March Night Sky 2024

It really feels like we are settling in to 2024 at this point, and hopefully the year is going well for you so far! We are finally heading into the spring months, and hopefully the constant weather warnings will abate long enough for us to get out and do some Read more…

June Night Sky

Welcome to another edition of the night sky for the month of June! If like me you’re glad to have finally shaken off the coldest of this year’s weather to date -then the thought of some comfortable longer periods of stargazing in balmier temperatures has particular appeal. If on the Read more…

May Night Sky 2022

We’re heading into the warmer months again this time of year and looking forward to the brighter, warmer evenings, which may allow us to stargaze a little easier, if also a little later in the evening. There’s lots to look at this month, anyway, with a few meteor showers and Read more…

June Night Sky 2021

Welcome stargazers! This is an interesting time of year for those of us in the Northern hemisphere, because despite the shorter evenings, we have some more unusual celestial objects with which to satisfy our cosmic observational appetite! So close those house blinds, avoid any nearby street lights and if you Read more…

The Night Sky in May 2021

The month of May has finally arrived, and you know what the means, spring has sprung! The days are longer and brighter, the promise of warmer weather and (most importantly) there’s not one, but two bank holiday weekends! If you are anything like me, you’ll be doing some stargazing. But, what exactly is there to look out for this month? Well, let me tell you.  Early this May Read more…

December Night Sky 2020

So the nights are drawing in and in as we get closer to the festive season, and though Christmas might not be quite the same as usual this year, there’s still plenty to celebrate. One great socially distanced activity you can do is stargazing! It’s outdoors and doesn’t require a group, and so you can easily go out and have a wee look up at the stars – just make sure to wrap up warm at this time of year!

July Night Sky

So here we are, heading into the summer holidays with thunderstorms all around us, but with some good news as the lockdown eases. Caravan parks are open again, and they make some of the best places to go stargazing, as they tend to be a bit more rural, and have less light pollution than our Read more…

What’s up in the sky this October?

October is here! It is one of our favourite months as there is so much more to see in the sky and the nights are getting deliciously darker. One thing to remember when you are stargazing is to wrap up warm when you venture outside. The nights are getting much colder, and with some of the best stargazing occurring in the early hours of the morning, we don’t want anyone catching a chill. Thermals and a thermos filled with hot chocolate or coffee will do the trick. Also don’t forget that we will be starting our Star Tracker evenings in the coming months!

July Weather Roundup

Armagh Observatory, 3rd August 2018: Armagh Observatory reports that July 2018 was much warmer and sunnier than average, with only slightly less than average total rainfall. The mean temperature was 17.0 degrees Celsius (62.6 Fahrenheit), approximately 2.2 C warmer than the long-term (1796–2010) average July temperature at Armagh and 1.2 C warmer than the most recent (1981–2010) 30- year average. This was the warmest July at Armagh for five years. The warmest day (highest maximum air temperature) was 27.1 C, which occurred on the 4th, followed by 26.7 C on the 22nd. Both these maxima wereslightly more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The coldest day (lowest maximum air temperature) was 14.4 C on the 11th. The coolest night (lowest minimum air
temperature) was 7.6 C on the 10th, and the warmest night (highest minimum air temperature) was 16.6 C on the 27th followed closely by 16.5 C on the 23rd. The minimum grass temperature was 0.3 C on the 10th, so there were no ground or air frosts.

Dark Moon Rising: the total lunar eclipse of 27 July, 2018

The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium are holding a special event to mark the lunar eclipse, coming at almost the same time as the opposition of Mars.  The event has proved so popular that tickets sold out within a couple of hours of being released, so we have written this blog entry to tell you about what will happen if you missed out on obtaining a ticket or are going to try to observe the eclipse from elsewhere.