by AOP Astronomer Gavin Ramsay Today the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission from Kourou in French Guiana on an Ariane 5 launcher after it was delayed for a day due to a weather forecast of potential storms. In the planning stage for Read more…
Those of us out and about on Spring evenings have been treated to a brilliant beacon of light above the western horizon. This is the planet Venus, our closest solar system neighbour. Venus has been called Earth’s “evil twin”, in that it is almost identical in size, mass and density Read more…
So, party season is over and we’re looking towards a long, cold January before the weather starts to heat up again. However, January is a great time to go stargazing as the nights are long and we can start our lookout in the late afternoon. Not to mention that the Read more…
Written by Education Assistant Mark Grimley Today we are going to talk about some lesser-known bodies in our solar system – and one that you might still be upset about. These are the dwarf planets in our part of the ‘neighbourhood.’ But first I want to clear a few things Read more…
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…
A super spectacle is happening in the night sky from this evening and won’t be seen again until 2040. The five planets — known as “naked eye planets” because they can be seen without the use of binoculars or telescopes — are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They will 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…
How many moons can you see with the naked eye? The answer may surprise you.. Of the hundreds of moons orbiting the planets of our solar system, all but four are too faint to see with the naked eye. One of the four is, of course, Earth’s own Moon. The Read more…
Simple answer is Jupiter doesn’t have enough mass to fuse hydrogen into helium. But you didn’t come here for the simple answer! This process of turning hydrogen into helium is known as nuclear fusion and it is the energy source that powers the sun and most other stars. What drives nuclear fusion? For nuclei Read more…
The planet Mars has been shining brightly in the night sky for the better part of a year now, and a number of spacecraft have been speeding towards it most of that time. Among them, Mars 2020 mission, with plans to land the Perseverance rover on the Red Planet on 18th February 2021 shortly before 9pm GMT. Mars remains clearly Read more…
If you are looking for a reason to celebrate then mark 7 February on your calendars as it marks the start of a new year on planet Mars. The year on Mars will be 36. So we thought we would detail some of the differences and similarities between an Earth Read more…
Stargazers could spot a bright light in the sky days before Christmas as Saturn and Jupiter will come the closest they have done in hundreds of years, creating what researchers describe as a “spectacular event in the sky” on Monday 21 December – which also happens to be the winter 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…
Mars is the only other planet in the solar system apart from the Earth that combines a clear – albeit thin – atmosphere and a solid surface. Therefore, an astronaut standing on the surface may observe and record phenomena on the martian sky, both astronomical and atmospheric. One of these Read more…
By Apostolos Christou, Researh Astronomer Every 26 months, the positions of Mars and the Earth align in such a way to allow probes launched from Earth to reach Mars (see how to calculate launch windows here). The next such launch window has just opened, with three separate missions under starter’s Read more…
26th June is Kids in Museums ‘Digital Takeover Day’. Here at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium we wanted to give our young followers a chance to be published in our blog. Read all about their favourite planets below. Thank you to everyone who entered! Mars My favourite planet is Mars Read more…
When Thomas Romney Robinson, director of the Armagh Observatory, invented the cup anemometer in 1846, little did he know that one day his invention would be recording the alien breeze on the surface of another world. Fast forward 130 years: On 20 October 1975, a small capsule detached from the Read more…
Now we weren’t going to leave out everyone’s favourite dwarf planet, were we?! Small but Mighty! Pluto is named after the Roman god of the Underworld, who coincidentally was also the god of wealth as diamond and other jewels supposedly came from the Underworld. It’s ironic that such a tiny 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…
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…
This week out 5 Facts series continues with our little brother planet – Mars! Seeing Red Mars is famously known as the red planet as its dusty ground is tinged brownish red by iron-oxide (rust). This makes Mars look red to the human eye when we see it in the night sky. Read more…
This week our 5 Facts series continues with our home planet! Read on to learn more about our Earth. Earth is the only planet not named after a God The other planets in our Solar System are named after Roman and Greek Gods, but not our Earth! The word “Earth” Read more…
Those of you going out late in the day for an evening stroll or just enjoying the spring smells in your garden may have noticed a bright white beacon of light shining high in the west after sunset. This is Venus, the closest planet to the Earth and the brightest Read more…
Next in our 5 Facts series we have the most evil planet of them all! The second planet from the sun is named after the Roman Goddess of love. However, as we are about to find out, it is far from lovely! Hot, Hot, Hot! Although Mercury is closest to Read more…
Kicking off our 5 Facts series we have the littlest member of our planetary family! Mercury is the smallest planet Pluto used to be the smallest planet in our solar system but since it was ‘demoted’ to a dwarf planet, Mercury then won the prize for being the smallest planet Read more…
Back to our search for aliens in the second installment of the Astrobiology Series!
