Want to learn more about what you can see with only a pair of binoculars? AOP’s own Prof. Simon Jeffery explains how to get the most out of a pair of binoculars, and also issues you a challenge! A popular caricature of an astronomer shows an elderly gentleman with a Read more…
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…
Ireland’s entry into the space race is now at the testing phase. Preparatory testing for the space mission, EIRSAT-1, is taking place at the ESA’s Hertz antenna test chamber in Noordwijk, Holland. Educational Irish Research Satellite 1 is being built by students and staff of University College Dublin and Queens University Read more…
So we know the biggest rocket that ever was, was the mighty Saturn V that took NASA’s Apollo astronauts to the Moon. But what about the biggest rockets that never were? Could there have been some other rockets that, had they been built, would’ve rivalled the Apollo era’s champion launcher? 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…
SpaceX makes history today as, alongside NASA, it sends two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The firm has been taking cargo to the satellite many times before, but this is a momentous occasion as it is the first time a private company has sent humans to the ISS. The launch will occur from the Kennedy Space 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…
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…