Human Exploration
Q: Is the Moon made of cheese? A: Sort of..
A myth deeply engrained into popular culture is that the Moon is made of green cheese. The Apollo missions showed beyond reasonable doubt that the moon is made of rock and not, sadly, of one of our favourite dairy products. That being said, data brought back from Apollo and the Read more…
Human Exploration
The Artemis Program – The Successor to Apollo
50 years ago, humankind took its first steps on the moon, and the world celebrated. However, 47 years ago, the last human walked on the moon, and we have not been back since. Until now. The new programme that will take humans back to the moon is called Artemis, who Read more…
Comets and Asteroids
May Night Sky 2020
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…
Alien Life
Astrobiology II: Life on Moons!
Back to our search for aliens in the second installment of the Astrobiology Series!
Astronomy & You
February Night Sky
Moving on to our February Night Sky article (already) featuring htings to look out for while the sun still sets nice and early. Watch out for the cold, though!
Moon
Celebrating 60 years of the far side of the Moon
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…
About Us
Apollo, Armagh and the Place for Space
Article by Professor Michael Burton, Director of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium July 20, 2019 marks 50 years from the day Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, humanity’s first foot steps on another world. As much an awe inspiring feat then as it remains today. Indeed, despite the revolution in Read more…
Human Exploration
Apollo 10: The Full Dress Rehearsal
Apollo 10 was the mission that almost made it to the Moon. Designed as the full dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, the lunar module “Snoopy” approached to just under 15 km from the Moon’s surface with astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard. It was May 22, 1969 – 50 Read more…
Exoplanets
The March Night Sky 2019
How is it March already? 2019 has just flown in! Although we have had a mild winter, we can start to wave goodbye to the dark evenings and say hello to Spring as the date that I have been longing for ever since the evenings got shorter – the Spring Equinox on the 20th March fast approaches.