April 2019 – Page 3 – Astronomy Now

‘Virtual’ telescope captures first direct image of black hole

10 April 2019 Astronomy Now

For the first time, astronomers have captured a direct view of the environment just outside the event horizon of a supermassive black hole.

BepiColombo ready for long cruise to Mercury

10 April 2019 Astronomy Now

The European Space Agency’s ambitious BebiCololmbo probe has completed commissioning and is now clear for the long voyage to Mercury

See Mercury and Venus in the pre-dawn sky from the Southern Hemisphere

10 April 2019 Ade Ashford

Mercury attains a very favourable western elongation of almost 28 degrees from the Sun on 11 April, which means that the innermost planet is a morning object in the eastern sky before sunrise. Antipodean skywatchers are in the enviable position of being able to see Mercury and Venus close together for several mornings in a dark sky before the onset of astronomical twilight.

New view of the Moon, courtesy of Israeli lander

5 April 2019 Astronomy Now

The Israeli Beresheet lander, while braking into orbit around the Moon 4 April, beamed back stunning views of lunar farside, giving a hint of what to expect after landing 11 April.

Dust-choked doughnut detected around gargantuan black hole

5 April 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have made the first direct observation of a dust-choked torus surrounding a supermassive black hole powering an active galactic nucleus.

Israeli lunar lander slips into orbit around the moon

4 April 2019 Astronomy Now

Israel’s Beresheet lunar lander carried out a critical rocket firing 4 April to brake into orbit around the moon, setting the stage for landing 11 April.

Watch asteroid Pallas’ close brush with star Eta Boötis near Arcturus on 10 April

4 April 2019 Ade Ashford

For ten nights starting 5 April 2019, asteroid 2 Pallas and unmistakable Arcturus – the northern celestial hemisphere’s brightest star – lie within the same field of view of typical 8× binoculars. Also, don’t miss magnitude +7.9 Pallas’s very close conjunction with magnitude +2.7 star eta (η) Boötis at 22h UT (11pm BST) on the night of 10 April.

Parker Solar Probe makes second close pass by Sun

4 April 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is making its second close flyby of the Sun this week, passing within a scant 24 million km (15 million miles) of Earth’s star.

Upgrades to gravity wave detectors promise more discoveries

3 April 2019 Astronomy Now

After major upgrades to improve sensitivity, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories are set to begin a year of joint observations.

Spitzer spies a stellar nursery floating in space like a cosmic butterfly

1 April 2019 Astronomy Now

Using its keen multi-wavelength infrared vision, the Spitzer Space Telescope is providing fresh insights into an Orion-class nebula and star-forming region some 1,400 light years from Earth where winds from massive young stars heat up vast butterfly-like wings.