Latest News
Young Star Cluster »
Dusty stellar nursery RCW 49 surrounds young star cluster Westerlund 2 in this remarkable composite skyscape from beyond [...]
Image of the Week
A Bow Shock Near a Young Star »
The bow shock around the very young star, LL Ori. Named for the crescent-shaped wave made by a ship as [...]
Young Star Cluster Westerlund »
Dusty stellar nursery RCW 49 surrounds young star cluster Westerlund 2 in this remarkable composite [...]
Starry Night of Alamut »
A meteor's streak and the arc of the Milky Way hang over the imposing mountain fortress of [...]
5 Images of
The International Space Station »
I've been considering doing a series of posts showing my favourite 5 images for objects within the Solar System. With today's Astronomy Picture of the Day [Read More]
Ireland
Download the »
Free is good but quality is better....so when something is both free and of high quality [...]
Fireball reported »
Editor comment: After posting this article, including the video the following comment was [...]
Blackrock Castle »
OK this is pure advertisement for some friends! But since its for the cause of Education [...]
News Item of the Week
World’s Biggest Telescope to be »
On 26 April 2010, the ESO Council selected Cerro Armazones as the baseline site for the planned 42-metre European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Cerro Armazones is a mountain at an altitude of 3060 metres in the central part of Chile’s Atacama Desert, some 130 [Read More]
More News Item of the Week Headlines
The Universe
Stunning Timescape from Tom Lowe
Here is a fantastic video and audio timlapse of the night sky from Tom Lowe astronomy timelapse. It is well worth a watch. Timescapes: "Death is the Road to Awe" Timescapes: "Death is the Road to Awe" from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.
Betelgeuse in unprecedented detail
Betelgeuse is one of my favourite stars. Firstly it is easily identifiable as part of the Orion constellation and secondly did you know that it is actually the destination star for the original Planet of the Apes novel (in French by the way!). But on a more serious note it is a semiregular variable star located approximately 640 light-years from [...]
Orions Belt in gorgeous detail
Explanation: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion, these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun. They lie about 1,500 light-years away, born of Orion's well-studied [...]
The Known Universe
Its crazy just how small a space we actually occupy in the known universe. This video is another attempt to show us just how big the universe is. It uses the usually technique of speed up by orders of magnitude as it moves away from the Earth. Somehow that doesn't quite give me a real sense of scope. It was well made and I liked the bit where it [...]