Welcome to April Stargazers! The month of April brings with it a new financial year, April showers (or snow showers?!) and of course plenty to look out for in our night skies. I’m going to walk you through what to look out for in the night sky over the coming Read more…
How is it March already? 2019 has just flown in! Although we have had a mild winter, we can start to wave goodbye to the dark evenings and say hello to Spring as the date that I have been longing for ever since the evenings got shorter – the Spring Equinox on the 20th March fast approaches.
The spring night sky has well and truly sprung, and although these months are sign of brighter evenings and therefore later bedtimes if you want star gaze, there are still lots of interesting patterns and objects that we can see. So let’s delve in and find them. The spring night Read more…
Goodbye February, the shortest month of the year, and hello March! The desperate chill of winter is starting to lift and at the end of this month we will have the March Equinox. On the 20th March the Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly Read more…
See you later February, you’ve been a wonderful month, but now it is time to welcome March. Something we delight in here at Armagh Planetarium is how the months got their names. March is a particularly nerdy one. March got its name after the Roman god of war, Mars. Not Read more…
As we head into spring it’s time for dusting off those telescope lenses and brushing up on some constellations. With the warmer weather coming in there’s also hope to see some meteors as April finishes off with the Lyrids meteor shower and a glimpse at the gas giants. Starting of Read more…
January is the marmite of every year, individuals either love it or hate it as it brings the beginning of a New Year and new opportunities yet marks the end of the festive Christmas season and a previous year filled with memories. Whilst most people make New Year’s resolutions to Read more…
Despite November marking when it really becomes colder and everyone has to adopt of the coat once again, it is a great month for stargazing and especially for those wanting to witness some meteors. Observing meteors can be a time-consuming event, and often it can be unpredictable. The weather, Read more…
The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s “Creativity Month” is an annual celebration which takes place each March. It inspires creative and collaboration amongst many industries from theatre to astronomy! Throughout the month of March there are exciting events and workshops aimed at stimulating new thinking to help artistic people, Read more…
By now interest in Comet C/2012 S1 (Comet ISON) is building. This could be the most dramatic comet in years. Where should we look for this oncoming interloper from deep space? This was a monthly guide aimed at observers in the UK and Ireland to help you find it. As Read more…
If you find yourself in the great outdoors any evening during May and it’s a cloudless night, turning your eyes towards the heavens could be an unusually interesting way for you to spend a few minutes. We’ll start by looking southwards. So once again look about 90 degrees to the Read more…
If you find yourself in the great outdoors any evening during April and it’s a cloudless night, turning your eyes towards the heavens could be an unusually interesting way for you to spend a few minutes. If we look at star charts we can see the night sky divided Read more…
Comet ISON is here! This new comet was in January 2013 just a dim speck in the constellation Gemini, between the stars Castor and Pollux. Astronomers could not agree if it was going to develop into the greatest astronomical spectacle in a decade or into a dim and disappointing smudge- Read more…
We are well into the wonders of the spring night sky when May begins and we ‘may’ take advantage of the many clear nights we have been subjected to recently and try our luck at finding some of those more difficult patterns and objects that are hidden away among the Read more…
The month of April is fantastic month for stargazing and for astronomy in general with numerous dates to mark in your calendar. From Earth Day celebrated on 22 April, in aid of creating awareness of Earth’s environment and encourage conservation efforts, to International Astronomy Day on 28 April which is Read more…
At the beginning of March look west just after sunset to see three of the ‘wandering stars’. Mercury will be close to the horizon, with Venus and Jupiter shining brightly above it. Mercury will quickly set below the horizon and by the middle of the month will have disappeared from Read more…
It’s BBC Stargazing Live month, so even more of us will be looking skyward this January. What is there to see in the heavens these winter evenings? We are treated to several naked eye planets are this month. These “wandering stars”, as they were called by the ancients are easily Read more…
The Leonids are one of the many annual meteor showers. The name comes from how they appear to emerge from the constellation Leo- the term for their apparent point of origin is the Radiant .The Leonids tend to be brighter than average meteors and they are also very fast by Read more…
The April night sky is full of treats for the stargazer. In the 100th post of the Astronotes blog, Mary Bulman explains what you will be able to see. Stargazing is an amazing hobby. While you may use a telescope or binoculars your basic requirement is nothing more than the Read more…