December 2018 – Page 3 – Astronomy Now

M100 shows just how far Hubble has come since spherical aberration

14 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Twenty-five years ago this month, spacewalking astronauts installed corrective optics aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, correcting its famously blurred vision. Galaxy M100 was used to demonstrate the success of the repair, and the imagery has steadily improved since then.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots InSight on red planet

13 December 2018 Astronomy Now

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured a bird’s eye view of NASA’s InSight lander on the surface of Mars, along with the spacecraft’s heat shield, backshell and parachute.

Don’t miss the Geminid meteor shower 13–14 December 2018

13 December 2018 Ade Ashford

The December Geminid meteor shower is generally regarded as the richest and most reliable of the major annual shooting star displays. This year the predicted peak occurs close to 12h UT on 14 December, though high rates of activity should be encountered between 8pm GMT on Thursday, 13 December and 5pm GMT the following evening.

ALMA finds well-developed protoplanetary discs around young suns

12 December 2018 Astronomy Now

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array has captured stunning views of 20 protoplanetary discs around young, nearby stars, all of them suggesting planets are forming faster than expected

Catch close Comet 46P/Wirtanen near the Pleiades on 16 December

12 December 2018 Ade Ashford

Bright Comet 46P/Wirtanen skims past Earth just 30 lunar distances away on 16 December when it could become a diffuse magnitude +3 object almost a degree wide located between the Pleiades and Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus. Grab your binoculars and find a dark sky location well away from streetlights to enjoy this Christmas comet before the glow from a waxing Moon gets too bright from 17 December.

InSight selfie reveals drab, featureless plain – just what the doctor ordered

11 December 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s InSight Mars lander has snapped its first selfie on the surface of the red planet, revealing a level, almost featureless plain that’s exactlly the sort of landing site mission scientists wanted.

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft detects water-bearing minerals on Bennu

11 December 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft now exploring the asteroid Bennu has spotted hydrated minerals across the rocky surface of the ancient body, indicating the action of water in the distant past

Voyager 2 crosses solar boundary, moves into interstellar space

10 December 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s long-lived Voyager 2 probe, still sending back data 41 years after launch in 1977, has finally moved into interstellar space, joining Voyager 1 in the void between the stars.

Behaviour of fastest-growing white dwarf contradicts accepted theory

9 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Observations of a fast-growing white dwarf suggest an alternative explanation for what triggers X-ray outbursts as gas from a companion star falls onto the dwarf

Comet-like tails seen stretching away from massive young stars

9 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array provides a spectacular view of comet-like tails stretching away from massive young stars in a cluster of giant suns, an indicator of the dynamic environment in such stellar assemblies.