Our Galaxy Archive
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Image of the Month: A psychedelic portrait of the Lagoon Nebula
Posted on May 6, 2011 | 1 CommentLying more than 4000 light years from our Solar System, the Lagoon Nebula (M8) is a place where new stars are forming. Researchers at the multinational Gemini South telescope are […] -
NGC 6302: A vast cosmic butterfly
Posted on April 15, 2011 | No CommentsNGC 6302 is a beautiful example of a planetary nebula formed when a bloated red giant star transformed into a tiny white dwarf, belching about half its mass into space […] -
Kepler-11: a strange and crowded planetary system
Posted on February 3, 2011 | No CommentsKepler-11 is an amazing, newly-discovered system of exoplanets. About 2000 light years from Earth, six planets orbit a star like our Sun. Each planet is bigger and more massive than […] -
Will Betelgeuse bring doom in 2012?
Posted on January 27, 2011 | 3 CommentsThe giant star Betelgeuse will soon perish in a titanic explosion. Could this happen in the mythical “doomsday” year of 2012? Could dying Betelgeuse take us with it? тАЬBeetlejuice! Beetlejuice! […] -
“An unnatural interest in astronomy”
Posted on January 21, 2011 | No CommentsDon Pollacco, a research astronomer at Queens University Belfast, came to Armagh Planetarium to give a fascinating talk on exoplanets in January 2011. Afterwards Dr Pollaco kindly chatted to me […]