Ireland Junior Cycle

Over the past few hundred years, astronomers have discovered thousands of stars whose brightness goes up and down over time. These are known as variable stars. But what causes this to happen?

The ocean’s tides rise and fall every day, but have you ever wondered what causes them? The Moon and Sun both play a role in shaping the movement of water across the Earth. 

You may be aware that space exploration requires lots of technology, but did you know that some of that technology is used back on Earth to make people's lives better? Match the pairs to learn about the space technology in your life!

Distances to objects in space are very, very large. The nearest star (excluding the Sun), Alpha Centauri, is 41.23 trillion km, or 41,320,000,000,000 km!!