Caoimhín's Content

Astronomical and Educational content, in English and Irish

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  • Icy Moons: What, Where and Why do we Care?

    Recently, we took a look at the difference between the gas giants like Saturn and Jupiter and the ice giants like Neptune and Uranus. Today, we are going to look at something else icy: icy moons. We already passed by an icy moon in the ice giant video, Triton, Neptune’s largest moon. Triton is tough…

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  • Undiscovering the Planet Vulcan

    Today, we are mostly going to take a look at some mistakes. Mistakes from the past can leave behind little quirks and inconsistencies in things we use today, and catching mistakes is often a good thing. Realizing that we were wrong about something can help us prevent similar mistakes in the future. This is inspired…

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  • Ice Giants versus Gas Giants: A Closer Look at the Biggest Planets

    Every month or so, I usually make a video talking about a particular planet. beginning with several months ago, up Jupiter and Saturn in the past couple of months. Having looked at the gas giants, the ice giants are next. Before giving them a specific video, I though it would be nice to compare the…

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  • June and the Summer Solstice

    In the previous video we took a look forward to the very early part of June, particularly the planets that we will get to see in the morning. Despite Mercury and Jupiter being too close to the Sun for us to see in Ireland, from other locations four planets would be visible in the sky…

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  • Solar Day, Sidereal Day, and the Parade of Planets

    I mentioned in the last article that there are different ways to measure a day, among them are the sidereal and solar days. This little tidbit was not mentioned in the previous video attached to that article, just one of the many little bonus facts readers of the website get. In the above video, I…

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  • What we Can See in Late May and Early June

    At the start of May, we looked ahead to the whole month, but now as we approach the end I think it’s worth a second look. Even though the weather is getting hotter, the Earth is actually approaching its furthest from the Sun in our elliptical orbit. How close we are to the Sun in…

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  • Na Gealaí, nú Gealán agus an Spéir Anois

    Today, as we come up to the end of May and beginning of June, we are going to review the kinds of things that are visible in the sky, starting by looking forward the 24th of this month and the Full Moon. The Moon can be quite bright, especially when it’s full, and the Irish…

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  • The Aurorae and the 11 Year Solar Cycle

    Recently, the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights has been visible from the South of Ireland. This is thanks to a solar storm, so we will begin by looking at the Sun and move from there to the aurorae and how likely we are to see more of them. Although you should never look directly…

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  • Transits of Venus and an Eclipse on Mars!

    Continuing the theme set by last week’s video, where we looked at the transit of Mercury coming up in 2032 and the return of Halley’s Comet in 2061, we are going to look even further into the future this time. the next transit of Venus that will be visible from the Earth is almost 100…

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  • Looking Forward: Comet Halley in 2061 and Mercury’s Transit in 2032

    As promised last time, we are going to be looking far ahead into the future to take a look at Halley’s Comet. Halley’s Comet has a period of about 75 years, though this varies due to the planets effect as it passes them. Right now, we have to wait 37 years for it to return…

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