June Night Sky

Welcome to another edition of the night sky for the month of June! If like me you’re glad to have finally shaken off the coldest of this year’s weather to date -then the thought of some comfortable longer periods of stargazing in balmier temperatures has particular appeal. If on the Read more…

DECEMBER COOLER, SUNNIER AND DRIER THAN AVERAGE. 2O22 CALENDAR YEAR: WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD AT ARMAGH, SUNNIER THAN AVERAGE AND WITH NEAR AVERAGE RAINFALL

Armagh Observatory, 7th January 2023. Armagh Observatory reports that December 2022 was cooler, sunnier and drier than average. This was the coolest December at Armagh for 12 years and the fourth-coolest December at Armagh during the last 40 years. Considering calendar year 2022, this was the warmest year on record Read more…

What is Radio Astronomy?

Our view of the cosmos is biased by the vista that is apparent to our eyes.  This is what the view in what we call the optically visible portion of the spectrum. To the unaided eye it is a view of a universe full of stars, together with five planets, one Moon and of course the Sun. When augmented with a telescope, our eyes can then see a universe full of galaxies – giant cities of stars.

IAU puts the Hubble-Lemaître Law to the Vote – an update!

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.

July Weather Roundup

Armagh Observatory, 3rd August 2018: Armagh Observatory reports that July 2018 was much warmer and sunnier than average, with only slightly less than average total rainfall. The mean temperature was 17.0 degrees Celsius (62.6 Fahrenheit), approximately 2.2 C warmer than the long-term (1796–2010) average July temperature at Armagh and 1.2 C warmer than the most recent (1981–2010) 30- year average. This was the warmest July at Armagh for five years. The warmest day (highest maximum air temperature) was 27.1 C, which occurred on the 4th, followed by 26.7 C on the 22nd. Both these maxima wereslightly more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The coldest day (lowest maximum air temperature) was 14.4 C on the 11th. The coolest night (lowest minimum air
temperature) was 7.6 C on the 10th, and the warmest night (highest minimum air temperature) was 16.6 C on the 27th followed closely by 16.5 C on the 23rd. The minimum grass temperature was 0.3 C on the 10th, so there were no ground or air frosts.

Dark Moon Rising: the total lunar eclipse of 27 July, 2018

The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium are holding a special event to mark the lunar eclipse, coming at almost the same time as the opposition of Mars.  The event has proved so popular that tickets sold out within a couple of hours of being released, so we have written this blog entry to tell you about what will happen if you missed out on obtaining a ticket or are going to try to observe the eclipse from elsewhere.

Celebrating the Planetarium’s 50th Anniversary: Lindsay’s great legacy

Article written by: Professor Michael Burton, Director of Armagh Observatory and Planetarium The city of Armagh lays claim to a remarkable history that belies its small size. A history stretching from the neolithic era, and the mythology of Emain Macha (the ancient capital of Ulster), through the City’s Christian foundation Read more…