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Space Flight

Robot Exploration

How you can leave your name on other worlds!

I’d like to tell you that I’m on the surface of an asteroid called Itokawa. I travelled there on a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency mission called Hayabusa and was left behind. Yes, I’m there, millions of miles away, among the rocks on Itokawa, right now as I’m typing this.You must Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years ago
Comets and Asteroids

Hooray for Hayabusa: Japan’s asteroid pioneer

The team at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency deserve congratulations for the amazing (and hopefully record-breaking) Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Launched in 2003 (the spacecraft was called MUSES-C at launch, but was renamed in flight), this mission has battled against an extraordinary run of bad luck and technical Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years ago
Nebulae

Hubble’s view of the Mystic Mountain

That amazing instrument, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), has just celebrated its twentieth anniversary since it was placed in orbit. Since then, (after a rocky start, remember that dodgy mirror?) it has revolutionised not only what we know about cosmology, star formation, exoplanets and so on, but also how we Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years9 years ago
Moon

Phobos: ESA’s daring encounters

  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…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years8 years ago
Human Exploration

Virgin Galactic boldly goes where no tourists have gone before

Sub-orbital space tourism took a step forward on Monday 22 March 2010 when Virgin Galactic’s first spaceplane, VSS Enterprise, took to the air for the first time. The amazing craft was carried by its equally extraordinary twin-fuselage WhiteKnightTwo mothership throughout the flight which was made from Mojave Air and Space Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years9 years ago
Rockets

Blue Streak: the UK’s Cold War rocket

The Blue Streak rocket was an advanced British missile of the 1950s which nearly became a space rocket before ending up a casualty of government apathy. Let’s look at Blue Streak’s rise and fall.     These days most British economists agree that designing and manufacturing things are rather icky Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years3 years ago

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Welcome to Astronotes

Hello and welcome to Astronotes, the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium’s official blog. Here you will find the latest news and views from all those who work in our organisation, from the fascinating worlds of astronomy and space exploration. We hope you will come here to learn what is hot and exciting, profound or even weird from worlds beyond ours . So that's the introduction out of the way, now on with the Universe!

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