Astronomy – Page 3 – Trevor O'Donoghue

Genesis – Is life really common?

5th February 201917th March 2018 by Trevor O'Donoghue

Did life start in a warm little pond just as Darwin thought?

Scientists have made some tremendous advances in recent years. Biologists are discovering that life is not as delicate as we once thought. No matter where on Earth we look, we seem to encounter life. Hardy bacteria that can thrive in the harshest of conditions. From the extreme heat of thermal springs and deep sea hydrothermal vents to the harsh conditions found in nuclear reactors, bacteria and other microbes find a way to prosper. We have exposed bacteria to the harshness of space on the outside of the international space station, only to discover later that the bacteria hadn’t been killed off, but had survived the exposure and were able to grow again upon return to normal conditions.

Other worlds

5th February 201910th February 2018 by Trevor O'Donoghue

Pluto, once a planet, a dwarf planet since 2006

When I was in secondary school, the first few pages of my geography book proclaimed our place in the universe. Earth was the third planet from the sun. One of nine planets in orbit around it. That was it, nine planets. Sure, there was a lot of talk about planets around other stars and Star Trek’s starship Enterprise would pay a visit to some of them every week. But in the real world we knew of nine.

Buying a telescope

5th February 201912th December 2017 by Trevor O'Donoghue

With the end of the year fast approaching, it is certain that some children will receive a gift of a telescope this Christmas. Whilst a decent telescope is a wonderful gift, that can fire the imagination of a child, filling them with wonder and appreciation for the world around us, a poor quality telescope will achieve nothing but frustration. Unfortunately, this time of year there will be many poor quality telescopes,masquerading as the real deal.If the telescope packaging contains promises of “astronomical telescope” and claims like “up to 500 x magnification”, exercise extreme caution. Telescopes with descriptions like this are often not suitable for observing the sky, and if presented as a gift, may kill any budding curiosity about the night sky. A good telescope on the other hand, need not cost the earth, and can give many years of pleasure.

Heavy metals

5th February 201928th October 2017 by Trevor O'Donoghue

The immense power of a supernova makes gold amongst other elements.

Incredible news reports last week revealed that scientists have observed two neutron stars colliding in a galaxy 130 million light years from Earth. Not only that, but the power of the collision set up gravitational ripples in space-time, which eventually made it to us here on Earth.

Cassini mission winds down

5th February 201922nd September 2017 by Trevor O'Donoghue

An Iconic Saturn image from the Cassini mission — Saturn, Lord of the rings. An iconic Saturn image from the Cassini mission

Launched in 1997, the Cassini mission to Saturn sent it’s final images back to earth last week before plunging into the planet in a planned manoeuvre. It spent 13 years in orbit around the ringed planet, carried out some spectacular science and beamed some great images back to earth.