April 2017 – Page 2 – Astronomy Now

19 January 2025

Latest News

[ 1 November 2024 ] Legendary star lacks evidence for large planet formation News
[ 31 October 2024 ] ‘Blood-soaked’ eyes: Webb and Hubble examine galaxy pair News
[ 11 October 2024 ] Observers across the UK treated to brilliant display of aurora borealis News
[ 30 April 2024 ] JWST captures zooms in on the ‘mane’ of the iconic Horsehead Nebula News
[ 25 April 2024 ] NASA’s Voyager 1 probe calls home after five months News

Potentially habitable super-Earth is a prime target for atmospheric study

20 April 2017 Astronomy Now

The study of alien worlds is entering its next phase as astronomers amass the best planets outside our Solar System to look for signs of life. A newly discovered “super-Earth” orbiting in the habitable zone of a nearby small star, has catapulted itself to the top of that list.

With an eye on growing cost, NASA aims for 2025 launch of next ‘great observatory’

19 April 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA managers say the WFIRST mission, the next in the agency’s line of powerful observatories after the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, could cost around $3.2 billion after budgeting for a novel first-of-its-kind instrument to probe the make-up of planets around nearby stars and a bigger-than-expected launch vehicle.

ALMA investigates ‘DeeDee,’ a distant, dim member of our Solar System

17 April 2017 Astronomy Now

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, astronomers have revealed extraordinary details about a recently discovered far-flung member of our Solar System, the planetary body 2014 UZ224, more informally known as DeeDee.

Watch asteroid 2014 JO25 brush by Earth on 19 April

17 April 2017 Ade Ashford

A peanut-shaped asteroid almost a mile long known as 2014 JO25 passes within 5 lunar distances of Earth on 19 April — the closest any known space rock of this size has approached our planet since September 2004. We show you how to find this fast-moving potentially hazardous asteroid in small telescopes during the UK night of 19-20 April.

Saturn’s disc-shaped moon Atlas spotted by Cassini

16 April 2017 Stephen Clark

One of Saturn’s peculiar moons has received an up-close look from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which sent back the best-ever pictures of Atlas, an object shaped like a flying saucer orbiting just outside the planet’s rings.

The skies above ESO’s Paranal Observatory resemble oil on water

Within reach

16 April 2017 Astronomy Now

The skies above the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory resemble oil on water, as greens, yellows, and blues blend to create an iridescent skyscape.

Keck Observatory achieves first light with new instrument

14 April 2017 Astronomy Now

W. M. Keck Observatory has captured the very first successful science data from its newest, cutting-edge instrument, the Keck Cosmic Web Imager.

A Martian mesa in a sea of sand dunes

14 April 2017 Astronomy Now

This image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a small (0.4 kilometre) mesa, one of several surrounded by sand dunes in Noctis Labyrinthyus, an extensively fractured region on the western end of Valles Marineris.

New discoveries raise prospects for life on moons of Jupiter and Saturn

13 April 2017 Stephen Clark

Scientists announced Thursday that measurements from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected hydrogen gas, a key energy source for microbial life, in a plume gushing from a vast liquid water ocean buried beneath the icy shell of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

NASA news conference on oceans beyond Earth

13 April 2017 Astronomy Now

Watch NASA’s news conference to discuss new findings on the ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn and the prospects for life there.

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