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News: November 2010

Pulsating star mystery solved

By discovering the first double star where a pulsating Cepheid variable and another star pass in front of one another, an international team of astronomers has solved a decades-old mystery.

READ MORE

 

Magnetism common to all cosmic jets?

Astronomers have found the first evidence of a magnetic field in a jet of material ejected by a young star, offering insight into jet formation and the role of magnetic fields in star birth.

READ MORE

 

Cassini finds ethereal atmosphere at Rhea

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected a very tenuous atmosphere known as an exosphere, infused with oxygen and carbon dioxide around Saturn's icy moon Rhea

NASA SCIENCE RELEASE

 

Stripes are back in season on Jupiter

New NASA images support findings that one of Jupiter's stripes that "disappeared" last spring is now showing signs of a comeback. These new observations will help scientists better understand the interaction between Jupiter's winds and cloud chemistry.

NASA NEWS STORY

 

First methane dwarf found orbiting dying star

A very cool methane-rich brown dwarf and a dying white dwarf star have been found orbiting each other by astronomers using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), the Gemini Observatory and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.

READ MORE

 

Planet from another galaxy discovered

A team of astronomers using ESO's 2.2 metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile have detected a hot-jupiter planet like no other, orbiting a star of extragalactic origin that now finds itself in our own Milky Way.

READ MORE

 

Brian Marsden, eminent astronomer and comet/asteroid tracker, dies

Brian Geoffrey Marsden passed away today at the age of 73 following a prolonged illness. He was a Supervisory Astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Director Emeritus of the Minor Planet Center.

PRESS RELEASE
ASTRONOMY NOW'S OBITUARY, by MARK ARMSTRONG

 

White dwarf binaries
set to merge

A team of astronomers have uncovered a dozen double-star systems of which half are spiraling towards each other, set to explode as faint, 'underluminous' supernovae.

READ MORE

 

WISE view of a
planetary nebula

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has detected two rings of fluorescing gas around a pair dying stars.

READ MORE

 

Hayabusa brought back asteroid grains

Japanese scientists have concluded the Hayabusa probe limped back to Earth with the first flakes of an asteroid ever returned to terrestrial labs from deep space.

READ MORE

 

Space observatories find baby black hole

Evidence for a 30 year old black hole has been uncovered by an armada of space orbiting observatories, including NASA's Chandra and Swift satellites, ESA's XMM-Newton and the German ROSAT observatory.

READ MORE

 

Allan Sandage, 1926-2010

Allan Sandage, one of the greatest astronomers of the twentieth century, has died at the age of 84. Sandage, who worked with Edwin Hubble as an assistant at Mount Wilson Observatory, played an integral part in increasing our understanding of the scale of the Universe and determining the Hubble Constant, which describes the Universe’s expansion.

READ MORE

 

Dry ice fuels comet jets

Less than week after NASA's flyby of Comet Hartley 2 and scientific discoveries are already being announced, including the latest finding that dry ice is the fuel for the comet's jets seen bursting from its surface.

   READ MORE
   IMAGES: FIRST VIEWS OF HARTLEY 2
   SUCCESSFUL FLYBY
   PREVIEW STORY

 

Mission: Earth

An interview with ESA scientist Dr Mark Drinkwater, Mission Scientist for the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) and CryoSat, on ESA's Living Earth Programme.

READ MORE

 

Fermi finds giant bubbles
in Milky Way

A previously unseen structure spanning across 50,000 light years and possibly millions of years old has been discovered in the heart of our Galaxy.

READ MORE

 

Is Saturn on a cosmic
dimmer switch?

According to Cassini observations, Saturn emitted less and less energy in the years from 2005 to 2009, but the planet's southern hemisphere emitted more than the northern hemisphere, changing with the seasons.

READ MORE

 
 

Back to latest news

2010 Yearbook
Our latest 132-page Astronomy Now special edition is an extravaganza of astronomy for the year ahead, with a complete 30-page guide to observing the planets, moon, meteor showers, two solar eclipses, and the deep sky in 2010.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE
 

Take the tour!
A 100-page special edition from the creators of Astronomy Now magazine, The Grand Tour of the Universe takes readers from one end of the Universe to the other and, in doing so, asks the question "just how big is the Universe?"
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE


Infinity Rising
This special publication features the photography of British astro-imager Nik Szymanek and covers a range of photographic methods from basic to advanced. Beautiful pictures of the night sky can be obtained with a simple camera and tripod before tackling more difficult projects, such as guided astrophotography through the telescope and CCD imaging.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

Guide to the Constellations
Astronomy Now presents this 100-page, full-colour guide to the 68 constellations visible from the British Isles by Neil Bone, the respected amateur astronomer and writer.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

Exploring Mars
Astronomy Now is pleased to announce the publication of Exploring Mars. The very best images of Mars taken by orbiting spacecraft and NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers fill up the 98 glossy pages of this special edition!
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE