The past week has seen my phone emit a flurry of chirps, beeps and flashing LEDs. They have been alerts from Twitter or from an Aurora Watch UK app. Most of the them have been yellow alerts with the occasional amber alert, letting me know that there is a slim possibility of seeing the aurora or Northern Lights.
In May 2017, Astronomy Ireland magazine featured an article I wrote on the Trappist 1 system. Down load the article here or click read more below
27 years ago, in April 1990 the Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off carrying what was to become one of the most successful scientific missions of all time, The Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble and the images it produces, have more than any other mission since the heady days of the Apollo space programme, brought the magic of space to the public. Hubble has probed the depths of space and brought it’s wonders to our magazines, televisions and computer screens where humanity has looked on in awe.
Every so often scientists announce that a large space rock or asteroid will pass within a couple of hundred thousand kilometres of Earth. The tabloid press proclaim a near miss and that we were lucky to dodge Armageddon. Headline grabbing stuff it may be, but the truth of the matter is, that it is only a matter of time until the Earth experiences an impact event when one of these asteroids makes it through our atmosphere and explodes with tremendous force creating significant damage.
For the last number of months, Venus had dominated the western sky after sunset. Now it is moving into the twilight on it’s journey around the Sun. In the evening sky, the planet Jupiter will dominate proceedings over the coming months. Jupiter, a gas giant consisting primarily of hydrogen and helium gases is the largest planet in our solar system with a diameter of almost 140,000 km. These nights, Jupiter rises in the east shortly after eight o’clock and there is no mistaking it, as only the moon or Venus shines brighter in the night sky. It glows with a silvery brilliance that is unmistakable.