The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) has successfully captured images of the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet, a rare celestial object making its closest approach to Earth for the first time in 80,000 years. This comet, named after its simultaneous discovery by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China and the ATLAS astronomical survey, Read more…
Halley’s comet highlighted in Royal Astronomical Society meeting. Since antiquity, comets have been associated with portents and omens. The most famous comet of all is probably comet Halley or Halley’s comet, implicated in King Harold’s defeat by the Saxons in the 1066 Battle of Hastings and depicted in the 230-foot Read more…
Leading astronomical research and education centre, Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, has announced that two of its Visiting Astronomers, Aswin Sekhar and Galin Borisov, have had asteroids named after them by the International Astronomical Union on June 21st. The honours were bestowed during the Asteroids, Comets, Meteors Conference 2023, which was Read more…
Astronomers of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) have been part of one of the many teams around the world studying the outcome of the Double-Asteroid Redirection Test (DART): a space mission designed to test the human capability of deflecting an asteroid that may pose a threat to Earth. Don’t Read more…
Article written by: Prof. Jorick Vink, Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. According to the European Space Agency (ESA) there is a 1-in-625 chance that Asteroid 2023DW, with the size of a Football pitch, can strike Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046. Astronomers around the globe, including those at the Armagh Observatory Read more…
At certain times of the year, the Earth passes through streams of dust left behind by comets, leading to a natural fireworks display: a meteor shower. One of the best-known is the August Perseids; at the peak of the shower, one can see about 100 meteors per hour on a Read more…
The month of December offers us the most intense meteor shower of the year. These are the Geminids, so-called because they appear to emanate from the constellation of Gemini the Twins. At the peak of the shower, over 120 meteors – two meteors every minute – can be spotted under Read more…
Orionids are debris from comet Halley that graced Earth’s skies in 1986 and is expected to return to the vicinity of the Sun in 2061. Orionids tend to be quite fast, hitting the Earth’s atmosphere at 66 km /sec. This is fast enough to cross the Atlantic Ocean in about Read more…
Do you remember comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko? It was the target of the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft, which visited and ultimately crash landed into the comet in its previous passage close to the Sun in 2014-2016. Rosetta made history as being the first spacecraft to ever orbit and land (with Philae) on a Read more…
This week, AOP PhD Student Zuri Grey tells us all about Comet 2I/Borisov! 1) What is the difference between an interstellar comet and a regular comet? Solar System comets are believed to have come from two sources. Short period comets, which take less than 200 years to complete an orbit Read more…
Scientists track comet which has been in orbit for millions of years in another solar system An international team of scientists led by Armagh Observatory and Planetarium astronomer, Dr Stefano Bagnulo has conducted ground-breaking research on a comet which has been in orbit for millions of years in another solar Read more…
So the nights are drawing in and in as we get closer to the festive season, and though Christmas might not be quite the same as usual this year, there’s still plenty to celebrate. One great socially distanced activity you can do is stargazing! It’s outdoors and doesn’t require a group, and so you can easily go out and have a wee look up at the stars – just make sure to wrap up warm at this time of year!
