Welcome to Astronotes
Hello, IòÀÙm Colin, welcoming you to Astronotes, the PlanetariumòÀÙs official blog. Here you will find the latest news and views from the fascinating worlds of astronomy and space exploration. We hope you will come here to learn what is hot and exciting, profound or even weird from worlds beyond ours . So that's the introduction out of the way, now on with the Universe!-
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NASA Archive
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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 […] -
Apollo 14: Alan Shepard’s fight for the Moon
Posted on January 31, 2011 | 4 CommentsForty years ago, NASAòÀÙs Apollo 14 mission landed the fifth and sixth men on the Moon. Apollo 14 was a triumph for one man in particular. Alan Shepard fought debilitating […] -
Remembering Challenger: the end of innocence
Posted on January 28, 2011 | 4 CommentsAn older generation will never forget where they were when they heard the news of President KennedyòÀÙs murder Alas, I have three such memories. The 2001 terror attacks in the […] -
Challenger remembered: An irony of history
Posted on January 28, 2011 | No CommentsToday is the anniversary of the deaths of the crew of the shuttle Challenger in 1986. The tragedy was of course recognised world-wide and letters of sympathy flooded in to […] -
Unique Martian Sky Crane Tested
Posted on January 21, 2011 | 8 CommentsNASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is to use a unique system called a “sky crane” to touch down next year on the Red Planet. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have […] -
2011’s Space Odysseys
Posted on January 12, 2011 | 1 Comment2011 will be a year of exciting and historic upcoming events in space exploration. It is is also a significant anniversary year of some triumphs and tragedies in space history. […] -
Kepler-10b: world of lava oceans?
Posted on January 11, 2011 | 1 CommentNASAòÀÙs amazing Kepler planet-searching spacecraft has made a significant new discovery. Planet Kepler-10b is an inhospitable world but it is one of the smallest confirmed exoplanets yet found and may […] -
Apollo 8’s Christmas space odyssey
Posted on December 20, 2010 | 5 CommentsChristmas 1968 saw three men from Earth make a remarkable and unprecedented voyage of exploration. A dramatic and hurriedly planned mission gave the crew the first human view of the […] -
Christmas is cancelled for Shuttle Discovery
Posted on December 15, 2010 | No CommentsThis year we could have witnessed a Christmas-time shuttle flight as November’s STS-133 mission had been re-scheduled to 17 December, but once again Discovery’s final flight has been postponed, this […] -
Hartley 2: What has the Deep Impact flyby shown us?
Posted on November 5, 2010 | No CommentsNASA’s Deep Impact probe flew past comet Hartley 2 and revealed a odd-looking peanut-shaped nucleus. What are the first impressions from these exciting images? Only about a mile (1.6 km) […]