Welcome to Astronotes
Hello, I’m Colin, welcoming you to Astronotes, the Planetarium’s official blog. Here you will find the latest news and views 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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galaxies Archive
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Eternity in 365 days
Posted on January 23, 2012 | 1 CommentThe Universe is 13.75 billion years old. It is easy to say, but what does that mean in Earthly terms? Let’s squeeze the whole history of the Universe into a... -
Why We Will Never Conquer Space
Posted on December 1, 2011 | 5 CommentsSpace will never be conquered! Sad, but true. Let me explain how I’ve reached this conclusion. Planet Earth is big! The furthest you can travel from home across the... -
Secrets of a Starburst Galaxy
Posted on November 24, 2011 | No CommentsStudying galaxies and clusters in many wavelengths of light tells astronomers more than a single image ever could. Imaged with the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in... -
NGC 1672 and the Only Joke in Astronomy
Posted on November 14, 2011 | No CommentsHere is possibly the only joke in all of astronomy. Two spiral galaxies walk into a pub. The first one goes up to the bar and asks for two drinks,... -
Our Place in the Expanding Universe
Posted on October 20, 2011 | No CommentsOur galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one of an enormous number of galaxies spread throughout a vast Universe, which is expanding. Everyone knows these facts now, but how do... -
Light from the End of the Dark Ages
Posted on October 13, 2011 | No CommentsA long, long time ago when the first stars and galaxies were forming, the Universe was filled with electrically neutral hydrogen. This thin soup of gas absorbed ultraviolet light and... -
Antennae Galaxies seen by the ALMA Antennae: Image of the Month
Posted on October 3, 2011 | No CommentsThe Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the world’s biggest and most complex astronomical instrument. Located at the European Southern Observatory on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile, the array... -
As Far as Our Eyes Can See
Posted on September 29, 2011 | No CommentsIn more than twenty years of hard work, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made both beautiful images and profound discoveries, sometimes doing both at the same time. What are... -
How to see an Exploding Star
Posted on September 8, 2011 | 2 CommentsThe astronomy community is excited by the discovery of an exploding star, a supernova, in a galaxy 21 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. We explain this... -
Image of the Month: War of the Galaxies!
Posted on April 21, 2011 | No CommentsAn image from the European Southern Observatory, reveals two galaxies, NGC 3169 and NGC 3166, meeting in intergalactic space. What kind of cosmic drama ensues in these close encounters of...