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ESO

Nebulae

A Spectacular View of the Lagoon Nebula

Peer deep into the constellation Sagittarius and you will find a spectacular young star cluster and its associated stellar nursery. These are M8 and the Lagoon Nebula.   More than 4300 light years (1320 parsecs) from the Solar System, this is an active star-forming region. Billions of years ago our Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 7 yearsJuly 28, 2015 ago
Exoplanets

Exoplanets Glossary

The discovery of new planets beyond our Solar System has further expanded on what we thought we knew about what is out there. These distant extrasolar planets or exoplanets have only been confirmed to be in existence within the last twenty years and lots of new discoveries are still being Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsSeptember 27, 2013 ago
Stars

The Truth About Zeta Reticuli

Zeta Reticuli, a dim binary system of Sun-like stars only 39.5 light years away in the little constellation of Reticulum is strangely well-known. Why is it so famous? This system was once identified as the home of the little grey-faced and black-eyed humanoids who allegedly abducted Barney and Betty Hill Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsMay 9, 2013 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, 9 yearsApril 12, 2013 ago
Nebulae

Stellar Nursery NGC 6357: Image of the Month

A new image from the European southern Observatory’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy  (VISTA) telescope reveals the glowing clouds of gas and filaments of dust surrounding hot young stars in the stellar nursery known as NGC 6357. Infrared observations like this can reveal features that cannot be seen Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsFebruary 21, 2013 ago
Exoplanets

Alpha Centauri Bb: the Planet Next Door

Audiences flocked to see James Cameron’s  epic movie Avatar, the story of a disabled human who gets a chance to live a new life as a 3m tall blue-skinned humanoid alien from a world called Pandora. In the movie Pandora is a lush jungle-covered moon of a gas giant planet Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsOctober 17, 2012 ago
Nebulae

Image of the Month: On Fire Off Orion

This image of the reflection nebula Messier 78 (NGC 2068) includes the soft glow of  submillimetre-wavelength (infra red) radiation from clouds of interstellar dust grains running through the nebula.Dense clouds of gas and dust like this are the birthplaces of new stars.   M78 is found in Orion, and appropriately Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsMay 11, 2012 ago
Stars

M55: A Glorious Globular!

 A globular cluster is made of hundreds of thousands or even millions of stars packed together in a pretty compact ball. The stars in globular clusters are old and there’s never any sign of new stars forming in them. Older stars are usually yellow, orange and red, so those colours Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsMay 9, 2012 ago
Other Galaxies

Image of the Month: The Tarantula Nebula

Our Image of the Month was released to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and is a striking panoramic look at a stellar nursery which is fizzing and crackling with energy as it pops out thousands of new stars.   The small southern hemisphere constellation Dorado Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsApril 20, 2012 ago
Star types from left to right: a red dwarf, our Sun, a blue dwarf, and R136a1 (hypergiant). Where star sizes are measured by radius, from centre to surface, and where 1 solar radius is equal to that of our Sun (km) - R136a1’s radius is 35.4 times greater than the Sun [approximately 24.8 million km]. Credit: Author: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Stars

The Largest Stars in the Universe

How big is the largest known star? Compared to planets, stars will always be the overall group winners in terms of superior size. When you look at the night sky on a clear night and away from city lights, you will see that there are stars of varying sizes and Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsMarch 14, 2012 ago

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RSS Intergalactic Craic
  • Space is Cloudy, Who Knew? Featuring Kerem Çubuk
    This week Heather and Courtney interview Armagh Observatory PhD Candidate Kerem Çubuk on his area of research - molecular clouds! Turns out we can't escape the cloudy conditions, even millions of lightyears away.  Kerem and his colleagues also have a Youtube Channel dedicated to science communication in Turkish. To find out more, visit ahtapot.club 
  • The Craic with Climate
    This week, Heather and Courtney are joined by AOP's own Anna Taylor - climate Education Officer extraordinaire to discuss the most frequently asked questions about climate change and what we can do to help! #NISCIFEST22
  • Why Alien Fish on Europa = DOOM
    This week Courtney fills Heather in on The Fermi paradox and The Great Filter. If there a million options for life elsewhere in the galaxy, why haven't we met aliens yet? Need Some Space? 
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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