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!
Astrobiology is the study of life on planets or moons other than the Earth. But, to search for life, we must first know what life is. And that might not be as simple a task as you’d think. It turns out that ‘life’ might just be an arbitrary definition that Read more…
Observers in Ireland and Great Britain will have an opportunity, weather permitting, to observe a rare astronomical event on Monday 11th November, when the planet Mercury will transit across the Sun. Transits occur when a planet lies directly between the Earth and the Sun. With suitable observing equipment, Mercury may Read more…
The long standing satellite king of The Solar System, Jupiter, has been dethroned – Saturn now has 82 moons to Jupiter’s 79! via GIPHY The new moons were discovered by astronomers at The Carnegie Institution for Science using the Subaru telescope on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. According to Read more…
President John F Kennedy’s speech to the United States’ Congress on the 25th of May 1961 encapsulates the romanticism that has adorned the endeavour of space exploration to this day. A President asking the representatives of his people to fund a daring, groundbreaking mission to, “before this decade [was] out, [land] 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…
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.
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…
The discovery of planets orbiting around other stars has been one of humankinds greatest achievements. The existance of these ‘exo-planets’ can challenge our perception of our place in the universe. Since the first confirmed detection of a planet around another normal star (51 Peg) in 1995, many thousands of planets have been discovered. Indeed, it is likely that most stars will have their own system of planets. It is important in answering the question – is there intelligent life out there?
October is here! It is one of our favourite months as there is so much more to see in the sky and the nights are getting deliciously darker. One thing to remember when you are stargazing is to wrap up warm when you venture outside. The nights are getting much colder, and with some of the best stargazing occurring in the early hours of the morning, we don’t want anyone catching a chill. Thermals and a thermos filled with hot chocolate or coffee will do the trick. Also don’t forget that we will be starting our Star Tracker evenings in the coming months!
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.
Astronomers now know many hundreds of planets orbiting other stars in our Galaxy. These show an incredible amount of diversity in their basic properties such as size and temperature with no two planets being quite the same. But the Earth is still unique among planets within or outside our solar system in its ability to support life
The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium are holding a special event to mark the lunar eclipse, coming at almost the same time as the opposition of Mars. The event has proved so popular that tickets sold out within a couple of hours of being released, so we have written this blog entry to tell you about what will happen if you missed out on obtaining a ticket or are going to try to observe the eclipse from elsewhere.
Space is always changing. New things are discovered frequently, and the latest discovery was made inside our own solar system. Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, now has a staggering 79 moons in its orbit. Compare this to Earth’s lonely, singular moon and this shows you just how monstrous the gas giant planet is in size.
