Space – Page 2 – Trevor O'Donoghue

How to spot a galaxy

5th February 20195th September 2018 by Trevor O'Donoghue

The Andromeda Galaxy. Our galactic neighbour and home to 1000 billion stars. Even though it is 2.5 million light years away, you can see it without binoculars or telescope — The Andromeda Galaxy. Our galactic neighbour and home to 1000 billion stars. Even though it is 2.5 million light years away, you can see it without binoculars or a telescope.

Get out to the country on a clear night and look up and you will be treated to many hundreds and possibly thousands of stars twinkling and shimmering. Our eyes are capable of seeing 6000 stars without optical aid. That’s about 3000 in the northern hemisphere and depending on the amount of light pollution and haze, and the condition of our eyes typically a few hundred to a few thousand stars are visible. Each star is a sun and most have planets around them. Whether they are suitable for life or not is another question.

Backyard astronomy

5th February 201920th August 2018 by Trevor O'Donoghue

The Whirlpool Galaxy. It's spiral structure was discovered by the Earl of Rosse with his backyard telescope in 1845. — The Whirlpool Galaxy. It’s spiral structure was discovered by the Earl of Rosse with his backyard telescope in 1845.

Recent reports in the media about a new radio telescope in the grounds Birr Castle has firmly shone a spotlight on the astronomical heritage of Ireland. From 1845 until 1914 the largest telescope in the world stood in the grounds of Birr Castle. It was the brainchild of the 3rd Earl of Rosse and through it he made many wonderful discoveries, he named the Crab nebula and was the first to document the structure of spiral galaxies, although at the time, they didn’t truly understand their nature.

SETI@home

5th February 201928th June 2018 by Trevor O'Donoghue

The hunt for other planets in the universe is going full steam ahead with thousands of planets having being found in orbit around distant suns. Telescopes and technology are progressing at a breakneck pace allowing us to probe the light from these distant worlds for traces of gases that might signify life. Probes in our own solar system are busy looking for the signs and signatures of life.

Man in the moon

5th February 201913th May 2018 by Trevor O'Donoghue

Glance up at the moon any night and you will see a glistening silver orb that has inspired poets, writers musicians and philosophers. But if you actually look at the moon, you will notice some lighter and darker patches. These patches of light and dark make distinct patterns and shapes and so we have the”man in the moon” and the “moon rabbit”.

Dark stuff

5th February 20199th April 2018 by Trevor O'Donoghue

The universe is a strange and wonderful place, primarily empty space with a smattering of galaxies scattered about. Each galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars and the universe itself is so vast that it has one hundred billion galaxies. The enormity and scale is impossible to get our heads around and it takes rare geniuses like Einstein, Newton and even Hawking who have the uncanny ability to visualise, scrutinise and probe the depths and workings of the universe. Even the nearest star to us is 4 light years away, which in layman’s terms is a staggering 40 trillion kilometers, that is 40 with 12 zeros after it. The Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977 to study the solar system travels at 62,000 km/h. At this speed, It would take 73,000 years to get to the nearest star and a cool 640 million years to get to the centre of our galaxy!