Mark McCaughrean is an astronomer who has lived, worked, and taught in the UK, the USA, Germany, and The Netherlands, studying the birth of stars and planets. As the former Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency, he has worked on many space missions including Rosetta and the James Webb Space Telescope. A photographer and a cyclist, he is also the co-founder of Space Rocks, which celebrates space exploration and the art, music, and culture it inspires through public events and more.

Interview with the author of 111 Places in Space. - Der Spiegel

• Apollo 12 | Solar SystemYou can look, but please don’t touch | 10Arrokoth | Solar SystemLife in the dark beyond Neptune | 12Caloris Basin | Solar SystemThe biggest impact crater on Mercury | 14Ceres | Solar SystemThe inner Solar System’s only dwarf planet | 16Charon | Solar SystemWho pays the ferryman? | 18The Cliffs of Hathor | Solar SystemClose to the edge | 20Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko | Solar SystemThe adventure of a lifetime | 22Dimorphos | Solar SystemSaving the world, one pile of rocks at a time | 24Dust Devils of Mars | Solar SystemWandering graffiti artists | 26Europa | Solar SystemAn icy world in motion | 28The “Face” on Mars | Solar SystemMuch ado about nothing | 30Far Side of the Moon | Solar SystemNot your father’s prog rock album | 32Ganymede | Solar SystemSome moons are more equal than others | 34Hubble Space Telescope | Solar SystemBeauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror | 36Hyperion | Solar SystemA spongy, cosmic beehive | 38International Space Station | Solar SystemAn accessible, if expensive, tourist destination | 40Io | Solar SystemA land of ice and fire | 42Jupiter | Solar SystemKing of the planets | 44Lutetia | Solar SystemHeavy metal in the sky | 46Maat Mons | Solar SystemIs Venus still geologically active? | 48Mars | Solar SystemThe planet of dreams or nightmares? | 50Mercury | Solar SystemThe Solar System’s problem child | 52Miranda | Solar SystemA paradise for space geologists and daredevils | 54Near Side of the Moon | Solar SystemA cosmic treasure island? | 56Neptune | Solar SystemStill the most distant planet in the Solar System | 58North Polar Hexagon | Solar SystemWho’s a pretty polygon then? | 60Olympus Mons | Solar SystemAtop the tallest volcano in the Solar System | 62‘Oumuamua | Solar SystemOur first known interstellar visitor | 64The Pale Blue Dot | Solar SystemIf you lived here, you’d be home now | 66Phobos | Solar SystemA natural space station orbiting the Red Planet | 68Plumes of Enceladus | Solar SystemWater, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink | 70Pluto | Solar SystemThe god of the dark Underworld | 72Rings of Saturn | Solar SystemNot all those who wander are lost | 74The Sun | Solar SystemThe star in our back garden | 76Sunspots | Solar SystemTracers of the Sun’s internal cycle | 78Titan | Solar SystemA smoggy moon with marvels below | 80Triton | Solar SystemA smörgåsbord of icy delights | 82Uranus | Solar SystemAn enigmatic, sideways world | 84Venus | Solar SystemOur deadly planetary neighbor | 86AG Carinae | Milky WayGetting ready for its grand finale | 88Alpha Centauri System | Milky WayOur nearest stellar neighbor(s) | 90Betelgeuse | Milky WayAll the colors of the stars | 92Boomerang Nebula | Milky WayBaby, it’s cold outside | 94Bubble Nebula | Milky WayGrace under pressure | 96Carina’s Bok Globules | Milky WayIslands in the storm | 98Cat’s Eye Nebula | Milky WayThe beginning of the end for a star | 100Cederblad 110 | Milky WayExpect a frosty reception | 102Cometary Globule 4 | Milky WayArt imitating life? | 104Cosmic Bat Nebula | Milky WayAppearances can be deceptive | 106Crab Nebula | Milky WayA millennium-old stellar explosion | 