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…