by Apostolos Christou An international team of planetary scientists led by astronomers at AOP have found an asteroid trailing behind Mars with a composition very similar to the Moon’s. The asteroid could be an ancient piece of debris, dating back to the gigantic impacts that formed the Moon and the Read more…
by Galin Borisov and Apostolos Christou This September, we had the first opportunity to make astronomical observations while physically present at the telescope since the start of the COVID19 pandemic. Our instrument of choice was the 2-m RCC telescope at Rozhen Observatory on the Rhodope mountains in SW Bulgaria. So here we are at 1700m above sea level with a forecast for good weather and ready for new discoveries! One Read more…
Are you up for a free ‘firework show’ from Space? If so, this is the month for you because on the 11th August (Tuesday), the Perseids Meteor Shower is coming to town! As our planet silently glides through the cold void of the Solar System (at the phenomenal speed of Read more…
The first asteroids discovered in the early 1800’s were named after Roman and Greek mythological figures like Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta. Today, most asteroids are named after people, both real and fictional, places, animals, plants, and other natural phenomena. The discoverers of asteroids are responsible for proposing the name however Read more…
By Gavin Ramsay, AOP Research Astronomer In previous AstroNotes we have highlighted the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project of which AOP is a partner. Although its main aim is to detect the optical counterparts of cosmic explosions, it has been used to observe some Comets. Last week GOTO observed 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…
By Galin Borisov (not the interstellar comet discoverer) During this tough period of COVID-19 pandemic, most of the astronomical observatories around the world are closed and no observations are carried out. But my Bulgarian colleague, Yanko Nikolov, decided to self-isolate in the mountain and fulfil the observations with the 2m Read more…
It’s not every day, or every year for that matter, that we get to see a really bright comet. Many of us, including the author of this article, remember comet Hale-Bopp that adorned Earth’s skies in the first months of 1997. Since then we’ve had several comets bright enough to Read more…
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…
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…
Article written by: Ciara, from Ciara’s Journey Blog It’s an umbrella term for Comets, Asteroids, Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites and Bolides. It’s anything that is in our Solar System and that isn’t a planet or a satellite! In this blog post I have explored what each of these things are – Read more…
There’s lots to look forward to in the Month of May: the evenings are brighter, there’s the promise of good weather and most importantly – not one, but two bank holiday weekends! There’s also lots to look forward to and look out for in May’s night sky. There’s the chance Read more…
Article by Armagh Astronomer Tolis Christou Imagine being outdoors on a sunny day, following the Sun as it rises from the east, heading towards the south and then on towards the west where it sets. Now think back: when did you feel the hottest: when the Sun was highest in Read more…
In a nutshell, comets are small bodies of ice and dust in orbit around the Sun. When they pass near the sun, they start to vaporize creating long tails of dust and gas. Even this small amount of information makes us ask so many questions about these members of our solar system.
Article written by: Heather Alexander, Education officer At the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium we have been having a look at all the things that are going to happen throughout the year and trying to select some of the events that we are most looking forward to. Needless to say this Read more…
With Space Exploration comes theories and conspiracies. In our latest blog we debunk some of the more infamous ones.
October is over and the nights are drawing in. Instead of lamenting the fact that we are driving to and from work in the dark, let’s think of the positives – more time to stargaze! And there’s plenty of interesting objects and constellations to look out for in November.
An interview with resident PhD Student Rok Nezic about his recent adventure to the European Planetary Science Congress 2018, held in Berlin, Germany.
It’s the beginning of a new month, filled with new exciting events in the night sky. Here is a brief summary of what to expect in the next few weeks.
Where do meteorites come from? This question has been occupying the scientific community ever since it was realised that these “rocks from the sky” are, in fact, pieces of other worlds arriving on our planet from deep space. New research done by scientists at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Read more…
The Observatory and Planetarium has welcomed school students to visit for work experience. A previous Astronote described our work with the Faulkes Telescope Project. Below is an account written by three of our work experience students in 2018 March, based on the work done at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium by them and three other students.
