Archive – Page 317 – Astronomy Now

Hubble’s Universe

5 May 2015 Owen Brazell

Rather than choosing to celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope’s silver anniversary with another coffee table book of iconic images, author Terence Dickinson offers his own take on the orbiting observatory’s top discoveries, says Owen Brazell.

The Science of Interstellar

5 May 2015 Keith Cooper

It is not often that a major Hollywood science fiction film uses hard science as one of its primary drivers. In Interstellar, this is thanks primarily to the involvement of Professor Kip Thorne of Caltech, writes reviewer Keith Cooper.

First evidence of volcanic activity on a super-Earth?

5 May 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have detected wildly changing temperatures on a super-Earth — the first time any atmospheric variability has been observed on a rocky planet outside the Solar System — and believe it could be due to huge amounts of volcanic activity, further adding to the mystery of what had been nicknamed the ‘diamond planet.’

NASA’s Chandra suggests black holes gorging at excessive rates

4 May 2015 Astronomy Now

A group of unusual giant black holes may be consuming excessive amounts of matter, according to a new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This finding may help astronomers understand how the largest black holes were able to grow so rapidly in the early universe.

The dark matter conspiracy

3 May 2015 Astronomy Now

A new study finds that elliptical galaxies maintain a remarkably constant circular speed out to large distances from their centres, in the same way that spiral galaxies do. In these very different types of galaxies, stars and dark matter somehow conspire to redistribute themselves to produce this effect, or does modified Newtonian dynamics offer an explanation?

Pillars of Creation revealed in 3-D

3 May 2015 Astronomy Now

The iconic 20-year-old Hubble image of the Pillars of Creation is reinterpreted in three dimensions by the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, suggesting that the Pillars of Destruction might be an equally apt name.

High school researchers discover pulsar with widest orbit ever detected

2 May 2015 Astronomy Now

Discovered by a team of high school students analysing data from the Green Bank Telescope, pulsar PSR J1930-1852 has the widest orbit ever observed around another neutron star and is part of only a handful of double neutron star systems.

Mercury’s best early evening twilight show for 2015

1 May 2015 Ade Ashford

The first ten days of May offer observers in the British Isles their best opportunity to see Mercury in the early evening twilight during 2015. So, if you’ve never seen the innermost planet, let dazzling Venus be your convenient guide to this elusive little world.

Jodrell Bank to be headquarters for world’s largest radio telescope

1 May 2015 Astronomy Now

At their 29th April meeting, members of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation decided that negotiations should start with the UK government to locate the permanent headquarters of the SKA project at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank site.

Comet Lovejoy’s May rendezvous with Polaris

1 May 2015 Ade Ashford

Comet Lovejoy has been a easy to follow object since the beginning of the year. Throughout May the comet continues its trek towards the north celestial pole, culminating in a close conjunction with Polaris at the end of the month.