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
Recent observations of the helium star HD144941 have been obtained from space. Armagh astronomers Professor Simon Jeffery and Dr Gavin Ramsay have discovered that they show a light curve best explained by darker and lighter patches on the star’s surface coming into view as the star rotates with a period Read more
Well, thankfully the drudgery of January is behind us and we can look forward to a month full of dark nights, stars and even a hint of romance. And let me tell you this my dear reader, if there’s one thing we’re experts on up in the Planetarium, it’s romance**. Read more
The 2018 Robinson Lecture will be given by Professor Louise Harra of University College London. Her topic is about the Solar Orbiter, a new spacecraft to be launched to study the Sun. It will be held in the Archbishop’s Palace in Armagh on Wednesday 22 November, 2017, starting at 7pm. Read more
On Aug 14th 2017 LIGO and the Virgo Gravitational Wave detectors based in the USA and Italy detected the fourth merging Black Hole event. This was a triumph for both groups, but especially the Virgo group which had only started taking regular data earlier that month. It did leave many Read more
It’s that time of the year again for the third annual Northern Ireland Science Festival and this year is bigger and better! The Armagh planetarium has been holding events under NISF from the beginning so we could not miss the opportunity to be part of this inspiring event. We Read more
In June 1882, at 30 years of age, John Dreyer was appointed Director of Armagh Observatory following the death of Thomas Romney Robinson, who had held the post for a lengthy 59 years. He was the first non-Irishman and non-cleric to hold the position. Dreyer is best remembered for creating Read more