February 2015 – Page 3 – Astronomy Now

Dawn captures sharper images of Ceres

17 February 2015 Astronomy Now

Now less than three weeks away from its historic rendezvous with dwarf planet Ceres, the latest images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft show a myriad of craters and mysterious bright spots on the tiny world.

Mystery plumes in Martian atmosphere baffle scientists

17 February 2015 Astronomy Now

Research just published in Nature describes two bright, extremely high-altitude plumes observed on Mars by amateur astronomers in March and April 2012, but attempts at explaining the phenomena defy our current understanding of the Martian upper atmosphere.

Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up

17 February 2015 Stephen Clark

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft — six months into its research mission at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — made its closest flyby of the comet’s boulder-strewn nucleus Saturday, capturing new photos and measurements to help scientists unravel how the duck-shaped body is evolving on its orbit around the sun.

ALMA sees super stellar nurseries at heart of starburst galaxy

16 February 2015 Astronomy Now

Starburst galaxies transmute gas into new stars up to 1,000 times faster than typical spiral galaxies like the Milky Way. To try and understand why, an international team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimetre Array (ALMA) to dissect a cluster of star-forming clouds at the heart of NGC 253 — one of the nearest starburst galaxies.

The day it rained fire over Chelyabinsk

15 February 2015 Keith Cooper

Two years ago, on February 15th, the morning routine of the Chelyabinsk region in Russia was shattered by the arrival of a 20-metre-wide meteoroid that dramatically fragmented in the atmosphere. The ensuing shockwave shattered windows, damaged buildings and 1,491 people received injuries. What have we learned since 2013?

How to prevent another Chelyabinsk

14 February 2015 Keith Cooper

The Chelyabinsk event two years ago heightened public awareness of the threat posed to humanity by an asteroid strike, but what can be done to prevent it happening again? The forthcoming Sentinel Space Telescope and ATLAS Project will hopefully prevent us being caught off guard.

Month: February 2015

Dawn captures sharper images of Ceres

Mystery plumes in Martian atmosphere baffle scientists

Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up

ALMA sees super stellar nurseries at heart of starburst galaxy

The day it rained fire over Chelyabinsk

How to prevent another Chelyabinsk

Rosetta approaches comet 67P for a closer look

‘Interstellar’ technology throws light on spinning black holes

A Valentine’s rose made of galaxies

Venus and Mars get close in the evening sky