March 2015 – Page 7 – Astronomy Now

Engineers assess short circuit on Mars rover

5 March 2015 Stephen Clark

A short circuit that halted movement of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is not expected to keep the mobile robot stationary for long, but engineers want to know whether the problem will restrict some future science operations.

Distant supernova split four ways by gravitational lens

5 March 2015 Astronomy Now

An astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, has found a massive galaxy within the MACS J1149 galaxy cluster that is gravitationally bending and magnifying light to create four separate images of a distant supernova.

See the smallest Full Moon of 2015 tonight

5 March 2015 Ade Ashford

If you feel that tonight’s rising Full Moon is that bit smaller than usual then you’d be right, for this is a so-called Micromoon — one that occurs close to the point in the Moon’s orbit where it is furthest from the Earth.

Why isn’t the universe as bright as it should be?

4 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers from MIT, Columbia University, and Michigan State University have developed a theory describing how clusters of galaxies may regulate star formation, explaining why galaxies don’t churn out as many stars as they should.

Wayward star cluster Kim 2 located far from home in the Galactic suburbs

4 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers conducting the Stromlo Milky Way Satellites Survey at the Australian National University discover a small star cluster that is about ten times more distant than the average globular in the halo of the Milky Way.

Rosetta glimpses its own shadow on comet 67P

4 March 2015 Stephen Clark

The sharp-eyed science camera on Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter caught a view of the probe’s fuzzy shadow when controllers guided the spacecraft just a few miles over its subject’s nucleus last month.

Planets Venus and Uranus in close conjunction

4 March 2015 Ade Ashford

On Wednesday, March 4th, planets Venus and Mars will be easy naked-eye objects in the western sky at dusk, but in a telescope you’ll have the added bonus of spotting gas giant Uranus very close to Venus.

Dawn Ceres Arrival News Briefing

3 March 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA holds a news conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to preview the arrival of the Dawn probe at Dwarf Planet Ceres.

Wind-distorted wave creates huge Y-shaped features in Venusian clouds

3 March 2015 Astronomy Now

When observed in the ultraviolet, Venus’ atmosphere is covered by dark Y-shaped structures whose origin and evolution has been a mystery since their discovery more than half a century ago. Now astronomers in Spain and Portugal have described the mechanism that sustains this phenomenon.

NASA spacecraft nears historic arrival at dwarf planet Ceres

2 March 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to entering orbit around Ceres on Friday, March 6th — the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet.