Archive – Page 119 – Astronomy Now

Spitzer images the Cat’s Paw Nebula in all its infrared glory

23 October 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope captures a spectacular view of the Cat’s Paw Nebula some 5,000 light years away, showing vast clouds of gas warmed by hot young stars creating huge reddish bubbles that may someday burst into the surrounding space.

ALMA takes Europa’s temperature; heat signatures not seen at plume sites

23 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have created a thermal map of Jupiter’s moon Europa, showing temperature variations across its surface. But another team has found no signs of hot spots where suspected plumes are located.

NASA prepares Hubble for return to service after gyro work

23 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Engineers have cleared a problem with one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s critical gyroscopes and plan to return the observatory to normal science operations after final tests to verify healthy performance.

Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury

21 October 2018 William Harwood

A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury.

Red dwarf superflares pose threats to exoplanet atmospheres

19 October 2018 Astronomy Now

New observations indicate young red dwarf stars are much more likely to experience extremely powerful flares, possibly affecting exoplanet habitability.

Gamma ray burst sheds light on gravity wave event

18 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers studying the aftermath of a gamma ray burst say it may represent a new class of events that generate powerful, short-lived jets of energetic particles.

Now you see it, now you don’t – a solar transit by the space station

18 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Catching the International Space Station as it crosses the face of the Sun in less than one second is a challenge for even accomplished photographers, but Dani Caxete of Spain captured a potential prize-winner for the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

Infant galactic supercluster found in early universe

18 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a proto-supercluster of galaxies in the very early universe, the most massive structure yet found in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang.

See the Moon get close to Mars on 18 October

17 October 2018 Ade Ashford

Skywatchers in Western Europe looking in the southern sky at dusk on Thursday, 18 October can see the 9-day-old waxing gibbous Moon close to the upper left of Mars, the pair fitting comfortably in the same field of view of typical binoculars. This is also a good night for spotting some prominent martian features telescopically – seeing permitting!

How did a very young star end up with four gas giants?

15 October 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have discovered evidence of three more gas giant worlds orbiting a star already known to host a ‘hot Jupiter’ in an extremely close orbit. The observations raise new questions about how solar systems form.