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…
And now we come to the last planet in our solar system… You found me… eventually Up until the discovery of Neptune all planets in our Solar System were found with the naked eye or with the aid of a telescope, Neptune however was the first mathematically predicted planetary discovery. Read more…
How astronomy can help us understand the spread of a pandemic Article by Michael Burton, Director of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium The Hill of Infinity of Armagh, in the Astropark of the Observatory and Planetarium, contains a scale model of the universe, illustrating the place of planet Earth in Read more…
Now we come to the penultimate planet in our solar system, the lovely Uranus! That’s Not My Name! Uranus was discovered in March 1781 by astronomer William Herschel. He was observing the stars in the night sky using a telescope that he had built himself when he made the new discovery. Uranus was Read more…
Research Astronomer Dr Apostolos Christou reports on a new model to explain the two “oddball’’ moons of Neptune: Triton, a >2000 km diameter satellite that circles Neptune in the opposite direction that the planet rotates; and 300-km Nereid, the planetary moon with the most elongated orbit in the solar system. Read more…
Now we come to the sixth planet from the sun, with the magnificent ring system, it’s Saturn! It is now the planet with the most known moons! Saturn recently beat out Jupiter in the moons category, even though Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar system and behaves somewhat Read more…
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…
Let’s move on to the largest planet in our solar system, the great gas giant Jupiter. Jupiter is over twice as heavy as all the other planets in the Solar system put together. Jupiter is a gas giant planet, the largest in the solar system, made up of swirling gases 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…
The transition region in the Sun is the atmospheric layer that separates the cooler chromosphere from the hotter corona. Studying the structure and dynamics of the transition region requires greater attention as these provide critical information on the supply of mass and energy from the lower atmosphere to the corona and Read more…