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William Herschel

History and Heritage

Lord of Ether and Light – Earliest Astronomical Drawings on display at Armagh Planetarium 

It takes a good telescope to see deep into space, but it takes a Great Telescope to change how we see the entire universe. In 1845 such a telescope was built by the 3rd Earl of Rosse, in the grounds of his castle in the town of Birr, County Offaly. Read more…

By Matthew McMahon, 3 monthsFebruary 28, 2025 ago
History and Heritage

William Herschel — Measuring Sunspots With A Field of Wheat

Written by Chris Duffy, PhD Candidate AOP William Herschel, who died 200 years ago this year, is famous for a number of things we take for granted in modern astronomy, not least his discovery of Uranus in 1781 the first planet discovered in the modern era of astronomy. Less known Read more…

By Anna Taylor, 3 yearsOctober 14, 2022 ago
Image of Uranus and its rings
Human Exploration

5 Facts About… Uranus!

Now we come to the penultimate planet in our solar system, the lovely Uranus! That’s Not My Name! Uranus was discovered in March 1781 by astronomer William Herschel. He was observing the stars in the night sky using a telescope that he had built himself when he made the new discovery. Uranus was Read more…

By Ria Mee, 5 yearsMay 19, 2020 ago
PhD Students

La Palma and GOTO

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…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 7 yearsApril 13, 2018 ago
Milky Way

Explorers of the Galaxy (Part 1)

We live in a galaxy – a star city with several hundred billion residents. Moreover, we know our Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, with prominent arms of bright young stars that spiral outwards from a central bar that is dominated by old stars. These arms are so prominent as Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsMarch 4, 2016 ago
January

The January 2016 Night Sky

Happy New Year! Welcome to January 2016, and if you haven’t made a New Year’s resolution yet (or you have made one but want to sneakily change it,) why not challenge yourself to star gaze this year. Star gazing is a brilliant past time and is a wonderful activity that Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsJanuary 7, 2016 ago
October

The October 2015 Night Sky

Welcome to October! The nights are now longer and the stars come out earlier. Yes it may be getting close to winter, but who doesn’t like autumn? October is full of exciting events, and one event that we are looking forward to here in the Planetarium is World Space Week. Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsOctober 5, 2015 ago
Moon

Whatever happened to Transient Lunar Phenomena?

There are said to be many unexplained occurrences and phenomenon in the Universe but us science-minded folk like to think we have solved most of those mysterious and unusual events here on Earth. Yet we humans are still baffled by many things, from the whys and hows, humans always search Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsFebruary 27, 2014 ago
Universe

3 Female Astronomers Who Struggled for the Stars

Looking back at the history of female astronomers, it was sure to be filled with some drama and struggles. Like many other professions over the centuries women have striven to be allowed to even study astronomy and have their findings honoured and accepted just as their male counterparts have had Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsJanuary 29, 2014 ago
Planets

The Mysterious Moons of Uranus

With only two planets in our solar system without moons (Mercury and Venus) our curiosity is a little spoilt for choice. Normally when people begin to search about for information on planets with the most interesting moons dominant planets like Jupiter and Saturn tend to win people’s attention while others Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsJuly 31, 2013 ago
Image of mariner-at-mars
Planets

8 Phantom Moons and Planets

From early civilizations until today man has sought to explore and discover what is beyond our world. From the ancient discovery of the wandering stars to the thousands of potential new planets found this decade, mankind has sought to make many astronomical advances. However some of these ‘breakthroughs’ that occurred Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsFebruary 8, 2013 ago
Milky Way

Everything You Need to Know About the Milky Way

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By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 13 yearsSeptember 14, 2012 ago
Image of Uranus and its rings
Planets

Astronomer, Musician, Hero…Deserter?

Sir Frederick William Herschel is one of the most well-known and highly regarded historical astronomers but many may not know or realise there was more to his genius than his passion for astronomy. So it seems a closer look is required to try and map out the life of such Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 13 yearsFebruary 24, 2012 ago
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RSS Intergalactic Craic
  • S3Ep6 - Intergalactic Craic On The Road
    Welcome to a very special edition of Intergalactic Craic where we take it on the road! Join Rok, Zuri, Alice, and Andrew as they venture half way around the world to attend the ACM2023 conference in Flagstaff Arizona!
  • S3Ep5 - Craic with all these moons?
    Heather and her new co-host Dr Rok are back! Taking time out of their busy schedules they have recorded an episode all about the dramatic increase to the number of moons of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn! They also delve into their own busy schedules and explain everything there is to know about AOP's […]
  • S3Ep4 - Wee Bitta Craic: Bout Ye Alice?
    This month is the final 'getting to know you' episode of Intergalactic Craic: Wee Bitta Craic. Ethan and Zuri interview Alice and ask her all about how she came to be doing her PhD at AOP. Find out this and more in this info packed episode!
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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