Armagh Observatory and Planetarium

Armagh Observatory and Planetarium Welcome to Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, Ireland's leading centre for astronomy education
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02/06/2026

๐Ÿ’ช ๐“๐จ๐๐š๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐ƒ๐š๐ฒ! ๐Ÿ’ช

Our young volunteers support us in a variety of interesting and highly skilled roles, receiving specialist training that allows them to make a real contribution to the work we do here at AOP.

Isabella who is also a STEM Ambassador, volunteers in our library as a Library Assistant, where she helps care for, organise, and maintain our collection of books and resources. Isabella also helps Dr. Kerem in our Digital Visualisation Lab where content is created for our Dome shows!

All attend local schools and generously give up their time to support us here at AOP. St. Catherine's College The Royal School, Armagh

Stem Ambassadors Northern Ireland

๐Ÿ”ญ ๐’๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐’๐ค๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ”ญWant to know what's in the night sky this Summer? Mark Grimley, Education Officer at AOP, has p...
02/06/2026

๐Ÿ”ญ ๐’๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐’๐ค๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ”ญ

Want to know what's in the night sky this Summer? Mark Grimley, Education Officer at AOP, has put together his highlights for the Summer season โ˜€

๐Ÿ”—https://armaghplanet.com/summer-night-sky-2026.html

Constellations, asterisms, and the most important thing, the Eclipse (happening on 12th August) are all detailed in his insightful article. If you want to know even more about the night sky this Summer, join us for our 2pm show Our Night Sky, where we talk about all things current in the night sky.

Wow....how many times can we say the phrase 'night sky' in one post? Clearly not enough! NIGHT SKY! ๐Ÿ˜Ž

๐”๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐“๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐ƒ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐€๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ ๐ก ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒCouncillors from the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council visited the O...
01/06/2026

๐”๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐“๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐ƒ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐€๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ ๐ก ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ

Councillors from the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council visited the Observatory and Planetarium last Thursday night to hear about our redevelopment project, plans for a new LED planetarium for AOP, and our UNESCO World Heritage ambitions for the Observatory. The event was hosted by Archbishop John McDowell, Chair of AOPโ€™s Board of Governors.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐‡๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐•๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ž๐ซ๐ฌโ€™ ๐–๐ž๐ž๐ค ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐€๐Ž๐! ๐ŸŒŸ We are incredibly lucky to have so many amazing volunteers here at Arma...
01/06/2026

๐ŸŒŸ ๐‡๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐•๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ž๐ซ๐ฌโ€™ ๐–๐ž๐ž๐ค ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐€๐Ž๐! ๐ŸŒŸ

We are incredibly lucky to have so many amazing volunteers here at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. Some are local, while others travel many miles to support us, and every single one makes a huge difference.

This week, we want to give a massive shout-out and heartfelt THANK YOU to all our volunteers for their generosity, commitment, enthusiasm, and dedication. Your time and support help make AOP a welcoming, inspiring, and special place for everyone who visits.

From all of us at AOP, thank you for everything you do. You truly make AOP a better place! ๐Ÿ’™โœจ

Join us on Friday 5th June for a fun-filled afternoon at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium!

Emerald Garrison Stem Ambassadors Northern Ireland

๐Ÿ”ต๐Ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐จ๐ง๐ŸŒThe Blue Moon will be at its peak at 09:45am on 31st May! But what exactly is a Blue Moon?Contrary ...
30/05/2026

๐Ÿ”ต๐Ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐จ๐ง๐ŸŒ

The Blue Moon will be at its peak at 09:45am on 31st May! But what exactly is a Blue Moon?

