July 2019 – Page 2 – Astronomy Now

India launches robotic mission to land on the Moon

22 July 2019 Stephen Clark

Seeking to become the fourth nation to successfully land on the moon, India launched an ambitious robotic lunar mission named Chandrayaan 2 on Monday, targeting a touchdown near the lunar south pole Sept. 6.

See the International Space Station above the eclipsed Moon on 16 July

16 July 2019 Ade Ashford

The serene beauty of the International Space Station gliding silently across the sky needs nothing more than the naked eye to appreciate. But when the dazzling ISS is also in conjunction with a partially eclipsed Moon, Saturn and Jupiter on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch, be sure to look low in the southeast through south around 10:06pm BST on 16 July 2019!

Asteroid with shortest year spotted

15 July 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have spotted an unusual asteroid with the shortest “year” known for any asteroid. The rocky body, dubbed 2019 LF6, is about a kilometre in size and circles the Sun roughly every 151 days.

Don’t miss Tuesday night’s partial lunar eclipse

15 July 2019 Mark Armstrong

A partial eclipse of the Moon will be visible from across the UK on the evening of 16/17 July, with the Moon rising already partially immersed in Earth’s deep umbral shadow.

India seeks to join exclusive company with ambitious moon mission

14 July 2019 Stephen Clark

India’s ambitious $142 million Chandrayaan 2 moon mission, comprising a orbiter, lander and rover, is set for liftoff Sunday to begin a nearly two-month transit culminating in a touchdown near the lunar south pole in September.

Russia launches international X-ray astronomy mission

14 July 2019 Stephen Clark

A Proton rocket and Block DM upper stage climbed into space Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with Spektr-RG, an astronomical observatory with dual X-ray telescopes developed by Russian and German scientists on the hunt for the signature of dark energy.

Curiosity Mars rover spotted from orbit

13 July 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover can be seen in this image taken from space on 31 May 2019, by the high resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Japanese spacecraft snags second sample from asteroid

11 July 2019 Stephen Clark

Scientists celebrated another success with Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft late Wednesday (U.S. time), when the robot explorer accomplished a second pinpoint touch-and-go landing on asteroid Ryugu, this time to collect a sample of pristine dust and rock excavated by an explosive impactor earlier this year.

Totality over the observatory domes

7 July 2019 Astronomy Now

The path of totality of a solar eclipse touched the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory on 2 July 2019. This rare astronomical event occurred as the observatory celebrated its 50th year of operation.

Hayabusa 2 cleared for second touchdown on asteroid

5 July 2019 Stephen Clark

Ground teams have approved plans for Japan’s Hayabusa 2 sample return mission to briefly land on asteroid Ryugu for the second time on 11 July, aiming for a targeted touch-and-go to gather material exposed by an explosive impactor released by the robot explorer in April.