A team of scientists in Australia are scanning the Universe for signals from extraterrestrial life. Professor Matthew Bailes, based at Swinburne University in Melbourne, is the lead scientist in this project funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. Milner has donated $100 million and has the support of Professor Stephen Hawking. Read more…
The ‘Dog Star’ or Sirius is a star that has its influential place in astronomical history. It is mentioned as far back as the Babylonians and was used to help signal the annual flooding of the river Nile with the ancient Egyptians. Being the brightest star in the visible sky Read more…
Is it possible that ancient cultures 7000 years ago knew how to create flying machines to traverse the sky and beyond using a technology that NASA engineers are still trying to harness today? The first artificial satellite launched famously into orbit was the Russian satellite Sputnik, in 1957. Prior to Read more…
During the mid-19th century reports of strange motions in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune led astronomers, among them Percival Lowell, to think that perhaps another celestial body was having a gravitational effect on their paths through space. Lowell searched for a mysterious ninth planet until his death in 1916. Read more…
There are around 3000 human-made satellites in working order around the Earth, however if the debris of old and damaged satellites are taken into account the number increases dramatically. Ever since the Soviet Union launched the very first artificial satellite into orbit in 1957, various countries around the world have Read more…
Tachyons, hypothetical sub-atomic particles which travel faster than light, once attracted a lot of publicity yet we do not hear much discussion of them today. Whatever happened to tachyons? Over a century ago, Albert Einstein anticipated odd things happening on a spaceship travelling at speeds close to that of Read more…
Unidentified Flying Objects seem to be here to stay. Once, I wrote a piece Revealed: 5 secret solutions to the UFO mystery which I hoped would be my last word on mysterious lights in the sky but the interest continues. Recently I have been having a conversation in the comments Read more…
Mankind is responsible for numerous achievements in technology, arts and science.However, how much can this attributed solely to the human mind or is there another reason man has achieved such incredible feats throughout history.To look at ancient structures built thousands of years ago, how could such primitive man have built Read more…
It’s the end of the world as we know it….or maybe not. Predictions of the end of the world have often been made throughout history. However, few have captured the attention of so many such as the 2012 end of the world saga; brought to the forefront of consciousness by Read more…
NASA has photographed an alien building on the surface of the Moon! Hearing news like this certainly makes one sit up and pay attention, but is it is correct? I heard about this from the Following the Nerd blog which featured a large image of the Moon centred on its Read more…
On a dark September night in 1961, Barney and Betty Hill had a frightening experience in the mountains of New Hampshire. Later they came to believe that they had been captured and studied by beings from another world. During their ordeal on the spaceship, Betty saw a star map said Read more…
Comet Elenin is coming!We’re doomed!That is if you believe everything you see on the internet.Comet Elenin’s approach has been all but ignored by the mainstream media, and into this vacuum a host of bloggers and online videos have poured rumours and prophesies of death and destruction.Here are the facts about Read more…
“I was looking into the sky and I’ve seen something strange …what was it?” Around the world observatories, planetariums and science museums, regularly encounter questions like this. Most often these UFOs turn out to be not as mysterious or alien as they first appear. Here some of the most common Read more…
We all know how the Sun, our Earth and the rest of the Solar System condensed out of a vast protoplanetary disc some 4.5 billion years ago. There were some early mishaps such as the collisions which birthed the Moon, toppled Uranus and gave Mars its present north-south divide. Also Read more…
The Truth is out there? Conspiracy theories and pseudoscientific ideas abound. If there is life on other planets or the Universe popped into existence only a few thousand years ago we need to know! What if everything you thought you knew was wrong? We at Armagh Planetarium occasionally receive astonishing Read more…