Archive – Page 302 – Astronomy Now

Fossil globular star clusters reveal their age

28 July 2015 Astronomy Now

Using a new age-dating method and the W. M. Keck Observatory, an international team of astronomers have determined that globular star clusters formed in two distinct epochs — 12.5 and 11.5 billion years ago. They formed alongside galaxies, rather than prior to galaxies, as previously thought.

Impact of cosmic wind on galaxy evolution revealed

27 July 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have long known that powerful cosmic winds can sometimes blow through galaxies, sweeping out interstellar material and stopping future star formation. A Yale University analysis of one such event in a nearby galaxy provides an unprecedented look at the process, offering a clearer snapshot of how it happens.

Vernonscope Deluxe 1.25-inch Binoviewer

27 July 2015 Steve Ringwood

Microscopists enjoyed the advantages of binocular vision long before someone thought to apply this principle to telescopes. Using both eyes, the brain is able to interpolate both fields, resulting in a gain in contrast and a consequently improved perception of detail. Steve Ringwood appraises a very stylish model from Venonscope aimed at the top end of the twin eyepiece market.

See Saturn close to the Moon on the evening of 26 July

26 July 2015 Ade Ashford

Saturn’s summer apparition for 2015 is drawing to a close as the ringed planet is highest in the southern sky before sunset for observers in the British Isles, but it can still be found in the bright evening twilight if you have a convenient guide — like tonight’s gibbous Moon.

“The Mirrored Night Sky” by Xiaohua Zhao

26 July 2015 Astronomy Now

The prestigious Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is an annual celebration of the most beautiful and spectacular visions of the cosmos by astrophotographers worldwide. Now in its seventh year, the 2015 competition received 2700 spectacular entries from over 60 countries and the winners will be announced 17 September.

Extended haze in Pluto’s atmosphere

25 July 2015 Astronomy Now

Backlit by the Sun, Pluto’s atmosphere rings its silhouette like a luminous halo in this image taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on July 15. This global portrait of the atmosphere was captured when the spacecraft was about 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometres) from the dwarf planet.

New Horizons discovers flowing ices on Pluto

25 July 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s New Horizons mission has found evidence of exotic ices flowing across Pluto’s surface, at the left edge of its bright heart-shaped area. New close-up images from the spacecraft’s Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) reveal signs of recent geologic activity, something scientists hoped to find but didn’t expect.

Pluto Dazzles in False Colour

24 July 2015 Astronomy Now

Four images from the New Horizon’s probe’s LORRI camera have been combined with colour from the Ralph instrument to create this spectacular false colour image of Pluto.

Simulated map of missing satellite galaxies could answer dark matter puzzle

23 July 2015 Astronomy Now

A ripple in the outskirts of the Milky Way led Rochester Institute of Technology astrophysicist Sukanya Chakrabarti to a previously undetected dwarf galaxy hidden under a veil of dark matter. Now Chakrabarti is refining her technique to uncover dwarf galaxies and understand dark matter by simulating the evolutionary histories of galactic discs and their satellite populations.

New Kepler planet could be Earth’s closest cousin yet

23 July 2015 Keith Cooper

A super-earth discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope and orbiting an older version of our Sun, is tantalising astronomers as potentially being the closest thing to a world like Earth.