Article Written by Gavin Ramsay Comets have been known for millennia with Halley’s Comet famously being shown in the Bayeux Tapestry illustrating events which took place in 1066. They were also thought to foretell catastrophic events. Today we know them as having a small nucleus made up of ice and Read more…
Since the beginning of the space age, humanity has been sending robotic emissaries to all corners of the solar system. These represent some of the most complex technological undertakings ever conceived. Travelling for years and even decades to their destinations, they have helped form a modern picture of the solar Read more…
Comets are small icy and rocky objects flying around our Solar System on elliptical orbits, as opposed to near-circular ones the planets are enjoying. They are strange and fantastic enough as it is: bright comets with their tails spanning across the sky have been marvelled at, recorded, and often feared Read more…
Hello and welcome to my first attempt at an Astronotes blog! My name is Stephen and I’m finding out about our sky as I go during my time here in the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. So, I hope you’ll join me on our journey through the October night sky. Read more…
It is common knowledge that the Earth is running out of resources, we’re constantly plagued with images and statistics supporting renewable energy and changing our way of thinking but what if we gathered resources from Space and gave the Earth a break from human pillaging? This is an idea from Read more…
A team of scientists in Australia are scanning the Universe for signals from extraterrestrial life. Professor Matthew Bailes, based at Swinburne University in Melbourne, is the lead scientist in this project funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. Milner has donated $100 million and has the support of Professor Stephen Hawking. Read more…
During our school days, children in the developing and developed world could not even dream about getting a chance to look through a professional telescope; forget about playing with it for real observations! Those days, only the best professional astronomers/astrophysicists had access to such telescopic sites and networks. However one Read more…
One of the European Space Agency’s flagship missions reached its grand finale on Friday 30 September 2016. After 20 years in development, a 10-year trip around the Solar System and two years on station at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the Rosetta mission drew to a close at 12:19 BST when the spacecraft Read more…
Newly discovered small Solar System body V774104 may seem just another tiny, cold and remote world beyond Neptune but this is an important finding as its mere existence suggests that the wastes of the outer Solar System are considerably more populous than we thought a couple of decades ago. Read more…
Maybe you have seen one of the alarming videos or emails circulating around the internet claiming that the End is Nigh. The claim is that an enormous dinosaur-killer of an asteroid is going to smash into the Earth sometime between 15-28 September 2015. The scary predictions say that the asteroid Read more…
In November 2014, the European Space Agency’s washing-machine-sized investigation and analysis lander lab Philae, did something that no other automated probe had ever done before, it successfully landed on a comet. But apart from this monumental achievement what has the lander probe and its Rosetta mothership so far learned about Read more…
NASA’s Dawn Space Craft is already a success story. It was launched on board a Delta II rocket in 2007, has spent 14 months investigating the asteroid Vesta, is using ion propulsion for acceleration and is now en route to Dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt. Read more…
Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) was discovered in August 2014. Observers in the southern Hemisphere could see it throughout the last quarter of 2014. By December 2014 the comet could be seen in binoculars or a small telescope as a faint blob with a fainter still. The comet spent the Read more…
On 2March 2004 the European Space Agency (ESA) launched an ambitious and exciting robotic explorer into space, and you probably have heard its quite pretty name mentioned a lot lately. It is the trailblazing Rosetta spacecraft and it has been given a task that has seen many before attempt and Read more…
One of the latest members of the Solar System to be discovered, 2012 VP113 is a tiny isolated world in the outer Solar System. It’s attracting attention as it could one day help lead astronomers to discover a whole new planet. Flying outward from the Sun, away from the Read more…
Asteroids, chunks of rock and metal orbiting the Sun, were once considered “vermin of the skies” by astronomers. This disparaging term originated when a long-exposure image of a deep sky object on a glass plate was ruined by the trail of a distant asteroid moving across the sky. Yet today Read more…
With the let-down of the much anticipated Comet ISON you could be feeling that you have had your quota of comets for a while, but within one year of comet ISON’s sad demise, we are to be visited by another comet, Comet Siding Spring. Unlike ISON it has not been Read more…
Ukrainian astronomers have discovered a 410 m (1350 ft) wide asteroid passing through the constellation of Camelopardalis (the Giraffe). This chunk of rock and metal could be back in Earth’s neighbourhood in 2032. Even though there are well over 10000 other known near-Earth objects, predictably parts of the internet and Read more…
