Archive – Page 138 – Astronomy Now

Dutch MeerLICHT telescope on the lookout for exploding stars

28 May 2018 Astronomy Now

A new optical telescope featuring a 100-megapixel camera will work in concert with a large radio telescope to precisely locate supernovas and other transient high-energy events that show up across multiple wavelenghts.

With fuel running low, Kepler begins 18th observing campaign

27 May 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope began its 18th observing campaign on 12 May, an 82-day run focusing on star clusters, galaxies and a handful of solar system bodies as the spacecraft nears the end of its life. Among its targets is 99942 Apophis, an asteroid expected to pass close by Earth in 2029.

See the Moon get close to Jupiter and a double star at dusk on 27 May

26 May 2018 Ade Ashford

Skywatchers in Western Europe looking at the rising 13-day-old gibbous Moon in the south-southeast at dusk on Sunday, 27 May can also see prime-time Jupiter within the same binocular field of view. But look closer in the vicinity of the solar system’s largest planet and you’ll see an easily resolved double star – alpha Librae.

Get ready for viewing Mars this summer during its closest approach for 15 years

26 May 2018 Ade Ashford

At the end of July 2018, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth since the memorable opposition of 2003. This summer sees the Red Planet big and bright, low in the south around 1am BST, but now’s the time to train your eye to detect prominent Martian surface features – dust storms permitting! We present our interactive Mars Mapper to help plan your observations.

Evidence found for ‘giant comet’ theory of Pluto’s origin

26 May 2018 William Harwood

Data collected by NASA’s New Horizons probe and ESA’s Rosetta mission suggest Pluto might have formed from the accretion of a billion or so smaller bodies similar to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and other Kuiper Belt objects.

A final postcard from a venerable instrument

25 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Before it was decommissioned, the European Southern Observatory’s Visible Multi-Object Spectrograph captured this stunning view of two gravitationally interacting galaxies 110 million light years away. Over its 16-year career, VIMOS captured tens of thousands of galactic spectra, shedding light on how massive galaxies form and evolve.

Jets seen by Rosetta caused by comet’s strange shape

25 May 2018 Astronomy Now

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft observed unusual jets of gas and dust spewing from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko every morning as the sun came up. A new study shows those jets formed as a result of the comet’s strange topography.

Curiosity once again drilling into Mars rocks after long hiatus

24 May 2018 Astronomy Now

The drill at the end of the Curiosity Mars rover’s robot arm is back in action after being sidelined for more than a year by a mechanical problem. A new technique was successfully tested 20 May after months of engineering tests on Earth.

Interstellar asteroid captured by Sun in distant past

23 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers analyzing the retrograde motion of an asteroid orbiting the Sun at Jupiter’s distance shows the body most likely originated in another star system and was captured by the gravity of the Sun and its planets at some point in the distant past.

Computer simulations suggest reason for strange moon shapes

22 May 2018 William Harwood

Computer simulations show how some of Saturn’s small inner moons might have acquired their unique pasta-like shapes thanks to low-velocity near head-on impacts of smaller bodies in the presence of extremely strong tidal forces.