The kids are playing catch out in the yard.

250 years ago, the brightest minds of the Enlightenment were stumped over how far the Earth is from the sun. The transits of Venus across the Sun in the 1760s helped answer that question, providing a virtual yardstick.

250 years ago, the brightest minds of the Enlightenment were stumped over how far the Earth is from the sun. The transits of Venus across the Sun in the 1760s helped answer that question, providing a virtual yardstick.

I feel like I’m eleven again, tethered not to the safety of the fence but to Peeta, allowing myself twenty, maybe thirty yards of hunting space.