Looking up at the wonders of the night sky is an amazing pastime, and whether you use a telescope or binoculars all you really need is the naked eye, but remember to give your eyes at least 20 minutes to adapt to the dark to ensure that you can see Read more…
Article by: Tom Watts In collaboration with universities in England, Australia and Thailand, the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium is part of a team operating and commissioning the new Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observatory (GOTO) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma. GOTO, once operational, Read more…
On Aug 14th 2017 LIGO and the Virgo Gravitational Wave detectors based in the USA and Italy detected the fourth merging Black Hole event. This was a triumph for both groups, but especially the Virgo group which had only started taking regular data earlier that month. It did leave many Read more…
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…
It’s the middle of May! Let’s go out tonight and look at the stars! At this time of year in the UK and Ireland, our nights are getting later and shorter, partly due to our planet’s axial tilt and partly due to daylight savings time, with the Sun setting soon Read more…
Spring has truly sprung. Welcome to the month of April, and doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun. We can hardly believe that it is April already, and we’ve had so much fun stargazing at the Planetarium so far this year. April is certainly not the cruellest month for us! Read more…
Goodbye January blues, hello February fun! We’re already into the second month of our new year and it’s been absolutely amazing for stargazing already. Before we get in to what you can hope to gaze at this month, I want to point out to you all that this February is 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…
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…
Looking south from Northern Ireland after sunset in the middle of May and you will see there is a parade of planets dominating the sky. On 15 May 2014 about 10.30pm, sweep westwards from the rising full Moon in the east to pale yellowish Saturn lying in the constellation Read more…