Tag: Star

7 of Astronomy’s Greatest Mysteries.

Space is full of weird things, however, most of them can be explained by science. Yet there are some that stump even the most accomplished astronomers. 1. Black Holes The study of black holes has come on in leaps and bound within the last few years, and yet, to misquote Pocahontas, how can th...

The History of Halley’s Comet.

Halley’s comet must be one of the most famous ever. Its periodic appearances, about every 75 years or so has added to its celebrity.  It last appeared in our skies in 1986, and it set to return in 2061. The comet is named for the astronomer who discovered it – Edmond Halley. He examined reports...

Fascinating Father’s Day facts

According to a leading card retailer, Hallmark, Father’s Day is the 4th largest card selling occasion in the years. It sees around 74 Million cards given every year! Only 50% of these cards are actually given to fathers, almost 20% are given to husbands. A lady called Sonora Louis...

Heroes in the Night Sky.

The planets in our solar system are named after Greek and Roman gods, but they are not the only mythologies hidden away in the cosmos. Hanging, twinkling in the sky are also the stories of three great Greek Heroes – Orion, Perseus and Jason. Orion Orion was a fabled hunter among the Greeks...

Venus factfile

  Venus is named after the Roman goddess of Love – Venus. Venus is almost the same size as Earth. It has a diameter of 12,104 km. It is thought that Venus is made up of a central iron core, a rocky mantle and a silicate crust. A year on Venus is 225 Earth days. Ve...

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...

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...