Contrary to our featured image, the Blue Moon isn't actually blue. There are a number of explanations for this occurance and here are the most common ones:

๐ŸŒ• Simplest definition: The blue moon is the second full Moon in any calendar month with two full moons
๐ŸŒ•Traditional definition: A blue moon is the third full Moon in an astronomical season containing four full moons

๐Ÿฅ”๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐š๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐จ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐Ÿฅ”Have you ever seen a potato that has been grown in space? Now you have! On this interna...
30/05/2026

๐Ÿฅ”๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐š๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐จ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐Ÿฅ”

Have you ever seen a potato that has been grown in space? Now you have! On this international day of the glorious potato, we wanted to highlight the work of Astronaut Don Pettit.

Astronauts have very little free time while aboard the ISS, but when they do they take part in leisure activities like maing art, photography, music and more. But Don dedicated his time to growing a potato in microgravity and we couldn't be happier.

This fuzzy, alien looking purple potato is the result of Don's hard work and ingenuity. He grew the potato in an old drinks bag. The velcro you're seeing on the side of the spud was used to help anchor it in Pettit's improvised grow light terrarium.

Pettit stated in his instagram post of the alien spud: "Potatoes are one of the most efficient plants based on edible nutrition to total mass (including roots). Recognised by Andy Weir in his book/movie "The Martian," potatoes will have a place in future exploration of space. So I thought it good to get started now!"

Image Credit: NASA/Don Pettit

๐ŸŒŸ ๐•๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ž๐ซ๐ฌโ€™ ๐–๐ž๐ž๐ค ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐š๐ญ ๐€๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ ๐ก ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ž๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ! ๐ŸŒŸ To celebrate Volunteersโ€™ Week 2026, weโ€™ll be shining a ...
29/05/2026

๐ŸŒŸ ๐•๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ž๐ซ๐ฌโ€™ ๐–๐ž๐ž๐ค ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐š๐ญ ๐€๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ ๐ก ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ž๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ! ๐ŸŒŸ

To celebrate Volunteersโ€™ Week 2026, weโ€™ll be shining a spotlight on some of our incredible volunteers throughout the week, 1st - 7th June. Keep an eye on our page for daily video features showcasing the amazing people who help make AOP so special.

Join us on ๐…๐ซ๐ข๐๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ“๐ญ๐ก ๐‰๐ฎ๐ง๐ž for a fun-filled afternoon at Armagh Planetarium! Enjoy a range of family-friendly activities including:

โœจ 2pm Our Night Sky Dome Show
๐Ÿš€ Rocket Workshop
๐ŸŽจ Badge Making
๐Ÿ–๏ธ Colouring Competition
๐ŸŒŒ Access to our Exhibition Area

๐๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ž:
โœ… Activities and exhibition entry are FREE after 2:30pm, with tickets available at the door.
๐ŸŽŸ๏ธ A small charge applies for the 2pm โ€œOur Night Skyโ€ Dome. Book here: https://armaghobservatoryplanetarium.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173651435/events/428717900

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Stem Ambassadors Northern Ireland

The Vaisala thermometer in the Observatory Stevenson screen recorded a high yesterday, 25th May, of 26.3 C. Ditto for ou...
26/05/2026

The Vaisala thermometer in the Observatory Stevenson screen recorded a high yesterday, 25th May, of 26.3 C. Ditto for our accompanying mercury thermometer.

This is the highest May recording ever! 0.1C higher than the previous record of 26.2C recorded in 1989. ๐ŸŒž

25/05/2026

Our first ever, in-house made, live science show is on sale now! The Stellar Science Show is available in July and August. Will our motley crew of lab researchers really make their own star? Book in to find out!

The Curiosity Cube will be in our car park today!This travelling, hands-on science lab is part of a global tour bringing...
23/05/2026

The Curiosity Cube will be in our car park today!

This travelling, hands-on science lab is part of a global tour bringing interactive STEM experiences to students and the public around the world. Suitable for ages 8+!

๐Ÿ“Armagh Planetarium Car Park
๐Ÿ“…Saturday 23rd May
โŒš 10am - 5pm

(The Curiosity Cube is FREE, no tickets needed)

Address

Armagh Planetarium, College Hill
Armagh
BT619DB

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

028 3752 3689

Website

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