108CW Leonis | Milky WayAshes to ashes, dust to dust | 110Cygnus X | Milky WayThe spot for students of star formation | 112Elephant’s Trunk Nebula | Milky WayReaching for the stars | 114Galactic Center | Milky WayInto the heart of the beast | 116HD209458b | Milky WayThe first known transiting exoplanet | 118Herbig-Haro 212 | Milky WayA cosmic double lightsaber | 120Horsehead Nebula | Milky WayA dusty equine near the hunter’s belt | 122HR8799 | Milky WayAn extrasolar orrery | 124Lagoon Nebula | Milky WayCloudy, with a chance of twisters | 126LL Pegasi | Milky WayTwo stars locked in a dusty death spiral | 128The Milky Way | Milky WaySeeing the forest for the trees | 130NGC1999 | Milky WayWhen is a hole not a hole but actually is a hole? | 132The OMC-1 Explosion | Milky WayCosmic shrapnel | 134Omega Centauri | Milky WayKing of the globular clusters | 136Orion Nebula | Milky WayMassive star formation below the belt | 138Pillars of Creation | Milky WayTowering columns of gas, dust, and young stars | 140The Pleiades | Milky WayThe star cluster with a thousand names | 142Polaris | Milky WayThe North Star … for now at least | 144R Aquarii | Milky WayA story of symbiosis between little and large | 146Ring Nebula | Milky WayWhen is a planet not a planet? | 148RS Puppis | Milky WayRhythm of the stars | 150Serpens Nebula | Milky WayA hissing nest of star formation | 152Sirius | Milky WayTwinkle, twinkle, little star | 154Taurus-Auriga Clouds | Milky WayA low-density neighborhood for young stars | 156Terzan 5 | Milky WayDigging for ancient galactic fossils | 158Vela Supernova Remnant | Milky WayA cosmic memento mori | 160Westerlund 1 | Milky WayA giant lurking behind a dark veil | 162Zeta Ophiuchi | Milky WayBig star in a hurry | 164Andromeda Galaxy | Deep SpaceOur ever-closer neighbor | 166The Antennae | Deep SpaceMagnificent chaos as galaxies collide | 168Arp 282 | Deep SpaceCaught in the act | 170Cartwheel Galaxy | Deep SpaceIntergalactic hit and run | 172Cigar Galaxy | Deep SpaceBursting with new stars | 174The CMB | Deep SpaceLeft-over glow from the Big Bang | 176ESO 137-001 | Deep SpaceThe pressure’s on this high-speed medusa | 178ESO 306-17 | Deep SpaceThe dangers of overconsumption | 180Fornax A | Deep SpaceDusty heart of a hybrid galaxy | 182The Great Attractor | Deep SpaceThe inexorable pull of gravity | 184Hanny’s Voorwerp | Deep SpaceThe power of crowdsourcing | 186JADES Origins Deep Field | Deep SpaceThe first galaxies in the Universe | 188MACS J0025.4-1222 | Deep SpaceOn the trail of the invisible | 190Messier 74 | Deep SpaceDesign is how it works | 192Messier 87 | Deep SpaceKing of its neighborhood | 194Messier 106 | Deep SpaceSurveying the Universe | 196NGC474 | Deep SpaceShells on a galactic seashore | 198NGC660 | Deep SpaceWhat’s your inclination? | 200NGC1365 | Deep SpaceA galaxy walks into a bar … | 202NGC2276 | Deep SpaceSome galaxies have all the luck | 204NGC2775 | Deep SpacePulling the wool over your eyes | 206NGC4753 | Deep SpaceCosmic filigree and shadow | 208NGC7331 | Deep SpaceThe Milky Way’s almost twin | 210Nubecula Major | Deep SpaceWhat’s in a name? | 212Perseus Cluster | Deep SpaceA life surfing the cosmic web | 214Pōwehi | Deep SpaceThe dark heart of a supermassive black hole | 216SMACS J0723.3-7327 | Deep SpaceCosmic lens with a presidential seal of approval | 218Sombrero Galaxy | Deep SpaceA strange, dusty ring around a central monster | 220Spanish Dancer Galaxy | Deep SpaceI’m forever blowing bubbles | 222Spindle Galaxy | Deep SpaceO what a tangled web we weave | 224Stephan’s Quintet | Deep SpaceAll is not what it seems in this group of galaxies | 226Supernova 1987A | Deep SpaceThe most recent supernova in our neighborhood | 228Tarantula Nebula | Deep SpaceShelob’s cosmic cousin | 230