Astronomers
The Role of Amateur Astronomers in Astronomical Research
Have you ever wondered about the impact that you may have as an amateur astronomer? How much can amateur and professional astronomers gain from each other? Can amateur astronomers impact research? Please listen below to a short audio piece by Lucie Affronti and Neasa Cumiskey; two Postgraduate Media students at Read more…
Astronomers
Nobel Prizes for Physics: 2019
The 2019 Nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three scientists: James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. This blog post will briefly outline why Mayor and Queloz were awarded their prize. In 1995 these Swiss astronomers announced the discovery of the first planet orbiting another ‘solar type’ star. Read more…
Stars
On the retirement of Kepler
NASA has announced the retirement of the Kepler spacecraft. After launch in March 2009, it began a continuous observation of a 115 square degree field of view (the diameter of the moon is 1/2 a degree) between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.
Stars
Hydrogen-Deficient Stars 2018 – Armagh Observatory and Planetarium
September 2018 will see over 50 astronomers from around the world gather at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium to discuss the latest news about hydrogen-deficient stars. These stars have lost nearly all the hydrogen from which they were made, to leave only nuclear ash. Astronomers want to learn how these rare and short-lived remnants formed, and what drives their spectacular changes in brightness.
Stars
A new ultra-compact binary star
Approximately every other star in the Milky Way galaxy is in a ‘binary’ system. These binaries are made up of two stars orbiting around a common centre of gravity. The time taken for the stars in the binary to make one revolution is called the ‘orbital period’. Binaries have a wide range of orbital period. The closest stellar system to the Sun is alpha Centauri which has two stars not unlike our Sun orbiting around one another every 80 years. A third member of the system, Proxima Centauri, which is much smaller red dwarf star, orbits around these two stars once every 10,000 years.
Solar System
Comet Watch – Work experience students spy on comets using GOTO
Article Written by Gavin Ramsay Comets have been known for millennia with Halley’s Comet famously being shown in the Bayeux Tapestry illustrating events which took place in 1066. They were also thought to foretell catastrophic events. Today we know them as having a small nucleus made up of ice and Read more…
Earth Satellites
K2 spots a rotating Helium Star
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…