We all know of some myths surrounding our only natural satellite. We’ve gazed at it for thousands of years, and it has inspired some great and unusual stories over time. We are quick to say that a full moon causes insanity or madness (doctors and nurses in A&E seem to lead Read more
We have a number of ‘North Poles’ on Earth. Above shows the sign at the Geographic North Pole. The magnetic North Pole is what your compass points to when you are trying to navigate using it. That is different from the geographical North Pole, which is defined differently. You might Read more
Happy August stargazers! July was a fairly rainy and cloudy affair – this made stargazing and planet spotting difficult. Here’s hoping the August skies are clear and warm! August also brings with it slightly shorter days and slightly longer nights, meaning 11pm will be ideal for stargazing instead of after Read more
So here we are, heading into the summer holidays with thunderstorms all around us, but with some good news as the lockdown eases. Caravan parks are open again, and they make some of the best places to go stargazing, as they tend to be a bit more rural, and have less light pollution than our Read more
Happy soon-to-be summer, star gazers! June has a few things going for it; it’s the beginning of summer (officially), we have a lovely new moon, there’s some planet spotting to be done in the early morning; and the combined effects of clear, warm days with lower levels of air pollution Read more
Now we weren’t going to leave out everyone’s favourite dwarf planet, were we?! Small but Mighty! Pluto is named after the Roman god of the Underworld, who coincidentally was also the god of wealth as diamond and other jewels supposedly came from the Underworld. It’s ironic that such a tiny Read more
Many people’s first memories of learning about meteorites were probably prefaced by “the one that killed the dinosaurs”. This most famous and yet now non-existent meteorite crashed into our planet in Yucatan Pininsula, in what is now modern-day Mexico. In science textbooks there is an ever so familiar artists impression Read more
SpaceX makes history today as, alongside NASA, it sends two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The firm has been taking cargo to the satellite many times before, but this is a momentous occasion as it is the first time a private company has sent humans to the ISS. The launch will occur from the Kennedy Space Read more
It’s International Day of Light today! In honour of this international event, we at Astronotes decided it would be an excellent chance to explain how light could be the future for our climate and the answer to our questions about how we can power our planet! What is light? Light Read more
This week it’s Museum Week 2020 and today has the honour of being #ClimateMW day! Here at AOP we monitor the weather daily, and have been keeping weather records for over 200 years – clearly we are very interested in our weather and the climate. On Astronotes we have quite Read more
Now we come to the sixth planet from the sun, with the magnificent ring system, it’s Saturn! It is now the planet with the most known moons! Saturn recently beat out Jupiter in the moons category, even though Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar system and behaves somewhat Read more
50 years ago, humankind took its first steps on the moon, and the world celebrated. However, 47 years ago, the last human walked on the moon, and we have not been back since. Until now. The new programme that will take humans back to the moon is called Artemis, who Read more
Breaking astronomy news! The European Southern Observatory, in combination with other institutes, has discovered a black hole – and it’s a mere 1000 lightyears from Earth! This newly discovered Black Hole forms part of a triple system (called HR6819) that can be seen with the naked eye. Petr Hadrava, Emeritus Read more
Let’s move on to the largest planet in our solar system, the great gas giant Jupiter. Jupiter is over twice as heavy as all the other planets in the Solar system put together. Jupiter is a gas giant planet, the largest in the solar system, made up of swirling gases Read more
So, it’s been a weird spring so far this year, with most people working from home and stuck in their houses. But we’ve been getting some good weather over the last few weeks, allowing us to get out for our daily exercise, or even just into the garden. Well, now might Read more
This week out 5 Facts series continues with our little brother planet – Mars! Seeing Red Mars is famously known as the red planet as its dusty ground is tinged brownish red by iron-oxide (rust). This makes Mars look red to the human eye when we see it in the night sky. Read more
Today marks the 30th birthday of The Hubble Space Telescope (HST). On the 24th of April 1990 NASA launched Hubble into low earth orbit and it is still up there today! Hubble has allowed us to see deep within the caverns of space, revealing the most incredible and famous images Read more
This week our 5 Facts series continues with our home planet! Read on to learn more about our Earth. Earth is the only planet not named after a God The other planets in our Solar System are named after Roman and Greek Gods, but not our Earth! The word “Earth” Read more
Next in our 5 Facts series we have the most evil planet of them all! The second planet from the sun is named after the Roman Goddess of love. However, as we are about to find out, it is far from lovely! Hot, Hot, Hot! Although Mercury is closest to Read more
“Uh… Houston? We’ve had a problem.” Same Old, Same Old Apollo 13 launched at 2:13 p.m. EST, April 11, 1970 and since this was the third mission to the Moon, the public weren’t interested in moon landings. It was old news. Even things were too good to be true at mission control as capsule communicator (Capcom) Joe Kerwin had said that Read more
Kicking off our 5 Facts series we have the littlest member of our planetary family! Mercury is the smallest planet Pluto used to be the smallest planet in our solar system but since it was ‘demoted’ to a dwarf planet, Mercury then won the prize for being the smallest planet Read more
Hello Stargazers! We are well and truly into spring now (and hopefully we have all recovered from losing that 1 precious hour of sleep when the clocks sprung forward, eh?). The high pressure weather system we have had recently means clear, crisp nights for many of us – excellent conditions Read more
Mars 2020 Rover. What you need to know. Mars has long been the focus of many scientists’ curiosity and over the past two decades, NASA has sent many rovers and probes to the Red Planet as part of the Mars Exploration Program. These rovers have covered several miles and have Read more
Welcome to spring! In theory at least – someone should really let our climate know that it’s time to brighten up a little bit. Depending on whether or not you adhere to the meteorological or astronomical definitions of “spring”, it officially began either on 1st March or will begin on Read more
Back to our search for aliens in the second installment of the Astrobiology Series!
So as it turns out, we have had a secret, tiny moon lurking around our planet for potentially up to 3 years – and we had no idea! It’s not surprising we missed it – it’s no Europa for sure. It’s so small it is invisible to the naked eye. Read more
Moving on to our February Night Sky article (already) featuring htings to look out for while the sun still sets nice and early. Watch out for the cold, though!
5 exciting things that you should know about the ISS in 2019! Making History 2019 was a very exciting year for space exploration as two Nasa astronauts embarked on the first ever all-female spacewalk! Jessica Meir and Christina Koch were tasked with replacing a failed power control unit. This was Read more
Ah, the winter night sky, how we love thee. The shorter daytime means even longer to stargaze; if we are lucky here in Armagh we will get some high pressure days leading to crisp, clear, starry nights. So, in the evenings after your Christmas shopping has finished for the day Read more
Have you ever wondered about the impact that you may have as an amateur astronomer? How much can amateur and professional astronomers gain from each other? Can amateur astronomers impact research? Please listen below to a short audio piece by Lucie Affronti and Neasa Cumiskey; two Postgraduate Media students at Read more
Astrobiology is the study of life on planets or moons other than the Earth. But, to search for life, we must first know what life is. And that might not be as simple a task as you’d think. It turns out that ‘life’ might just be an arbitrary definition that Read more
In honour of World Mental Health Day 2019, here follows a brief overview of the mental health impacts of space travel and how NASA has altered its attitude to this pressing issue over the decades. Arguably, the worst thing to happen to Buzz Aldrin was walking on the moon. After Read more
The long standing satellite king of The Solar System, Jupiter, has been dethroned – Saturn now has 82 moons to Jupiter’s 79! via GIPHY The new moons were discovered by astronomers at The Carnegie Institution for Science using the Subaru telescope on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. According to Read more
In honour of the UN Climate Summit, we have another article in our series on climate change, Brandolini’s Law: Climate.
Ever been on a walk and noticed rubbish on the side of the road, footpath, on the beach or in a park? Probably. I can’t count the number of times I have. While it might not be the most pleasant thing in the world to pick up other peoples’ rubbish, Read more
As it is Good Relations Week here in Northern Ireland, we are covering the history of international relations within the context of space. More specifically; how the backdrop of global relations and newly formed Russia worked together with their former rival The United States of America to build the first Read more
Following on in our climate change series, we have a piece from Anna Taylor, one of our Education Officers, on the impact our changing climate will have on life on earth. Climate change is the biggest pending disaster the human race has ever faced. But it’s not just humans facing Read more
Welcome to September, Stargazers! To be honest, August is a hard celestial act to follow but the September night sky allows to to focus in on events that might have otherwise been overshadowed if they had occurred in another month. September stargazing gets back to the basics of stargazing, moon-watching Read more
Welcome to the first article in our new series about the current state of flux our planet is in; Brandolini’s Law: Climate. We will explore the issues surrounding climate change such as how a debate formed around its existence, how climate change works, the effects it can have on a Read more
President John F Kennedy’s speech to the United States’ Congress on the 25th of May 1961 encapsulates the romanticism that has adorned the endeavour of space exploration to this day. A President asking the representatives of his people to fund a daring, groundbreaking mission to, “before this decade [was] out, [land] Read more
Hello stargazers! We are just past mid-summer; September is looming around the corner but fear not – we have another lovely month of summertime stargazing to enjoy before the sun-soaked (for some) season fades away. Stargazing during August will be best at around 11pm, after you have given your eyes Read more
As we are fast approaching the 50th anniversary of man’s greatest achievement of landing men on the moon in 1969, we are taking a look back and how women were treated in NASA’s space program and how things are different (or similar) today. Sally Ride had never planned to be Read more
