Archive – Page 258 – Astronomy Now

Watch Tim Peake’s spacewalk live

15 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Watch live as ESA astronaut Tim Peake becomes the first British citizen to walk in space. He will step outside the International Space Station with fellow astronaut Tim Kopra to perform crucial repairs on the orbiting outpost’s electrical system.

Green Pea galaxy provides insights into early universe’s evolution

15 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Newly formed dwarf galaxies were likely the reason that the universe heated up about 13 billion years ago, according to new work by an international team of scientists. The finding opens an avenue for better understanding the early period of the universe’s 14-billion-year history.

Possible ice volcano on Pluto has the ‘Wright stuff’

15 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Scientists with NASA’s New Horizons mission have assembled this highest-resolution colour view of Wright Mons, one of two potential cryovolcanoes spotted on the surface of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015. The feature is 90 miles across and 2.5 miles high, which would make the largest volcano in the outer solar system.

Alan Stern receives Carl Sagan Award

14 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Dr. Alan Stern, associate vice president of the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto, has been awarded the 2016 Carl Sagan Memorial Award by the American Astronautical Society (AAS).

Possibly the most powerful supernova ever seen

14 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Records are made to be broken, as the expression goes, but rarely are records left so thoroughly in the dust. Stunned astronomers have witnessed a cosmic explosion about 200 times more powerful than a typical supernova — events which already rank amongst the mightiest outbursts in the universe — and more than twice as luminous as the previous record-holding supernova.

Bresser Messier AR-152L/1200 refractor OTA

14 January 2016 Steve Ringwood

Reviewer Steve Ringwood takes a look through the Bresser Messier AR-152L/1200 — a classic achromatic doublet refractor of 152mm (six-inch) aperture and f/8 focal ratio. Available as an optical tube only with mounting rings, dovetail, carry handle, 8×50 finder, 26mm eyepiece, diagonal and T-adapter, the instrument employs Bresser’s bespoke Hex Focus system.

First light for future black hole probe

13 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Zooming in on black holes is the main mission for the newly installed GRAVITY instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. During its first observations, GRAVITY successfully combined starlight using all four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes. The first observations using GRAVITY with the four 8-metre VLT Unit Telescopes are planned for later in 2016.

LOFAR radio telescope network to extend into Ireland

13 January 2016 Astronomy Now

The world’s biggest connected radio telescope is about to become even bigger! A LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) station will be constructed this year on the grounds of Birr Castle, located centrally in Ireland. This is not only great news for Irish astrophysics, but also for the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT).

New details on Ceres seen in Dawn images

13 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Features on dwarf planet Ceres that piqued the interest of scientists throughout 2015 stand out in exquisite detail in the latest images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, which recently reached its lowest-ever altitude at Ceres. Dawn took these images near its current altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers) between 19 and 23 December 2015.

See Comet Catalina pass overhead from UK when closest to Earth

13 January 2016 Ade Ashford

Having brushed by bright star Arcturus on 1 January, Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) continues its trek through the constellations of the far north. Now a circumpolar object for the British Isles, in the early hours of 17 January it lies between famous double star Mizar (ζ Ursae Majoris) and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), virtually overhead in the UK.