2015 – Page 75 – Astronomy Now

ASA reducer/corrector for Newtonians

24 January 2015 Steve Ringwood

With this lens from ASA (Astro Systeme Austria) you can make rich-field Newtonian telescope even richer, whilst correcting aberrations, for stunning wide-field views or shorter exposures while astroimaging.

Black hole on a diet creates a ‘changing look’ quasar

24 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Yale University-led researchers have been able to study both the bright and dim phases of a quasar in a single source, an object that had dimmed by a factor of six or seven, compared with observations from a few years earlier.

24th Jan: Griffith Observatory live webcast of rare triple moon shadows on Jupiter

23 January 2015 Ade Ashford

With good weather predicted, UK observers are in for a early treat on the morning of Saturday, 24th January, when a rare triple shadow transit of Jupiter’s moons occurs — an event not to be repeated until 2032. If cloudy, Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles is hosting a live webcast.

Rosetta data from ‘C-G’ give closest-ever look at a comet

22 January 2015 Astronomy Now

A special issue of journal Science published 23rd January reveals details about the shape, evolution and lifespan of comet 67P-Churyumov/Gerasimenko.

See 2-day-old crescent Moon occult naked-eye star from western British Isles

22 January 2015 Ade Ashford

For those in the west of the British Isles, magnitude-4.2 star θ Aquarii slips behind the darkened limb of the 2-day-old Moon soon after 7:15 pm — an event visible in binoculars.

Milky Way wormholes could be a ‘galactic transport system’

21 January 2015 Astronomy Now

The sci-fi film “Interstellar” raised the idea of space-time tunnels between worlds to recent public consciousness, but a new study prompts scientists to consider Milky Way wormholes as science fact and re-think dark matter more accurately.

See a 1-day-old Moon challenge

21 January 2015 Ade Ashford

What’s the youngest Moon you’ve ever seen? While the best opportunities generally occur in Northern Hemisphere spring when the ecliptic’s high, 21st January offers UK observers a 28-hour-old lunar crescent.

25-million-year-old galactic dust provides insight into supernovae

21 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Australian researchers analysing galactic dust from the last 25 million years within Pacific Ocean floor sediments found far less plutonium-244 from supernovae than expected, findings that are at odds with current theories.

Dawn delivers new image of dwarf planet Ceres

19 January 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is now less than two months away from capture into orbit around Ceres for a 16-month study of the dwarf planet — and its cameras are already revealing tantalising surface details.

Astronomers prepare to map the universe with largest radio telescope ever built

19 January 2015 Astronomy Now

An international team of astronomers prepare to put together the biggest map of the universe ever made using the largest radio telescope ever built — the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).