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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physics Archive
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To the Edge of Space
Posted on February 2, 2012 | 2 CommentsWhere does space begin? Let’s look up into our planet’s atmosphere, that shell of nitrogen (about 78%), oxygen (about 20%), various other gases (2%) that makes life on Earth possible,... -
Northern Lights: Coming to a Sky Near You?
Posted on January 13, 2012 | No CommentsThe aurora is a stunning celestial event associated with Earth’s polar regions. Recently Ireland has been witness to this beautiful phenomenon. If you are standing looking up at the... -
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... -
Are Neutrinos Faster Than Light?
Posted on September 26, 2011 | 10 CommentsNeutrinos travel faster than light! The science world is agog at this unexpected announcement from CERN in Switzerland. This result has to be verified, for if true it seems that... -
Vulcan: the Solar System’s Ghost Planet
Posted on July 19, 2011 | No CommentsWe have been celebrating the first Neptunian year since the discovery of the eighth (and as far as we know last) planet in the Solar System. Neptune’s discovery was a... -
Timespace: The Who, What and When
Posted on May 27, 2011 | No CommentsTime is among the most mysterious of fundamental quantities. Time was originally defined and quantified through astronomy, and today astronomers are used to glibly talking of vast stretches of time.... -
The Science of Green Lantern
Posted on May 9, 2011 | 7 CommentsGreen Lantern has for decades guarded Earth and beyond from evil in the pages of comic books but the cosmic superhero is about to face his greatest challenge: can he... -
Image of the Month: Andromeda through different eyes
Posted on January 20, 2011 | No CommentsOur Image of the Month is a radically different view of the great spiral galaxy in Andromeda from the European Space Agency. Tracy McConnell explains how it was made and... -
What is light?
Posted on October 1, 2010 | 1 CommentWhat is light? Here’s an easy introduction to the electromagnetic spectrum all the way from radio waves to gamma rays. Before the modern era of technological astronomy, to know anything...