August 2020 – Astronomy Now

Spitzer spies a hot spot of star formation

30 August 2020 Astronomy Now

The star-forming nebula W51 is one of the largest “star factories” in the Milky Way galaxy. Interstellar dust blocks the visible light emitted by the region, but it is revealed by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, which captures infrared light that can penetrate dust clouds.

Gemini North captures mesmerising view of Comet NEOWISE’s rotation

25 August 2020 Astronomy Now

Researchers using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii observe a spiralling outflow of gas from Comet NEOWISE, revealing its rotation.

Nearby supernova blasts may be culprits in at least one mass extinction

24 August 2020 Astronomy Now

Nearby supernovae may be to blame for an extended depletion of Earth’s protective ozone layer at the end of the Devonian period, triggering a mass extinction

Telescope review: Unistellar’s eVscope, the next generation of telescope

23 August 2020 Ade Ashford

The eVscope is the brainchild of three scientists and one industrial engineer. Together, they founded Unistellar to realise their dream of a portable, self-contained and easy-to-use instrument for astronomers that they say is “100 times more powerful than a classical telescope.”

Terrible twins

23 August 2020 Astronomy Now

Some galaxies are closer friends than others. While many live their own separate, solitary lives, others stray a little too close to a near neighbour and take their relationship to the next level.

Faint cometary globule comes to life in spectacular VLT image of structure’s gaping maw

21 August 2020 Astronomy Now

Cometary globules have no more to do with comets than planetary nebulae do with planets, but they can form intriguing, isolated structures that provide colourful tapestries of faintly glowing gas and dust.

Researchers find gas cloud pulsing in synch with distant microquasar

21 August 2020 Astronomy Now

Researchers find otherwise inconspicuous gas cloud pulsing in harmony with a distant black hole, suggesting a direct connection.

Debris in Kepler supernova remnant clocked at 23 million mph

19 August 2020 Astronomy Now

Debris in supernova remnant still moving at more than 20 million mph 400 years after Type 1a explosion.

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede shows hints of Solar System’s largest impact

17 August 2020 Astronomy Now

A 90-mile-wide asteroid may have smashed into Jupiter’s moon Ganymede in the remote past, leaving still-visible traces of a cataclysmic collision.

Shallow lightning and ammonia ‘mushballs’ suggested by data from Juno probe

15 August 2020 William Harwood

Data from NASA’s Juno probe indicates violent electrical storms at higher altitudes than previously thought, storms that generate ammonia-enriched “mushballs” that fall like hail into the atmosphere below.