Saturday, July 19

Astronomy

Armagh Observatory & Planetarium Marks 230 Years of Weather Records – Astronotes
Astronomy

Armagh Observatory & Planetarium Marks 230 Years of Weather Records – Astronotes

Armagh Observatory and Planetarium marked a remarkable milestone this week, 230 years of daily weather observations, with readings taken every single day since 14 July 1795. To celebrate the occasion, the Observatory hosted a special gathering at its historic meteorological enclosure (“MET cage”) on Monday 14 July at 10 am, followed by a Family Fun Day at the Planetarium. 230 Years of Weather Recording 14 July 2025 Armagh Observatory and Planetarium Armagh CREDIT: LiamMcArdle.com Meteorological measurements at Armagh began in December 1794, with an unbroken sequence of daily weather readings starting in July 1795, making this one of the longest continuous climate records in the British Isles. “Reaching 230 years of uninterrupted weather records is an extraordinary achievement,” said Dr Ker...
Lyra’s stunning smoke ring – M57 – Astronomy Now
Astronomy

Lyra’s stunning smoke ring – M57 – Astronomy Now

The extraordinary Ring Nebula (Messier 57), showing off its multilayered form. Image: Bob Fera. Messier 57, more famously known as the Ring Nebula, graces the constellation Lyra as one of the finest planetary nebulae in the night sky. A true summer showpiece, it’s remarkably easy to locate and observe—even through modest instruments as small as 80mm (about three inches) in aperture. As June nights fall, M57 rises swiftly in the east, already standing 50 degrees above the horizon by the time twilight yields to what little darkness midsummer offers. By mid-month, it culminates overhead, shining steadily through the warm season’s haze. Though its appearance is striking, the Ring Nebula’s small apparent size—just 86 by 62 arcseconds—can be a slight letdown for those using binoculars. Its comp...
Webb Directly Images A Saturn-Sized Star In A Nearby System
Astronomy

Webb Directly Images A Saturn-Sized Star In A Nearby System

One of Webb’s strong points is its ability to directly image planets around another solar system. The telescope has been in operation for long enough now that a flood of those images are starting, as more and more systems come under the telescope’s gaze. One of those is described in a recent paper and press release from NASA. According to the paper, the planet in a nearby system is about the size of Saturn, which would make it the smallest planet ever found by direct observation. The planet is located in TWA 7, a system located about 111 light years from Earth - a blink of an eye in galactic terms. Also known as CE Antliae, it is located in the constellation Antlia, hence its name. It garnered some attention in the astronomical community as of late due to its well-defined protopla...
Binoculars to boost your night-sky viewing – Astronomy Now
Astronomy

Binoculars to boost your night-sky viewing – Astronomy Now

Omegon 2 x 54 wide-field binoculars Multi-coating and blackened lens edges prevent reflections to ensure a clean untroubled field. Galilean binoculars go all of the way back to, well, the time of the great man himself. I vaguely recall reading once that he conceived of strapping two of his telescopes together, but the source of this tale now escapes me. We do know that the first pair to be constructed were made by fellow Italian Cherubin d’Orléans in the 1670s, mounting two Galilean telescopes in parallel to achieve ‘binocular’ vision. He even incorporated individual eyepiece focusing! In the nineteenth century, abbreviated ‘opera glass’ versions magnifying about 3× found favour in theatres – used as much to observe fellow patrons as the action on stage. A resurgence occurred in the mid-t...
Astronomy

Astronomers left puzzled by high-altitude clouds forming on young planet | Space

Should humans ever venture to a particular planet that circles a sun-like star in the constellation of the fly, they would do well to keep an eye on the weather.The thick slabs of cloud that blot the planet’s skies are mostly made from mineral dust, but astronomers suspect there may be iron in them, too, which would rain down on the world below when the clouds break.Astronomers spotted the high-altitude clouds when they trained the James Webb space telescope (JWST) on the young star system, which lies 307 light years away in the deep southern sky.The star, YSES-1, is a newbie by cosmic standards, a mere 16m years old compared with the 4.6bn-year-old sun. The star is circled by two gas giants, both still forming and both larger than Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system.Dr Kielan ...