2015 – Page 74 – Astronomy Now

The tell-tale signs of a galactic merger

29 January 2015 Astronomy Now

NGC 7714 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces that drifted too close to its companion. The gravitational interaction has twisted its spiral arms out of shape, dragged streams of material out into space, and triggered bright bursts of star formation.

Gully patterns document Martian climate cycles

29 January 2015 Astronomy Now

A new analysis of gullies carved into Martian impact craters suggests the Red Planet has undergone several ice ages in the last several million years. The driver of these climate swings is likely the planet’s wobbly axis tilt.

Moon meets Aldebaran in the evening sky

28 January 2015 Ade Ashford

On the evening of Thursday, 29 January the Moon has a close brush with bright star Aldebaran in Taurus. If you have a clear sky, grab your binoculars and enjoy the view.

Citizen scientists lead astronomers to mystery objects in space

28 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Volunteers working on the Milky Way Project, one of many so-called citizen scientist activities on the crowdsourcing Zooniverse website, used web-based tools to make an interesting discovery.

Kepler astronomers discover ancient star with five Earth-size planets

27 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers in the US and UK have discovered one of the oldest planetary systems in the galaxy, orbiting one of the first generation of stars that formed 11.2 billion years ago when the universe was less than 20% of its current age.

Farewell, until the next time, 2004 BL86: a personal view

27 January 2015 Ade Ashford

Clear skies in eastern England during the night of 26th/27th January enabled this fortunate observer to take a good look at and photograph asteroid 2004 BL86 during its close approach to Earth.

Asteroid that flew close by Earth 26th January has a moon

27 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Radar observations made with NASA’s 70-metre-wide Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California yesterday show that close-approach asteroid 2004 BL86 has a small moon.

Exoplanet J1407b possesses ring system 200 times larger than Saturn’s

26 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers in The Netherlands and United States show that a young giant planet or brown dwarf known as J1407b possesses a complex ring system 120 million kilometres in diameter.

Chandra celebrates the International Year of Light

26 January 2015 Astronomy Now

The United Nations has declared 2015 the International Year of Light, and to recognise the start of the event, the Chandra X-ray Center is releasing a set of images that combine data from telescopes tuned to different wavelengths of light.

Orbiting Aragoscope could image Earth and sky at higher resolution than Hubble

25 January 2015 Astronomy Now

University of Colorado researchers are poised to update NASA on their revolutionary Aragoscope concept — a telescope in geostationary orbit capable of imaging objects in space or on Earth at hundreds of times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.