By Bill Napier, AOP Visiting Astronomer A comet typically comprises about 50% fine dust embedded in a frozen matrix of water, methane, carbon dioxide and other organic compounds. Approaching the inner planetary system it begins to disintegrate, with fragments splitting off along with dust and gas. The fragments spread around Read more…
Just released are first images and videos from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) – revealing unprecedented detail of the Sun’s surface, with experts saying it will enable a new era of solar science and a leap forward in understanding the Sun and its impacts Read more…
AOP researchers have used data from a NASA space mission to shed light on one of the most violent phenomena in our solar system – magnetic explosions on the surface of the Sun. Abhishek Srivastava, formerly a research associate at AOP and now a solar scientist at the Indian Institute Read more…
Observers in Ireland and Great Britain will have an opportunity, weather permitting, to observe a rare astronomical event on Monday 11th November, when the planet Mercury will transit across the Sun. Transits occur when a planet lies directly between the Earth and the Sun. With suitable observing equipment, Mercury may Read more…
The Sun’s corona is maintained at a temperature in excess of a million degrees. The corona lies above the solar photosphere which is maintained at 6000 degrees. These regions are only a few hundred kilometers apart. A major scientific problem in solar physics is how and why is the corona Read more…
Those of you who have been on this planet for longer than a few decades may recall the early days of the space age, when rocket launches were far from commonplace and each probe launched promised to do something fundamentally new: the first satellite to orbit the Earth, the first Read more…
If you are a professional astronomer working on this island, then all roads lead to Armagh for you this Autumn! AOP and the City of Armagh are proud to be hosting the Irish National Astronomy Meeting or INAM from the 4th to the 6th of September. Held each year and Read more…