe. Constellations were canvases to map the gods, heroes, and the mysteries of our existence. The early astronomers became cosmic scholars, attuned to the rhythms of the night sky, and charted our celestial dome with unparalleled precision.

Now, during the golden age of astronomy, the flickering flow of our screens has shifted our collective gaze downwards. Whilst great humans unlock technological marvels that reveal galaxies light-years away, we’ve unwittingly disconnected from our primal rhythm of the universe.

Many of us still have an internal yearn for reconnection with the stars and at some point, we have looked up and wondered. The ancient flame of curiosity continues to burn for many aspiring modern stargazers, as we seek to reawaken the bond between humanity and the cosmos.

This is where Project Halley begins. A home for those who share the same love for the stars and long to look up again. Journey with us as we embark on a captivating exploration of the universe, bridging our early wonders with modern tools to learn how to navigate our skies.

The Journey Ahead

Curiosity Into Understanding

To turn a fascination with the night sky into a deeper, lasting understanding of astronomy and the universe over the decades leading up to Halley’s return.

Share the Wonder

To share that curiosity with others through writing and ideas that make space and science feel more approachable.

Be Ready When Halley Returns

To spend the years leading up to Halley’s return building the understanding, experience, and perspective to fully appreciate and capture that moment when it finally arrives.

Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy. We are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

Light is the only connection we have with the Universe beyond our solar system, and the only connection our ancestors had with anything beyond Earth. Follow the light and we can journey from the confines of our planet to other worlds that orbit the Sun without ever dreaming of spacecraft. To look up is to look back in time, because the ancient beams of light are messengers from the Universe’s distant past.