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…
October is over, and November is now upon us. The days are definitely getting colder, the night are definitely longer, which means the time for gazing into the night sky is now! One of the best things about November is the fact that there is not one, but two meteor 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…
As the summer draws to a close September is a perfect time for stargazing before the cold nights of winter finally creep in. With sunset around 9pm and a forecasted heatwave, fingers crossed for some clear skies with some lovely mild temperatures. A key feature of the summer night sky Read more…
Named after a famed 17th Century Italian-French astronomer the Cassini spacecraft took 10 years to reach a distant location in the Solar System, that of Saturn and its surrounding neighbourhood. Since its arrival in 2004 it has made a number of remarkable discoveries during its exploratory mission. The Cassini Read more…
Get your sunglasses on, and break out the sun tan lotion! July is here and we’re glad to see it. Summer is fully upon us and many of us will be on our summer holidays this month. The month of July was named after Julius Caesar by the Roman senate, Read more…
Would you like to live on Mars? This is a question that we here at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium ask on a daily basis. There never is a solid yes or no answer from any of the groups we ask, whether they be young or old. We usually Read more…
It’s hard to believe that the summer has come around and we are half way through 2017. Time may be flying by but the good weather means a chance of clear skies at night and with lots to see this month let’s hope the rain stays at bay. Read more…
The discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 exo-planetary system is a truly remarkable event in science. It is an exemplar of how an armada of telescopes – some located on the ground and some in space, and collectively owned by a league of nations – can work together to chart new frontiers Read more…
As a species we human beings are rather obsessed with the end of our world and how that is going to happen. From zombie apocalypses to giant asteroids hitting the Earth, we’ve pretty much thought of everything. However there is a new idea in town, and it makes giant asteroids Read more…
For those of you that are still bearing the psychological scars from Pluto’s demotion from planet to dwarf planet a decade ago, here is news that may add salt to the wounds. Published recently in the Astronomical Journal, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown claim they have found evidence of a Read more…
New Horizon’s arrival at Pluto this year, after a nine year-long traverse through the Solar System has revealed many new things about this little icy planet. Pluto used to be the ninth planet but was demoted in 2006 to the status of dwarf planet. Until the New Horizons mission started Read more…
Nine years of waiting are over! New Horizons has been to Pluto! Well done humans! Pluto has turned out to be slightly bigger than we thought having a diameter of 2370 km. This means Pluto is about 30km larger than Eris, making Pluto the largest known object in the Read more…
In July 2015, we will finally have our long-awaited closeup views of the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons when NASA’s New Horizons probe flies past the tiny and distant worlds. Assuming all goes well, suddenly we will have revealed to us about 25 million square kilometres of alien landscapes Read more…
When Percival Lowell began the search for “Planet X” little did he know the countless arguments he would cause and effectively how these would lead to a seemingly ever changing solar system. “Planet X” was not the believed birthplace of the X-Men for anyone hoping for the possibility of super Read more…
Technology in this day and age has progressed leaps and bounds over the years and things that may have once been out of reach of the normal everyday person have become more readily available. For instance something as huge and important as the internet, the key to the vast majority Read more…
Mars, our rusty, red neighbour, has long since been a source of fascination for star-gazers, scientists and science fiction fans. This world has sparked the imaginations of many in the hunt for alien life and it may even become a potential astronaut destination in the future. Many robotic rovers have Read more…
The “Red Planet”, Mars, has intrigued the imagination for centuries. Even before the first flyby of the planet by Mariner 4 in 1965 many astronomers speculated about life, water and an atmosphere existing on Mars. In 1971 the Soviets landed the first man-made object onto the Martian surface, a probe Read more…
With only two planets in our solar system without moons (Mercury and Venus) our curiosity is a little spoilt for choice. Normally when people begin to search about for information on planets with the most interesting moons dominant planets like Jupiter and Saturn tend to win people’s attention while others Read more…
What does the word “Ring” conjure up in your head? Maybe you think wedding ring, boxing ring, Ring Ring, the ABBA song, or perhaps even battered onion rings…. Mmmm that has got me feeling hungry! For me it has connotations with a planet that is visible in the night sky Read more…
Many of us may recall captivating images of an enormous glass and steel superstructure making the headlines in the 90’s, along with the tale of eight human test subjects who would enter, live, and remain in this special environment completely sealed off from the outside world. At the time with Read more…
Imagine you had a window looking over our world. What pictures would you take and what sights would you see? Thanks to the astronauts onboard the International Space Station we can see the beauty of our Earth from the unique position of space. This is a view the majority of Read more…
