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…
As it is Good Relations Week here in Northern Ireland, we are covering the history of international relations within the context of space. More specifically; how the backdrop of global relations and newly formed Russia worked together with their former rival The United States of America to build the first Read more…
If you are a professional astronomer working on this island, then all roads lead to Armagh for you this Autumn! AOP and the City of Armagh are proud to be hosting the Irish National Astronomy Meeting or INAM from the 4th to the 6th of September. Held each year and Read more…
As we are fast approaching the 50th anniversary of man’s greatest achievement of landing men on the moon in 1969, we are taking a look back and how women were treated in NASA’s space program and how things are different (or similar) today. Sally Ride had never planned to be Read more…
While you may be familiar with black holes from sci-fi and many artists’ renditions of the phenomenon, our first actual view of the event horizon of the supermassive black hole which is at the centre of a neighbouring galaxy, Messier 87, was released 4 weeks ago to the day. What Read more…
Article by Armagh Astronomer Tolis Christou Imagine being outdoors on a sunny day, following the Sun as it rises from the east, heading towards the south and then on towards the west where it sets. Now think back: when did you feel the hottest: when the Sun was highest in Read more…
Satellites, our lives wouldn’t be complete without them. Since the beginning of the Space Race, Satellites have become a major part of how we observe our Solar System and the Universe, and also keep a close eye on our own planet.
In a nutshell, comets are small bodies of ice and dust in orbit around the Sun. When they pass near the sun, they start to vaporize creating long tails of dust and gas. Even this small amount of information makes us ask so many questions about these members of our solar system.
Christmas Eve of 1968 saw the arrival of the first humans at the Moon – the crew of Apollo 8. A truly momentous event in history, the arrival of humans to another world for the very first time.
The rapidly-approaching 2019 will let us mark a half-century since human beings took the first steps on a body other than the Earth, namely our own Moon. But, come the New Year, lunar exploration is likely to make the headlines for one other reason: a number of robotic spacecraft built by three different nations will attempt to repeat the feat accomplished by the Apollo programme and land on the Moon’s surface.