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Stars

Stars of NGC 3603. This is a “starburst region” : a cosmic factory where stars form frantically from a nebula’s extended clouds of gas and dust. Located 22 000 light-years away from the Sun, this is the closest region of this kind known in our galaxy. (Image credit: ESO)
Stars

What are the stars?

A clear night sky is a thing of beauty and wonder. Thousands of scattered stars twinkle in the darkness. What are the stars? How do they live and die? Could an exploding star cause disaster on Earth? Over the past century or so astronomers have by observation and calculation established Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsOctober 14, 2011 ago
Stars

Aldebaran: Red Giant at the Eye of the Bull

To observers on Earth, the great bull of Taurus has a fiery red eye. This is Aldebaran, an old red giant star which dwarfs our Sun. Let’s have a closer look at the facts and fiction about this aging star.   If you go out after dark on a winter’s Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsMarch 3, 2011 ago
Stars

Will Betelgeuse bring doom in 2012?

The giant star Betelgeuse will soon perish in a titanic explosion. Could this happen in the mythical “doomsday” year of 2012? Could dying Betelgeuse take us with it? “Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!” was the chant which summoned the obnoxious ghost played by Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s 1988 movie. Keaton’s character Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsJanuary 27, 2011 ago
Stars

Red dwarfs: The most important stars in the Universe

The smallest stars in the galaxy are the red dwarfs.  Recent research suggests they are more common than previously suspected. Tiny, cool and dim compared to the Sun, they may seem unimportant. But consider this: red dwarfs not only outnumber every other type of star in the Universe but will Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsDecember 3, 2010 ago
Image of eclipsing binary
Milky Way

Cepheids: Inconstant Stars which break the rules

Cepheid variables are massive, pulsating stars, valued by astronomers for the precise link between their brightness and steady pulsation. Let’s look at the history of Cepheid variables and how recent discoveries about these stars shatter established theories of stellar evolution.   Cepheid variable stars have been known since the 18th Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsNovember 26, 2010 ago
Stars

What is light?

What is light? Here’s an easy introduction to the electromagnetic spectrum all the way from radio waves to gamma rays. Before the modern era of technological astronomy, to know anything about the Universe beyond our planet we relied on light. We had to see planets, stars, and so on, to Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsOctober 1, 2010 ago
Stars

Hubble shows us a spectacular star cluster

Imagine that once the Sun sets, rather than a dark sky sprinkled with a few thousand dim stars, we had a sky blazing with ten thousand or so stars blazing brighter than Venus. How different would astronomy, mythology, everyday life be? Planets orbiting stars in the NGC 3603 Young Cluster Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 years ago
Stars

Following a rainbow back to the Big Bang

Here’s how rainbows are made. Some 13.7 billion years ago, a mere millionth of a second after the Big Bang, the first hydrogen and helium nuclei condensed out of a hot, dense soup of quarks and gluons. It took another 380 000 years or so for conditions in the ancient Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 years ago
Stars

Will a rogue star cause chaos in the Solar System?

At first glance Gliese 710 is not a very distinguished star. A K7 class orange dwarf a bit more than half as massive as the Sun, it currently lies about 63 light years from us in the constellation Serpens. It is moving fast though and that is why one reason Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsSeptember 22, 2010 ago
Stars

Altair, Deneb and Vega: three easy to spot stars

Around this time of year, go outside after 9pm on a clear night and look at the sky. Even if it is not quite dark a bright star will be visible in the south. This is Vega, the third brightest star in our sky (only Sirius and Arcturus are brighter). Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsSeptember 22, 2010 ago

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RSS Intergalactic Craic
  • S3Ep1 - Wee Bitta Craic: Welcome Ethan, Alice and Zuri!
    Want a Wee Bitta Craic? Then say hello to some of our PhD students, Ethan, Alice and Zuri. They will be hosting their own Wee Bitta Craic episodes and will give you an insight into the life of a PhD students here at AOP!
  • Season 3 - What's the craic?
    What's the Craic? Intergalactic Craic is back and it's shaking things up! Join Heather and her brand new co-host to find out more!
  • Space is Cloudy, Who Knew? Featuring Kerem Çubuk
    This week Heather and Courtney interview Armagh Observatory PhD Candidate Kerem Çubuk on his area of research - molecular clouds! Turns out we can't escape the cloudy conditions, even millions of lightyears away.  Kerem and his colleagues also have a Youtube Channel dedicated to science communication in Turkish. To find out more, visit ahtapot.club 
Welcome to Astronotes

Hello and welcome to Astronotes, the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium’s official blog. Here you will find the latest news and views from all those who work in our organisation, from the fascinating worlds of astronomy and space exploration. We hope you will come here to learn what is hot and exciting, profound or even weird from worlds beyond ours . So that's the introduction out of the way, now on with the Universe!

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