Archive

New view of the Moon, courtesy of Israeli lander

5 April 2019 Astronomy Now

The Israeli Beresheet lander, while braking into orbit around the Moon 4 April, beamed back stunning views of lunar farside, giving a hint of what to expect after landing 11 April.

Dust-choked doughnut detected around gargantuan black hole

5 April 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have made the first direct observation of a dust-choked torus surrounding a supermassive black hole powering an active galactic nucleus.

Israeli lunar lander slips into orbit around the moon

4 April 2019 Astronomy Now

Israel’s Beresheet lunar lander carried out a critical rocket firing 4 April to brake into orbit around the moon, setting the stage for landing 11 April.

Watch asteroid Pallas’ close brush with star Eta Boötis near Arcturus on 10 April

4 April 2019 Ade Ashford

For ten nights starting 5 April 2019, asteroid 2 Pallas and unmistakable Arcturus – the northern celestial hemisphere’s brightest star – lie within the same field of view of typical 8× binoculars. Also, don’t miss magnitude +7.9 Pallas’s very close conjunction with magnitude +2.7 star eta (η) Boötis at 22h UT (11pm BST) on the night of 10 April.

Parker Solar Probe makes second close pass by Sun

4 April 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is making its second close flyby of the Sun this week, passing within a scant 24 million km (15 million miles) of Earth’s star.

Upgrades to gravity wave detectors promise more discoveries

3 April 2019 Astronomy Now

After major upgrades to improve sensitivity, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories are set to begin a year of joint observations.

Spitzer spies a stellar nursery floating in space like a cosmic butterfly

1 April 2019 Astronomy Now

Using its keen multi-wavelength infrared vision, the Spitzer Space Telescope is providing fresh insights into an Orion-class nebula and star-forming region some 1,400 light years from Earth where winds from massive young stars heat up vast butterfly-like wings.