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Big Bang

Astronomers

How Iron Keeps Us Safe

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.

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 2 years2 years ago
Cosmology

The Hubble-Lemaître Law: recognising where credit is due in science

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.

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 2 years11 months ago
Stars

The Star Older Than the Universe?

Our Solar System is old. Our best estimates from radiometric dating of meteorites suggest the Sun and its planets (including Earth) were forming some 4.6 billion years ago. The Universe itself appears to be some 13.8 billion years old based on its observed rate of expansion and the properties of Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 7 years7 years ago
Telescopes and Observatories

ALMA: Everything You Need to Know About Europe’s Giant Eye on the Sky

Have you ever wished you could hop into a time machine, zip back billions of years and answer one of the age old questions that have plagued mankind from the first time someone peered up into the night sky? To know what exactly happened in the universe that created the Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 8 years6 years ago
Cosmology

The Oldest Light in the Universe: Image of the Month

“How could the Universe we see around us be created by an explosion?” This is a question often asked by those puzzled by the scientific consensus, the standard model of cosmology, which tells of our entire Universe bursting forth in a single dramatic event, the Big Bang. Modern thinking suggests Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 8 years8 years ago
Cosmology

Eternity in 365 days

The Universe is 13.75 billion years old.It is easy to say, but what does that mean in Earthly terms?Let’s squeeze the whole history of the Universe into a year!   Just to clear, we’re putting things into perspective by compressing the Universe’s whole 13.75 billion years since the Big Bang Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years7 years ago
image of virgo galaxies
Cosmology

Our Place in the Expanding Universe

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one of an enormous number of galaxies spread throughout a vast Universe, which is expanding.Everyone knows these facts now, but how do we actually know about our  place in the Universe?   Light travels through space as a wave, and hence light has Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years8 years ago
Cosmology

Light from the End of the Dark Ages

A long, long time ago when the first stars and galaxies were forming, the Universe was filled with electrically neutral hydrogen. This thin soup of gas absorbed ultraviolet light and all of space would have seemed filled with softly glowing fog. The light of the first generation of stars was Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years9 years ago
image-of-2009-Hubble-Ultra-Deep-Field
Cosmology

As Far as Our Eyes Can See

In more than twenty years of hard work, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made both beautiful images and profound discoveries, sometimes doing both at the same time. What are its greatest contributions to science?  Hubble has enabled us to estimate just how big and how old the universe is Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years ago
Cosmology

Following a rainbow back to the Big Bang

Here’s how rainbows are made. Some 13.7 billion years ago, a mere millionth of a second after the Big Bang, the first hydrogen and helium nuclei condensed out of a hot, dense soup of quarks and gluons. It took another 380 000 years or so for conditions in the ancient Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years ago
RSS Intergalactic Craic
  • The Safest Dinner Party of 2020
    For the last episode of Season 1, Heather and Courtney suggest their ideal astronomy guests to a dinner party. They cover some of humanity's greatest astronomical achievements as well as discuss some of the rumours surrounding a particular famous astronomer's party behaviour! Need Some Space?
  • Turning Back The Clock - The History of AOP
    Join Heather and Special Guest Host Dr Rok Nezic as they delve into the archives and discuss the history of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium through their favourite objects. Clocks, books, instruments and rooms, they've got it all covered, and they have a bit of craic along the way.
  • Vampires, Zombies and... Bowties? Oh My!
    This week Intergalactic Craic has some added spook for your Autumn. Vampire stars, zombie stars and spooky nebulae will all be discussed by Courtney and Heather. Need Some Space?
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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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