December 2018 – Astronomy Now

Supernovae not needed for at least some heavy isotopes

31 December 2018 Astronomy Now

New research suggesgs low-mass stars can cook up heavy elements, helping explain the observed abundance of some heavy isotopes.

Live coverage: New Horizons returns first close-up image

30 December 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made a historic New Year’s encounter with an object nicknamed Ultima Thule in the Kuiper Belt a billion miles beyond Pluto. The probe passed around 3,500 kilometres from the mysterious object at 0533 GMT on New Year’s Day, making it the most distant Solar System body ever explored up close.

New Horizons closing in for historic flyby of Ultima Thule

29 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Covering 1.2 million kilometres per day, NASA’s New Horizons probe is on course for a high-speed New Year’s Day flyby of the Kuiper Belt body known as Ultima Thule.

The Helix Nebula’s amazing (and perplexing) structure

29 December 2018 Astronomy Now

The Helix Nebula is a familiar target to amateur astronomers, a dim, eyepiece-filling doughnut that belies the complexity revealed by spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other sensitive instruments.

See the old Moon close to Venus then Jupiter in the dawn sky

28 December 2018 Ade Ashford

Early risers in the UK with an unobstructed horizon from southeast through south can see the old crescent Moon close to dazzling Venus in Libra then Jupiter in Ophiuchus over three consecutive mornings starting New Year’s Day around 7am GMT. The brightest and largest planets lie little more than the span of an outstretched hand at arm’s length apart at this time.

Baby star throws a fit, erupts with titanic flare

28 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have observed a titanic flare on a young star that was 10,000 times more powerful than any outburst ever recorded from Earth’s Sun, possibly influencing the eventual development of planets.

Viewing the moon through a VERY large telescope

27 December 2018 Astronomy Now

While removing a decommissioned instrument from one of the four telescopes making up the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers took time to enjoy an unprecedented view of the Moon.

Saturn might lose its rings much sooner than expected

26 December 2018 Astronomy Now

The icy material making up Saturn’s rings is raining down into the planet’s atmosphere at rates implying the rings will disappear over the next 100 million to 300 million years.

Researchers find a “fossil” cloud made up of the original star stuff

25 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found only the third example of a fossil cloud made up of material generated in the Big Bang that’s not “polluted” by heavier elements cooked up in supernova blasts.

An iconic image of Earth, a Christmas gift from the crew of Apollo 8

24 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Fifty years ago this week, the crew of Apollo 8 witnessed Earthrise over the limb of the moon, capturing the historic moment in an iconic photo that came to symbolize the Cold War space race, the budding environmental movement and the dream of a slain president. Many at NASA consider Apollo 8 the agency’s boldest mission.