July 22 Phoenix in 24-hour monitoring assignment

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July 22 Organic cemeteries could dominate ancient Mars

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July 17 Phoenix rasps frozen layer and scoops sample

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July 11 First success with Phoenix soil probe and atomic force microscope

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The August 2008 issue of Astronomy Now is now on sale at newsagents.

International Year

of Astronomy

The SUPA search for extraterrestrial worlds
Combining efforts and resources, researchers in the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA) have emerged near the top of the international league when it comes to studying the possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe. 
   FULL STORY

Gravitational lensing weighs 70 galaxies and infers

dark matter
In the largest ever single collection of gravitational lens galaxies, an international team of astronomers have helped settle a long-standing debate over the relationship between mass and luminosity in galaxies,

and used the results to infer the presence of dark matter.
   FULL STORY

Phoenix in 24-hour monitoring assignment
To coordinate with observations made by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flying repeatedly overhead, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander stayed up all night for the first time on Monday to make simultaneous measurements of the atmosphere and ground.
   FULL STORY

Fourth dwarf planet named as 'Makemake'
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named the object formerly known as 2005 FY9 as ‘Makemake’, after the Polynesian creator of humanity and the god of fertility.
   FULL STORY

Organic cemeteries could dominate ancient Mars
Two complementary studies based on data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter support the popular theory that the Red Planet once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life.
   FULL STORY

'No organics' zone circles Pinwheel galaxy
The Pinwheel galaxy, which is dominated by tangled spiral arms, has been observed through Spitzer’s infrared eyes, revealing a zone in which organic molecules suddenly disappear.
   FULL STORY

XMM detects nova everyone else missed
It was one of the brightest nova events of the decade and clearly visible to the naked eye, yet no one but the XMM-Newton space telescope was there for the party.
   FULL STORY

The Pole Star reborn
The Northern Star, whose vibrations were thought to be dying away, appears to have come to life again, and the vibrations are on the rise, say astronomers presenting their research at the ‘Cool Stars 15’ conference at the University of St Andrews today.
   FULL STORY

Closing in on Venus
Unexplored regions of Venus will soon be within the reach of Venus Express, which is executing a series of manoeuvres to gradually bring it closer to its host planet.
   FULL STORY

Mars Express has Phobos

in sight
Scientists and engineers are preparing ESA's Mars Express for several close fly-bys of the Martian moon Phobos, in the quest to settle debate on the origin of the red planet's two rocky satellites.
   FULL STORY

Earth filmed as alien world
From a distance of 31 million miles, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, now operating under the name of EPOXI, has captured the transit of the Moon as it passes in front of the Earth, an observation that will help scientists develop techniques to study alien worlds.
   FULL STORY (includes video)

All change for Jupiter’s

red spots
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a serious shake up in Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere as the planet’s two smaller red spots play cat and mouse with their big brother, the well-established Great Red Spot.
   FULL STORY

Phoenix rasps frozen layer and scoops sample
Using the robotic arm’s powered rasp, Phoenix has successfully drilled into the cement-hard frozen soil at its landing site, loosening material that was later collected by the lander's scoop.
   FULL STORY

Chandra weighs up supermassive black hole
Until now, the mass of a black hole has been assessed by studying the motions of proximal stars and gas, but thanks to an innovative new technique, these measurements can now also be derived from the temperatures of hot gasses compressed in the jaws of these celestial cannibals.
   FULL STORY

Brightest star in the Galaxy has new competition
Eta Carinae has a new rival for its long-held title of brightest star in the Milky Way, in the shape of the Peony nebula star that resides in the dusty metropolis of the Galaxy’s centre and blazes with the light of 3.2 million Suns.
   FULL STORY

Water dampens Moon formation theory
An important conclusion of the Apollo and Luna programmes was that the Moon is deficient in highly volatile elements – including water – compared to the Earth, but in a new analysis of lunar rocks, scientists have detected enough water to require the classical models of lunar formation and evolution to be reconsidered.
   FULL STORY

Mystery star cluster with three birthdays
Astronomers have found three groups of stars in the same open star cluster that seem to have different ages, challenging some of the fundamental principles used to estimate cluster ages.
   FULL STORY