January 2020 – Astronomy Now

Astronomers find more bizarre objects orbiting Milky Way’s black hole

16 January 2020 Astronomy Now

Strange objects orbiting the Milky Way’s central black hole appear to be binary stars that were forced to merge under the influence of the hole’s gravity.

Venus dazzles at dusk and closes in on Neptune

13 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Even casual skywatchers cannot fail to notice brightest planet Venus currently hanging like a lantern above the southwest horizon at dusk. But as Venus moves eastwards through Aquarius on successive nights, it draws closer to outermost (and faintest) planet Neptune until the pair reach a particularly close conjunction on the UK evening of Monday, 27 January.

Hubble finds evidence for widely held ‘cold dark matter’ theory

12 January 2020 Astronomy Now

Using the Hubble Space Telescope an eight gravitationally lensed quasars, researchers have found strong evidence for cold dark matter.

Lucy mission gets another asteroid target – a tiny moon

10 January 2020 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Lucy probe will visit a record seven asteroids during its 12-year mission, including one recently found to feature a small moon.

See the Moon buzz the Beehive Cluster in the small hours of 12 January

9 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Observers in the UK with a clear sky high to the south-southeast shortly after midnight on Sunday, 12 January 2020 can see the 16-day-old waning gibbous Moon just three-quarters of a degree north of the beautiful open star cluster Messier 44, otherwise known as Praesepe, or the Beehive Cluster.

Trail-blazing astronomer Vera Rubin honoured

8 January 2020 Astronomy Now

The observatory that will operate the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope has been renamed in honour of the late astronomer Vera Rubin.

A fresh look at the Omega Nebula, courtesy of the SOFIA flying observatory

7 January 2020 Astronomy Now

The Omega Nebula, a favourite target for amateur astronomers, is one of the most massive star-forming regions in the Milky Way. The SOFIA airborne observatory provides a fresh look in a composite image.

TESS finds its first Earth-size planet in host sun’s habitable zone

7 January 2020 Astronomy Now

NASA exoplanet-hunting TESS satellite has found its first habitable-zone Earth-size planet and another orbiting an eclipsing binary system.

SOFIA captures Milky Way’s core in stunning infrared glory

6 January 2020 Astronomy Now

An extremely sharp infrared view of the Milky Way’s central regions may shed light on how massive stars form and what feeds the galaxy’s central black hole.

‘Godzilla’ galaxy, one of largest observed, hosts a trillion suns

6 January 2020 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope is helping astronomers study one of the largest spiral galaxies yet found, a “Godzilla” galaxy hosting a trillion stars.