From early civilizations until today man has sought to explore and discover what is beyond our world. From the ancient discovery of the wandering stars to the thousands of potential new planets found this decade, mankind has sought to make many astronomical advances. However some of these ‘breakthroughs’ that occurred Read more…
Percival Lowell was born into a wealthy Boston family on 13 March 1855. ‘No man is an island’ so like all of us he was a product of his times and class and also like many he rebelled against family traditions and expectations. He is best known for his ‘canals Read more…
It’s the beautiful clear morning of 6 June 2012 here in Armagh and the Sun is rising into a cerulean blue sky.But look closer, and you can see a tiny circular black speck on the face of the Sun.This is a transit of Venus, one of the rarest spectacles in Read more…
Sir Frederick William Herschel is one of the most well-known and highly regarded historical astronomers but many may not know or realise there was more to his genius than his passion for astronomy. So it seems a closer look is required to try and map out the life of such Read more…
Where does space begin? Let’s look up into our planet’s atmosphere, that shell of nitrogen (about 78%), oxygen (about 20%), various other gases (2%) that makes life on Earth possible, to find out. The atmosphere gets thinner as you go further up, in fact 90% of the Earth’s atmosphere by Read more…
Venus has always been regarded as Earth’s Sister Planet. After all, it can be the closest planet to us and it is nearly the same size as Earth. But how similar is it really to Earth? Astronomers get asked this question very often: “I saw this really bright light Read more…
Dwarf planet Haumea is one of the most bizarre small bodies of the outer Solar System. It has an oddly recent surface. Even just who discovered it is controversial. It looks kind of funny too. The 2011 Rugby World Cup is taking place in New Zealand at the moment and Read more…
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned thousands of fascinating images of our neighbouring world, here is a selection some of the most striking and thought-provoking (false colour) images. Part of the Martian surface that has cracked into a natural maze, Noctis Labyrinthus (the Labyrinth of Night), lies at the west Read more…
This portrait of the Earth and Moon together in space was taken on 26 August by NASA’s Juno spacecraft which is currently en route for Jupiter. The image was made when Juno was about 10 million km away as part of the checking procedure for the probe’s instruments. If you Read more…
“Is there life on Mars?” More than fifty years into the Space Age and there still is no definitive answer. Completing our series of posts on this mystery, we look at the latest ideas about the existence of beings on our neighbouring planet. In the previous part of this Read more…
Could water be streaming down Martian mountainsides? This startling vision may be a reality according to recent results from NASA’s MRO spacecraft. Here is the latest on the waters of Mars. Although we are exploring the surface of Mars through marvellous rovers like Spirit and Opportunity and their forthcoming big Read more…
We have been celebrating the first Neptunian year since the discovery of the eighth (and as far as we know last) planet in the Solar System. Neptune’s discovery was a famous triumph of nineteenth century astronomy. Less well-known is the aftermath, when a ninth solar planet was discovered. This planet Read more…
Neptune, furthest planet from the Sun is celebrating its first birthday. It has been known to humans for only a single Neptunian year. Neptune, which is not visible with the naked eye, was discovered by mathematical prediction in 1846 before being observed through a telescope. Astronomers noticed that Uranus was Read more…
Scientists had seriously considered the possibility of plant or even animal life on the surface of Mars for more than a century. However negative results from NASA’s Viking spacecraft in the 1970s ruled out large-scale Martian life but this was not the end of the search for life on Mars. Read more…
“Is there life on Mars?” This must be one of the most-asked questions in astronomy. In this article I am going to look at the historical background to this question. Current thoughts on the possibilities of Martian life will be considered in a follow up article. Why is life Read more…
In 2003 astronomers discovered Eris, an object seemingly bigger than Pluto, in the frigid Trans-Neptunian wastes of the Solar System. Rather than becoming the Tenth Planet, Eris led directly to Pluto’s demotion from planetary status! But is this saga over? Martina Redpath has the details. I’m sure most of you Read more…
Ask anyone to draw a picture of a planet and I’ll bet they draw a ringed planet like Saturn. This giant world has always stood out from the other worlds of the Solar System thanks to its amazing rings, in astronomy books it was ‘The Ringed Planet’. Thirty years Read more…
In March 2010 that superb but underappreciated probe Mars Express made a series of very close passes by the Martian moon Phobos. On one occasion it came as close as 107 km to the tiny world’s surface. The purpose of these encounters was to determine information on Phobos’ interior Read more…
Venus was once thought to be a lush, life-bearing planet, but modern research has revealed an utterly lethal world. What perils await explorers of “Earth’s evil twin”? Is there anyone who hasn’t admired the lovely beacon of Venus hanging bright in a cerulean sky? (So bright in fact, it Read more…
Saturn: the Blue Planet? The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals the secrets of the giant planet. This false colour image from the Hubble Space Telescope not only shows Saturn in an unfamiliar light, but displays some of the giant planet’s features. The image was created in early 2009, when Saturn Read more…