A Wright Turn at the Edge of the Universe

Back in 1742, an Englishman named Thomas Wright drew a picture of the universe. It was not a map in the modern sense. It did not rely on telescopic observation, nor did it pretend to scientific certainty. It was a vision — the kind that arrives when candlelight flickers too close to a celestial globe, and the mind, unbound by modern rigour, drifts into orbit.

Wright imagined that the stars formed a luminous shell around us, that our own solar system sat nestled among millions, spiralling gently around a central divine force. It was, in many ways, a mistake. But it was also something else: a mistake made with extraordinary beauty.

And like all beautiful errors, it became a stepping stone.