February 2017 – Astronomy Now

Saturn’s north pole

28 February 2017 Stephen Clark

The north pole of Saturn sits at the center of its own domain. Around it swirl the clouds, driven by the fast winds of Saturn. Beyond that orbits Saturn’s retinue of moons and the countless small particles that form the ring.

Star formation on filaments in RCW106

27 February 2017 Stephen Clark

Stars are bursting into life all over this image from ESA’s Herschel space observatory. It depicts the giant molecular cloud RCW106, a massive billow of gas and dust almost 12,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Norma, the Carpenter’s Square.

First evidence of rocky planet formation in Tatooine system

27 February 2017 Astronomy Now

Evidence of planetary debris surrounding a double sun, ‘Tatooine-like’ system has been found for the first time by a UCL-led team of researchers.

Mapping the family tree of stars

25 February 2017 Stephen Clark

Astronomers are borrowing principles applied in biology and archaeology to build a family tree of the stars in the galaxy. By studying chemical signatures found in the stars, they are piecing together these evolutionary trees looking at how the stars formed and how they are connected to each other.

The dawn of a new era for Supernova 1987A

24 February 2017 Stephen Clark

Three decades ago, astronomers spotted one of the brightest exploding stars in more than 400 years. The titanic supernova, called Supernova 1987A, blazed with the power of 100 million suns for several months following its discovery on Feb. 23, 1987.

Fermi space telescope finds possible dark matter ties in Andromeda

23 February 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has found a signal at the center of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy that could indicate the presence of the mysterious stuff known as dark matter. The gamma-ray signal is similar to one seen by Fermi at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.

Watch a video replay of NASA’s exoplanet announcement

22 February 2017 Astronomy Now

Watch a replay of NASA’s announcement that seven possibly-habitable planets have been discovered orbiting around a nearby star.

Nearby star is home to seven possibly-habitable planets

22 February 2017 Keith Cooper

Seven Earth-sized planets have been discovered orbiting a single ultra-cool dwarf star 40 light years away. Depending on atmospheric conditions, all seven could potentially be habitable, making the system a prime target for scientists hunting for another Earth.

The brightest, farthest pulsar in the universe

22 February 2017 Stephen Clark

ESA’s XMM-Newton has found a pulsar – the spinning remains of a once-massive star – that is a thousand times brighter than previously thought possible.

Watch NASA exoplanets announcement

22 February 2017 Astronomy Now

Watch live as NASA holds a news conference at the space agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC to announce new findings on exoplanets. The news conference begins at 6pm GMT.