23 October 2025
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The UK under a curtain of aurora

19 February 2015 Astronomy Now
16378332049_34877555ac_k
Image: NASA.

NASA astronaut Terry Virts captured this stunning image of  the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scandinavia on a moonlit night beneath an glowing curtain of aurora. Virts, a flight engineer on the International Space Station with Expedition 42, took the image on 6 February 2015.

  • astronaut
  • Aurora
  • International Space Station
  • Ireland
  • Scandinavia
  • Terry Verts
  • UK

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Mysterious Martian dust cloud and aurora detected by NASA spacecraft

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Unlike the Earth, Mars lost a global protective magnetic field billions of years ago, so solar particles can directly strike the atmosphere. NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft recently detected extensive auroral activity in the Red Planet’s northern hemisphere, plus an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud.

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Mercury and International Space Station transit the Sun

1 June 2016 Astronomy Now

French astrophotographer Thierry Legault travelled to the suburbs of Philadelphia, USA to capture both the International Space Station and planet Mercury transiting the Sun on 9 May. This image includes multiple stacked frames to show the Station’s path in the fraction of a second it took to cross the Sun, while Mercury appears as a black dot at bottom-centre.

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Piers Sellers, shuttle astronaut and renowned climate researcher, dies at 61

26 December 2016 Stephen Clark

Former astronaut Piers Sellers, a British-born climate scientist who flew on three space shuttle missions to help construct the International Space Station, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61.

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News Headlines

  • Europe’s planet hunting spacecraft complete and ready for final testing
    21 October 2025
  • Nova outburst in Centaurus
    24 September 2025
  • Astronomy Now relaunches digital platform
    12 September 2025
  • Potentially habitable planet TRAPPIST-1e displays tentative evidence for an atmosphere
    8 September 2025
  • Ten-Year Lease Extension Confirmed at Herstmonceux Observatory
    18 August 2025
  • Home
  • The Magazine
    • About
    • Current Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Renew Subscription
      • September last issue
      • August last issue
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  • AstroFest 2026
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    • UK Sky Chart
    • Almanac
    • Scope Calc
    • DSLR Calc
  • Reviews
    • Equipment
    • Book Reviews
  • Spaceflight Now
  • Shop
  • Contact Us
    • Subscriptions
    • Your Views
    • Ask Astronomy Now
    • Editorial
    • Advertising
    • AstroListings

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