To kick off our new weekly series on the Technical Applications of Astronomy to Society, inspired by a recent publication of the IAU (The International Astronomical Union), our Director Michael Burton has written a brief summary of the history and purpose of the IAU, as well as outlining some of Read more…
While you may be familiar with black holes from sci-fi and many artists’ renditions of the phenomenon, our first actual view of the event horizon of the supermassive black hole which is at the centre of a neighbouring galaxy, Messier 87, was released 4 weeks ago to the day. What Read more…
Article by: Gavin Ramsay Unlike our Sun, around half of all stars have another stellar companion. The closest stars to the Sun are two bright southern stars, alpha Centauri A and B, which orbit each other every 80 years and Proxima Centauri which orbits A and B every few tens Read more…
Before addressing Black Hole sizes, we should first go back to see what astronomers mean when they use the term “Black Hole”. This may be easiest to understand when considering the end products of stars.
Some seven months ago, a NASA spacecraft called InSight was launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket and headed to Mars (Figure 1). If all goes well, the spacecraft will land on the Martian surface at around 8pm UK time this Monday 26th November and begin its science investigation. InSight is a fixed lander (see Figure 2 below), a much simpler affair than the Curiosity rover that arrived in 2012 and continues its trek across the floor of Gale crater to this day. Mobility, is however, not required for the specific aim of the mission.
NASA has announced the retirement of the Kepler spacecraft. After launch in March 2009, it began a continuous observation of a 115 square degree field of view (the diameter of the moon is 1/2 a degree) between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.
The discovery of planets orbiting around other stars has been one of humankinds greatest achievements. The existance of these ‘exo-planets’ can challenge our perception of our place in the universe. Since the first confirmed detection of a planet around another normal star (51 Peg) in 1995, many thousands of planets have been discovered. Indeed, it is likely that most stars will have their own system of planets. It is important in answering the question – is there intelligent life out there?
Have you ever been worried about the impact of an asteroid wiping out human life? Well, I have some disturbing news for you: there is another possibility involving the explosion of a massive star that gives rise to a gamma-ray burst (called by astronomers simply a GRB), when the star ends its life producing a black hole.
Approximately every other star in the Milky Way galaxy is in a ‘binary’ system. These binaries are made up of two stars orbiting around a common centre of gravity. The time taken for the stars in the binary to make one revolution is called the ‘orbital period’. Binaries have a wide range of orbital period. The closest stellar system to the Sun is alpha Centauri which has two stars not unlike our Sun orbiting around one another every 80 years. A third member of the system, Proxima Centauri, which is much smaller red dwarf star, orbits around these two stars once every 10,000 years.
Article by Michael Burton, Director of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recently discovered organic molecules in 3 billion year old Martian rocks. This material may have been delivered by meteorites and comets to the young planet. Deep space is full of organic matter. Organic matter contains Read more…