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what might have been

Human Exploration

Skylab: Everything You Need to Know

2013 marked 40 years since Skylab, NASA’s first post-Moon landings human spaceflight project, was sent into orbit. Here is an overview of this rather forgotten series of missions.     So what was Skylab? Skylab was the first and so far last all-American space station to orbit the Earth. It Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 8 years5 years ago
Concept Spacecraft

Flying Saucers From NASA

Spacecraft with a lenticular design (that is, shaped like a biconvex lens) were actively studied by NASA and US industry in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. A craft of such a shape would experience lower heating on re-entry than a winged layout as the heat would be spread over Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 8 years7 years ago
Human Exploration

Russia’s Rival to Apollo

A few years ago there was a vogue among historians to write about ‘counterfactuals’.A counterfactual examines the importance of an event for subsequent history by asking what if that event had taken a radically different course.What if the Nazis had invaded the UK in 1940? What if Napoleon had won Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 years6 years ago
Concept Spacecraft

Nazis in Space: The Truth about Hitler’s Space Program

Has lurid fiction like the movie Iron Sky any basis in fact?  Everyone knows that WW2 Germany developed rockets far in advance of the Allies, but some argue that in 1945 the Third Reich was on the verge of developing a space program!   Ever since Adolf Hitler’s ‘Thousand Year’ Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years4 years ago
Image of C-1057 concept
Concept Spacecraft

10 Space Shuttles which never flew

NASA’s Space Shuttles have become a familar sight in their thirty years of service, but there have been other shuttle designs which never left the ground.Some were ingenious alternative concepts to the vehicle which is shortly to be retired, some were potential replacements and there was even a couple of Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years4 years ago
Science Fiction

Apollo 18: the truth about the lost Moon missions

Apollo 18 is a SF/Horror movie presented as newly-found film footage taken by the fictional crew of a lost 1970s lunar landing mission.  The Apollo 18 film uses real NASA movie footage from the Moon (some of it doctored with CGI) and new studio-shot footage with actors and special effects Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years5 years ago
Concept Spacecraft

Project Orion: the incredible nuclear spacecraft

NASA’s next manned spacecraft will be the Orion, a capsule which will be carried into space by a rocket. Weighing 25 tonnes, each Orion will carry up to six people. Accommodation on board is cosy at best, cramped at worst. Orion was intended to take astronauts to the Moon and  Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years6 years ago
Concept Spacecraft

Mars by ’85? NASA’s alternative history

In the early 1960s, the sky had no limits for NASA . Planners for the agency foresaw an ever-expanding future of exploration through the Solar System. Some amazing missions were planned. Alas in August 1967, the US Congress refused to support NASA’s plans for the 1970s. Ever since then NASA’s Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years7 years ago
Concept Spacecraft

The amazing Aldebaran spacecraft

  The late ’50s and ’60s were a different time from the anxious era that is today. Nuclear power and space travel were both cool and wonderful new technologies. The only thing that could be cooler and more wonderful would be to combine the two. One suggestion was the US Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years7 years ago
Rockets

Blue Streak: the UK’s Cold War rocket

The Blue Streak rocket was an advanced British missile of the 1950s which nearly became a space rocket before ending up a casualty of government apathy. Let’s look at Blue Streak’s rise and fall.     These days most British economists agree that designing and manufacturing things are rather icky Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 years5 years ago

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RSS Intergalactic Craic
  • The Safest Dinner Party of 2020
    For the last episode of Season 1, Heather and Courtney suggest their ideal astronomy guests to a dinner party. They cover some of humanity's greatest astronomical achievements as well as discuss some of the rumours surrounding a particular famous astronomer's party behaviour! Need Some Space?
  • Turning Back The Clock - The History of AOP
    Join Heather and Special Guest Host Dr Rok Nezic as they delve into the archives and discuss the history of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium through their favourite objects. Clocks, books, instruments and rooms, they've got it all covered, and they have a bit of craic along the way.
  • Vampires, Zombies and... Bowties? Oh My!
    This week Intergalactic Craic has some added spook for your Autumn. Vampire stars, zombie stars and spooky nebulae will all be discussed by Courtney and Heather. Need Some Space?
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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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