By now interest in Comet C/2012 S1 (Comet ISON) is building. This could be the most dramatic comet in years. Where should we look for this oncoming interloper from deep space? This was a monthly guide aimed at observers in the UK and Ireland to help you find it. As Read more…
Ever since the first asteroid was discovered in 1801, astronomers have looked to find other similar objects in our Solar System. Many of these minor planets can be found in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, often many asteroids are lone wanderers, roaming beyond the limits of the Asteroid Read more…
Comet ISON may be the greatest comet of this century as it skims through the atmosphere of the Sun this autumn. The Hubble Space Telescope has just the best image yet of this emissary from the outer darkness. When the image was made, the coma, the ‘head’ of the comet, Read more…
Despite meteorites falling to the ground often throughout the Earth’s lifespan, there are still many myths some stranger than others existing around these elusive fragments from space. Meteorites are radioactive One common myth about meteorites is that they contain strange unusual minerals, elements that would bring Superman to Read more…
In February 2013, the asteroid 2012 DA14 flew past the Earth closer than many of the Earth’s geo-stationary satellites. Although not visible to the naked eye many telescopes were fixed towards the skies in a hope of catching a glimpse of this celestial fly-by. Many other people watched live webcasts Read more…
Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS has been wowing observers in the southern hemisphere recently and there have been some fantastic images taken of it. So when do we in Armagh get a chance to see this visitor from the Oort Cloud? The answer is next week! Comet PANSTARRS reaches perihelion, Read more…
Comet ISON is here! This new comet was in January 2013 just a dim speck in the constellation Gemini, between the stars Castor and Pollux. Astronomers could not agree if it was going to develop into the greatest astronomical spectacle in a decade or into a dim and disappointing smudge- Read more…
Comet ISON is coming!This newly-discovered comet may by November 2013 be an unforgettable spectacle, dominating the night sky.The comet may be even brighter than the fondly-remembered Hale-Bopp of 1997! C/2012 S1 (ISON) was announced on 24 September 2012.It was spotted by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok on CCD images Read more…
An intruder from beyond Earth’s atmosphere can be seen in this image of the 21 September fireball taken by amateur astronomer Colin Campbell from his garden in Lisburn. Here is how Colin describes how he captured this remarkable image: I was out in my garden experimenting with taking a Read more…
James Moriarty (?-1891) was one of the greatest of the many astronomer-mathematicians who flourished in the nineteenth century, however among the general public his scientific accomplishments are forgotten. Mention his name and most people will think of the dark rumours about his personal life and the lurid circumstances of his Read more…
202 million km (1.35 AU or 125 million miles) from Earth an explorer from Earth is investigating the giant asteroid Vesta. This intrepid pioneer is the Dawn space probe. Orbiting about 2700 km (1700 miles) above Vesta, Dawn slowly rotates around the world beneath it. Every 69 hours, the Read more…
The approaching Comet Elenin has triggered suspicious and fearful speculation among some observers. A contribution to this brouhaha has been the lack of images of this visitor from deep space, but at last there are images from a NASA space observatory of this oncoming comet. On 1 August 2011 Comet Read more…
NASA’s Dawn spaceprobe is approaching the asteroid Vesta. At a distance of 483 000 km, the spacecraft has made images rivalling the best Hubble Space Telescope views of this fascinating little world. Between Mars and Jupiter lies the Asteroid Belt. Relics of the Solar Nebula which birthed the planets, these Read more…
Comet Tempel 1 is by far the most closely studied comet in history. We saw it up close for the first time in July 2005, when NASA’s Deep Impact mission flew past it, pelting in with a projectile on the way. On 14 February 2011, another NASA mission, Stardust-Next visited Read more…
The Zodiacal light is a rarely seen yet intriguing spectacle in a dark sky. Sinead McNicholl reveals the connection between the zodial light and a famous rockstar! Have you ever noticed a whitish glow in the night sky which appears to extend upwards in the shape of a triangle or Read more…
NASA’s Deep Impact probe flew past comet Hartley 2 and revealed a odd-looking peanut-shaped nucleus. What are the first impressions from these exciting images? Only about a mile (1.6 km) from end to end, the nucleus of Comet Hartley2 is hardly the most impressive member of the Solar System. Never Read more…
Between Mars and Jupiter lies the Asteroid Belt, a swarm of millions of shards of rock, metal and ice. Somewhere out here, between 5-10 February 2009, a small asteroid, perhaps 5m across, violently slammed into another, larger (120 m), asteroid at a closing speed of about 18 000 km/h. As much Read more…
The team at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency deserve congratulations for the amazing (and hopefully record-breaking) Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Launched in 2003 (the spacecraft was called MUSES-C at launch, but was renamed in flight), this mission has battled against an extraordinary run of bad luck and technical Read more…
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…
