February 2020 – Page 3 – Astronomy Now

Transition from red giant to white dwarf interrupted in unusual binary system

5 February 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a binary star system in which a swelling red giant swallowed a smaller companion that then spiralled inward, triggering unusual outbursts.

White dwarf in pulsar binary “drags” space as Einstein predicted

5 February 2020 Astronomy Now

Scientists measure spacetime ‘frame dragging’ around white dwarf by measuring its effects on a companion radio pulsar.

Let Venus be your guide to Mercury at its best in February

1 February 2020 Ade Ashford

Mercury is poised to put on a fine evening show for Northern Hemisphere observers at dusk, attaining a greatest elongation 18.2 degrees east of the Sun on Monday, 10 February 2020. For ten evenings starting 3 February, the innermost planet and its brightest sibling, Venus, maintain an almost constant angular separation low in the west-southwest 40 minutes after UK sunset.