Tag: Star Name Registry

The life cycle of a star

Nebula Stars start of life in a nebula, a cloud of hydrogen gas and dust. Here all the elements necessary for making a star are blown around and chemically react with each other. There are several different types of nebula. The Orion nebula, for example, is an Emission Nebula. This means that it...

Camino de Santiago – Following the milky way

The Camino de Santiago – also known as the Way of St. James in English – is the name of any of the pilgrimage routes which travel to the shrine of the apostle St. James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. This is where, legend has it, the remains of Saint James are buried...

Top 10 weird things sent into space.

Lego Figures These Lego figures were sent up in August 2015 for a mission orbiting the Planet Jupiter. The figures portray the Roman god Jupiter and his wife, the goddess Juno, and famous astronomer Galileo Galilei. Golden Records Since 1977, NASA has been sendi...

Should you name a star for Valentine’s Day?

Nowadays it’s very difficult to think of something a bit different to get for your other half; the cliché of buying roses, chocolates and jewellery just seems to be a bit, well, old. These gifts might well bring a smile to their face but there is no sense of originality within the gift. With buy...

Cute Valentine’s Day Ideas

1) Ice skating. Go out for an hour skating at one of the many rinks popping up across the country. There’s not a lot that’s more romantic than skating around hand in hand. Make sure to grab a hot chocolate together afterwards to complete the experience. 2) Homemade meal. This may be a bit of a c...

Out of this world astronaut selfies.

Thomas Pesquet French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet took this amazing selfie on his first spacewalk on the 17th of January 2017.   First space selfie ever NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin took this photo in 1966 whilst performing a EVA (extravehicular activity) during the...

Vinegar Valentines

Vinegar valentines are not the sweet nothings you expect to receive on the day dedicated to love they are in fact insult based greetings cards printed on cheap one sided paper featuring grotesque caricatures meant to insult or amuse.   They caused a stir through all social levels not merely th...

Top stargazing locations in Wales for St Dwynwen’s Day

The Brecon Beacons  The Brecon Beacons became Wales’ first “Dark Sky Reserve”, 5 years ago. There are multiple places around Brecon where you can view the night sky in all its glory, one of those being from the Visitor Centre. What also makes Brecon the ideal stargazing location is its distance fr...

Top Ever Space Movies

Top Ever Space Movies 1) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) This iconic and epic science fiction film was produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1968. Written by both Stanley Kubrick and legendary novelist Arthur C Clarke it was inspired by one of Clarke’s short stories (“The Sentinel” – 1951). T...

Humans are made of stardust

It is a commonly known myth that people are made of stardust and now a study has confirmed it. The survey conducted on 150,000 stars has revealed that the galaxy and humans share 97% of the same atoms. The elements of life on earth, which are usually found towards the centre of the galaxy, can...

The mysteries of Mercury

The mysteries of Mercury It is easy to forget that the other planets in our solar system are not just dead lumps of rock, but this is definitely not the case. Particularly for the planet at the centre, Mercury. Mythology: Its unbelievable speed Mercury is the closest planet to the s...

Cassini Enters Its Grand Finale!

The Cassini Spacecraft (launched in 1997) has been orbiting the planet Saturn since 2004. Its full name is the Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft since it was named after the astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. A collaboration between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), E...