We are proud to announce that we can now accept visitors again! It has been a long road to get here and we’d like to thank each and every one of our customers for being so patient with us. As you may know, the planetarium closed in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. …
Planetary Defense Conference Simulate Asteroid Impact
Asteroid impacts are incredibly rare events, but they have the potential to cause irreparable damage to our planet. This year at the Planetary Defense Conference, a group of people took part in efforts to prepare the world for a fictional impact. Hosted by the International Academy of Astronautics, the 7th conference took place in Vienna …
Ingenuity: the First Powered Flight on Mars
Earlier this year, the Perseverance rover touched down on the dusty surface of Mars. It carried with it a new piece of technology: the Mars Helicopter, named Ingenuity. It rode to Mars earlier this year on the belly of Perseverance, before being set down and left alone to complete its task. Up until now, rovers …
China Space Station in the Works
2021 is a big year for spaceflight in China, as the country begins the construction of a new space station! Over the next 2 years, the station will be gradually put together. Then, it will be transformed into a scientific outpost for Chinese astronauts. The core module, Tianhe 1, launches into orbit within the next …
Perseverance Touches Down on Mars
NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, has landed successfully on the Red Planet this week. After a journey of 203 days and 293 million miles, the intrepid robotic explorer touched down at 3:55pm EST on Thursday. It hopes to pave the way to bringing samples back to Earth for examination. With a sample caching system, the …
Hope Probe Reaches Martian Orbit
The United Arab Emirates have reached a milestone for Arab space science. The Emirates Mars Mission (Hope Probe) reached the Red Planet yesterday at 19:30 GMT, where it will follow an elliptical orbit. It will take the probe as close as 1,000 km to the surface and as far as 49,380 km away! The Hope …
Eclipsing Binaries Found in Newly-discovered Sextuple Star System
A new star system has been discovered that contains 3 pairs of binary stars. But what makes it extra special is that all 3 of them are eclipsing binaries! Named TYC 7037-89-1, researchers found the system using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Brian P. Powell and Veselin Kostov headed up the international …
TRAPPIST-1 Planets May Be More Similar Than We Thought
Back in 2016, the first exoplanet discovery using the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) was made. With 3 planets found, and 4 more later discovered, the system was designated TRAPPIST-1. And the best part – all the planets’ sizes and masses are close to the Earth’s! Such an abundance of Earth-sized planets has …
Nobel Prize awarded for Black Hole Discoveries
Last week, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists whose work has led the way for black hole research. Sir Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez share the prize, with half of the money going to Penrose and the other half being split between Genzel and Ghez. Black holes are some …
Spotlight on Mars
As the Red Planet Mars is becoming more prominent in our skies, several missions are making their way across the gulf of space to explore. It’s an exciting time for Martian science! Let’s take a look at how our next door neighbour has captured the imaginations of the human race. Mars in the Solar System …