Your Next Vacation May Be 55 Million Light-Years Away – but no, this book is not the first space travel guide
A fact-checked look at Mark McCaughrean’s “111 Places in Space That You Must Not Miss”
The Short Answer
Astronomer Mark McCaughrean’s forthcoming book is very real and packed with awe-inspiring cosmic “destinations,” but claims that it is the first-ever travel guide to the universe—and that the cosmos is only 13.8 million years old—don’t survive a reality check. Read on to see what’s solid science, what’s marketing hype, and where a stray trio of zeros slipped through the cracks.
1. The Headline That Launched a Thousand Shares
When German tabloids splashed “Forscher schreibt 1. Reiseführer fürs Universum” across their pages, the story practically wrote itself:
Why wait for Stuttgart 21 to open when you can holiday in the Orion Nebula?
But the fact-check revealed two immediate twists:
- Stuttgart 21 really is delayed—to 2026–27 for full service. (At least that part of the article was right.)
- That “first” space guidebook claim? Wrong. Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich published Vacation Guide to the Solar System back in 2017, and that’s just one predecessor.
So what exactly is new here, and what did the original article miss?
2. Meet the Man Behind the Milky Way’s Newest Guidebook
Mark McCaughrean, 64, hardly needs to pad his résumé.
- Former Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency
- Interdisciplinary scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) since the late 1990s
- Co-investigator on ESA’s Rosetta comet mission
The tabloid said he has “researched with the Webb telescope for 40 years.” Half-true: JWST didn’t even exist on paper 40 years ago, but McCaughrean’s career does span four decades.
3. A Peek Inside the Book
McCaughrean’s “111 Places in Space That You Must Not Miss” (Emons Verlag/ACC Art Books, July–Sept 2025) mixes scientific precision with the playful tone of the popular “111 Places” travel series. Highlight reel:
| Rank | Destination | Why It Matters | Fact-Check Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Hole in M87 (55 Mly) | First image of a black hole, 2019 | ✅ Accurate |
| 2 | Orion Nebula (1,344 ly) | Stellar nursery visible to naked eye | ✅ Accurate |
| 3 | Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (~4 km) | Rosetta’s playground, 2014–16 | ✅ Accurate |
Short-hop add-ons—ISS, Hubble—check out, too:
- Hubble altitude: 515–570 km ✔
- ISS orbit: 90 min ✔
- Tourist price: ~€31 k per day since NASA opened bookings in 2019 ✔
4. When a Typo Warps the Universe
The article calls the cosmic microwave background “Beleg für die Urknall-Theorie vor 13,8 Mio. Jahren.”
Reality: 13.8 billion (Billionen) years. A single German “Milliarden ⇄ Millionen” mix-up shrinks the entire universe by a factor of 1,000.
5. The No-Go List: Space’s Red-Flag Destinations
McCaughrean doesn’t just dish out bucket-list locales; he warns you where not to pitch a tent:
- Proxima Centauri b – blasted by stellar flares; at Voyager-2 speed you’d need ~75,000 years just to arrive.
- Venus – 464 °C surface heat, sulphuric-acid rain.
Both statements are fully backed by NASA research.
6. So, Should You Buy the Book?
If you love science served with a wink, absolutely. Just remember:
- It’s a travel guide, not the first.
- Swap “40 years with JWST” for “40 years in astronomy.”
- Mentally add three zeros to that CMB age figure.
Everything else—from black-hole distances to ISS hotel rates—stands up to scrutiny.
7. What We Still Don’t Know
- Will commercial spaceflight ever reach McCaughrean’s dream spots? Experts say maybe, but not in our lifetimes.
- Could future editions update exoplanet targets as telescopes like JWST and ELT discover biosignatures? Very likely.
- Will Stuttgart 21 finish before humanity sets foot on Mars? Place your bets.
8. How We Checked
- Cross-referenced claims with NASA, ESA, ESO, and peer-reviewed mission pages.
- Verified publication data with ACC Art Books and Emons Verlag listings.
- Consulted Deutsche Bahn press releases for Stuttgart 21 timelines.
- Compared prior “space guide” titles in major catalogues (Penguin Random House, Amazon).
All source links are embedded above for transparency.
Bottom Line
Space remains the ultimate frontier—both for exploration and for creative marketing. McCaughrean’s new guidebook invites you to dream big, but a quick fact-check keeps those dreams tethered to reality. In the meantime, if you can’t make it to the Orion Nebula, at least you’ll know why Stuttgart’s new station is taking so long.