Written by Apostolos Christou As far as astronomers know, the Earth is alone in its annual trek round the Sun – that is, apart from its natural satellite: the Moon. But our current understanding of how the solar system formed suggests it may not have been always so. For instance, Read more…
“Commander Moonikin Campos” is the official name of the manikin launching on Artemis I, NASA’s uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon later this year. The Moonikin received its name as the result of a competitive bracket contest honoring NASA figures, programs, or astronomical Read more…
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium reports that, if skies are clear on the morning of 19th November 2021, sky-watchers will witness a partial eclipse of the Moon. The eclipse begins at 0720 am Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) when the Moon is only 5 deg above the NW horizon. At that time Read more…
When Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin touched down near the lunar Appenine mountains in the summer of 1971, they brought along a rover to aid them in their exploits. The use of this Lunar Roving Vehicle – or LRV as it was called – was the first Read more…
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium reports that, if skies are clear on the morning of 10th June 2021, sky-watchers will witness a partial eclipse of the Sun. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, in effect casting a shadow on our planet. When the Read more…
What do a tree, a colander and a piece of cardboard have in common? The answer: they can all be used to observe a solar eclipse! Our Sun – the brightest star in the sky – has been the subject of intense scrutiny ever since human beings began to interrogate 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…
The presence of water on the Moon has long been suspected, although not in liquid or vapour form but as ice hiding deep in permanently shadowed craters found in the polar regions of the Moon. The NASA LCROSS and LRO space mission already confirmed the presence of water frost in the southern pole, but yesterdays’ NASA Read more…
When the first astronauts came back from the Moon more than half a century ago, they brought back a scientific treasure trove of soil and rock samples. These were – and still are – intensely scrutinised in laboratories all over the world, allowing scientists to gradually piece together the history Read more…