Astronomers have made the exciting discovery of an Earth-mass exoplanet in the habitable zone of our nearest neighbouring star, Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star 4.25 light years (1.3 parsec) from the Sun. The new-found world, designated Proxima b, is a little more massive than the Earth, implying that it Read more…
It’s August and suddenly the nights are getting a bit longer so what is there to see in our night sky this month? Everyone should watch out for August’s amazing Perseid Meteor Shower. You probably know already that there are a number of regular meteor showers over the Read more…
Let us go outside somewhere in Northern Ireland about midnight on 15 June 2016 and see what there is to see in the sky. Hercules. Muscular hero and demi-god! Killer of the Hydra! Victor over the Nemean Lion! Slayer of giants! Crusher of Cancer the Crab! And he didn’t Read more…
Armstrong and Aldrin were the first two people on the Moon when Apollo 11 landed there in July 1969. This astonishing achievement (which it should not be forgotten was followed by five more successful landings) continues to fascinate our readers who are still eager to learn more about the details. Read more…
The space programmes of the USA and USSR began in a spirit of bitter Cold War rivalry but by the early 1970s internation tensions had eased a little into a détente and what had been unthinkable ten years earlier was possible. In 1975 the world saw the historic meeting in Read more…
June 2014 saw excited reports that NASA was working on a faster than light warp drive starship. Astonishingly, weeks later we are being told that NASA has also successfully tested a device which could push along a space vehicle without consuming any propellant. If true, this would be an astonishing Read more…
Could humanity ever travel to the stars? Today this is an unattainable dream but world-wide researchers are studying the possibilities of starships. One concept for an interstellar craft is the photon rocket, an idea once popular but less prominent today. What happened to this appealing idea for voyaging into deepest Read more…
November 9 is Carl Sagan Day when enthusiasts of astronomy and science remember and celebrate the life and works of Carl Sagan. Why is Sagan honoured in this way? Let us look back at the man and his career. It seems impossible to research the Solar System and Read more…
Has lurid fiction like the movie Iron Sky any basis in fact? Everyone knows that WW2 Germany developed rockets far in advance of the Allies, but some argue that in 1945 the Third Reich was on the verge of developing a space program! Ever since Adolf Hitler’s ‘Thousand Year’ Read more…
NASA’s Space Shuttles have become a familar sight in their thirty years of service, but there have been other shuttle designs which never left the ground.Some were ingenious alternative concepts to the vehicle which is shortly to be retired, some were potential replacements and there was even a couple of Read more…