Astronomy Ireland held a free public event which allowed people to witness, through powerful telescopes, the planet Neptune as it appeared unusually close to the Moon last night.

A Canadian news show were covering a seemingly innocent space-related story when sports anchor Rich Abney couldn’t resist the urge to make a naughty joke.

Billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, have between one and three planets which could potentially support life, according to scientists.

Test your knowledge of science and nature with our tricky multiple choice quiz. Then find out how bright you are. (Answers are at the bottom — but no peeking!

Voyager 1 has crossed a new frontier, becoming the first spacecraft ever to leave the solar system, Nasa says.

Voyager 1 has crossed a new frontier, becoming the first spacecraft ever to leave the solar system, Nasa said today.

WELL, that’s certainly one way to put the ‘riot’ into Cypriot.

As our country celebrates its birthday today, astrologer Margaret Neylonsees hope on the horizon — maybe even a Euro 2012 win

THE Greek philosopher Empedocles, who lived in Sicily, is said to have committed suicide by jumping into the volcano so no trace of his mortal remains would be found and people would think he was a god.

ENCELADUS was a familiar name in ancient Greece. Gaia, the Earth to you and me, was fertilised by the blood of Uranus and gave birth to children known as the Gigantes, one of whom was Enceladus.

A WOBBLE in the precise clockwork of the solar system could see the Earth collide with Mercury, Mars or Venus, scientists predict.

THE public has been urged to boldly go where no-one has gone before — on a walk through our solar system which been “shrunk” to fit along the Banks of the Lee.

PLANETS as large, or bigger, than the Earth are waiting to be discovered at the edge of the solar system, scientists believe.

Budding star watchers all over the country will have a rare chance tonight to view the planet Uranus in the night sky through binoculars.

THE universe just got smaller. Yesterday morning there were nine planets in the solar system — by 2.30pm there were just eight.

Two outer rings, one red, the other blue, have been observed around the distant planet Uranus.

A PIANO-SIZED spacecraft tonight blasted off on a 3-billion mile journey to study Pluto, the solar system’s last unexplored planet.

A piano-sized spacecraft tonight blasted off on a 3-billion mile journey to study Pluto, the solar system’s last unexplored planet.

Nasa scrubbed its launch of an unmanned spacecraft on a nine-year voyage to Pluto for the second day in a row today, but this time weather in Maryland was to blame.

Bad weather forced Nasa to cancel the launch of an unmanned spacecraft on a nine-year, 3-billion-mile voyage to Pluto, the solar system’s last unexplored planet.

An unmanned spacecraft the size of a piano is due to lift off tomorrow on a nine-year journey to the Pluto – the last unexplored planet in the Solar System.