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…