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…
Here we are, on the count down to Christmas, and we’re having a look at all the Astronotes that have been written for our blog this year. We’ve had input not just from the Education Team this year, but also the Academic Staff of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium.
With Space Exploration comes theories and conspiracies. In our latest blog we debunk some of the more infamous ones.
NASA has announced the retirement of the Kepler spacecraft. After launch in March 2009, it began a continuous observation of a 115 square degree field of view (the diameter of the moon is 1/2 a degree) between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.
As had been reported on in an earlier Astronotes blog article, the International Astronomical Union was putting to the vote whether to change the name of the law relating to the expansion of the universe. Of the 11,000 professional astronomers entitled to vote on the motion, over 4,000 did. The Read more…
As an earlier Astronotes article reported on, during its XXX General Assembly in Vienna, held in August 2018, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) put forward a draft resolution to rename the Hubble law as the “Hubble–Lemaître law”. The resolution was proposed to recognise Lemaître’s research on the expansion of the Universe, and to pay tribute to both Lemaître and Hubble for their fundamental contributions to the development of modern cosmology.
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?
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is under construction on the summit of Haleakalā on Maui, Hawaii. Since DKIST will be observing the Sun’s corona, the sky above the telescope needs to be as free of dust, aerosols and pollutants. The isolated islands of Hawaii provide optimal conditions for clear, “coronal skies”.
Have you ever been worried about the impact of an asteroid wiping out human life? Well, I have some disturbing news for you: there is another possibility involving the explosion of a massive star that gives rise to a gamma-ray burst (called by astronomers simply a GRB), when the star ends its life producing a black hole.
After a special vote in the IAu General Assembly, we interview Armagh Observatory and Planetarium Director. Professor MIchael Burton, on the renaming of the Hubble Law.