We have discovered thousands of previously uncharted underwater mountains, which are also known as seamounts. They are included in the most detailed map of the ocean floor ever produced.
In 2019 Shane Lowry from Clara in County Offaly won the British Golf Open and underlined his international sporting superstar status. But Lowry was not the first bearded superstar from Offaly. Bindon Blood Stoney was born in County Offaly in 1828 and he would go on to be an engineering heavyweight – though without getting the same acclaim as Lowry.
I had not realised that one could easily see a planet in the sky, even a large one such as Jupiter. And now I know that Galileo had four centuries previously identified four moons orbiting the planet, and yet Jupiter only came into my orbit this summer. Keep Reading
Monuments need to be reconsidered in order to see them in a fresh way. But as we have seen from other articles here, they are very much part of their time, and often related to tourism. The Spire was installed in Dublin in 2003, and was hated by more people than it was loved. Now sixteen years later, many Dubliners will walk past without noticing it – yes, even though it is 120 metres high. This summer I wanted to take some photos so I could rediscover the essence of what is the Spire.
Due to St Stephen’s Day and the Wren rituals, this bird is extremely well known in Ireland. It is one of the 20 most common birds in Ireland and is found all over the country.
Though Strangford Lough is a long way from Scandinavia, it has an impressive Viking heritage. The ford from Old Norse Strangr Fjörðr. But it was also host to a battle between two groups of Viking rivals. Keep Reading
Ireland wasn’t always the best place to land if you were a Spanish sailor of the 16th century. The ships of the Spanish Armada which ended up on Irish shores received different sorts of welcomes. And sometimes the local people were more pleasant than the weather conditions.
William Parsons put Offaly at the centre of global astronomy in 1845. He built the largest telescope in the world until the construction of the 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope in California in 1917.
LOFAR is an interconnected series of radio telescopes that form the world’s largest radio telescope. Though most of the sites are based in the Netherlands, many are elsewhere including the most westerly antenna in the park at Birr Castle.
Electric cars are in the news. But how about travelling less? Or is this too much for people to stomach?