In the early years of the Cold War and the Space Race, the scientific community began to raise concerns that in the rush to be the first nation to reach certain milestones, irrevocable damage could be done to the Solar System... so what have we learnt and what haven't we learnt from the race to the Moon.

Our Catriona MacDonald writes for Warwick's Habitability Global Research Priority programme. Reblogged from the Habitability GRP.

In 793CE, monks writing the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded sightings of dragons in the skies above northern England. While the streaks of fire they witnessed were likely the result of a meteor shower or aurorae, they weren’t the first or the last to see dragons in the night sky. Dr Elizabeth Stanway from Warwick’s Astrophysics research group looks at some of the other legends, myths and stories linking dragons and space.

Originally posted on Warwick's Knowledge Centre

Professor Don Pollaco has the job most kids want - he finds planets for a living. He has been a research scientist in astrophysics for 33 years and his interest in space was originally inspired by watching the moon landings with his dad.

So when he was asked to talk to a group of visiting VIPs the observatory on La Palma, where the University of Warwick has several research telescopes, he was stunned to find himself face to face with Neil Armstrong.

Reblogged from our series for Warwick Knowledge Centre

If you ask most adults, or look in books more than about ten years old, they will tell you that there are nine planets in the solar system, rather than the eight we talk about today. But about ten years ago, one planet got dropped. The story of the missing object – Pluto – is one of discovery, debate and a momentous decision that explains how we found a whole new class of objects: the dwarf planets, explains Dr Elizabeth Stanway.

Reblogged from our series for Warwick Knowledge Centre

One of the really cool things about the night sky is that many of the same stars, planets and constellations can be viewed from a huge range of places around the world. Because of this, many different groups have formed their own myths and legends about how they came to be, says Matthew Battley from Warwick's Department of Physics.

Reblogged from our series for Warwick Knowledge Centre