November 2021 – Astronomy Now

Comet Leonard on course for a good showing

29 November 2021 Mark Armstrong

Comet 2021 A1 (LEONARD) has broken out of the cometary pack to brighten up and shine close to naked-eye magnitude. All the indications look good for it at the very least to become a nice object through a pair of binoculars.

Curiosity Mars rover beams back ‘artistic’ postcard view of Gale Crater

26 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Pausing on the slopes of Mount Sharp, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover set back two black-and-white panoramas that were colourised to provide an “artistic” view looking back along its recent path with the rim of Gale Crater rising in the distance.

NASA resumes James Webb launch preps after incident review

26 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers find no damage to James Webb Space Telescope after ground-processing incident that jostled the $10 billion observatory.

NASA spacecraft blasts off on experimental mission to divert asteroid

24 November 2021 Stephen Clark

A small NASA space probe blasted off from California early Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a first-of-its-kind mission to change the orbit of an asteroid, pioneering a technique that may one day be used to divert an asteroid off of a collision course with Earth.

James Webb Space Telescope launch delayed pending ‘incident’ review

23 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is being delayed at least four days after a ground processing “incident” at the French Guiana launch site.

Longest partial lunar eclipse for nearly 600 years favours North America

18 November 2021 Mark Armstrong

There’s a partial eclipse of the Moon on 18/19 November which is a favourable event for observers in North America. Lasting for 208.4 minutes (the deeper, umbral part of the eclipse) it is the longest since 1440.

Apparent galactic train wreck actually widely separated galaxies in chance alignment

17 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Examples of colliding galaxies are commonplace, but chance alignments showing apparent collisions between widely separated galaxies are more rare, but equally spectacular.

Hubble camera back on line; other instruments remain in ‘safe mode’

17 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers restore Hubble camera to operation amid troubleshooting to bring other instruments back on line after a data synchronisation glitch.

Catch Leonid meteors in the moonlight

16 November 2021 Mark Armstrong

The famous Leonid meteor shower returns this week, with its activity predicted to peak between 09h and 11h UT on November 17.

Engineers test workarounds to recover from Hubble synchronisation glitch

5 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers are testing workarounds to recover from a data handling glitch aboard the Hubble Space Telescope that has put the observatory in ‘safe mode,’ suspending science operations.