Archive

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.

Lava lake of Io’s volcano Loki viewed with Large Binocular Telescope

30 April 2015 Astronomy Now

With the first detailed observations through imaging interferometry of a lava lake on Io, Jupiter’s innermost Galilean moon, the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory places itself as the forerunner of the next generation of extremely large telescopes.

New crater names as MESSENGER prepares to crash on Mercury

30 April 2015 Astronomy Now

As five impact craters on Mercury receive names, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft is about to create another, since it has run out of propellant and is predicted to impact on the surface of the planet at 8:26 pm BST today.

New Horizons detects features and possible polar cap on Pluto

30 April 2015 Astronomy Now

For the first time, images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft are revealing bright and dark regions on the surface of faraway Pluto — the primary target of the New Horizons close flyby in mid-July.

Was water abundant in the first billion years of the universe?

29 April 2015 Astronomy Now

Bok globules are dark knots of gas and dust in larger molecular clouds that we see today. New theoretical work shows that similar islands of gas enriched in heavy elements in the early universe could have held as much water vapour as we find in our galaxy today.

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

Comet Lovejoy’s May rendezvous with Polaris

Lava lake of Io’s volcano Loki viewed with Large Binocular Telescope

New crater names as MESSENGER prepares to crash on Mercury

New Horizons detects features and possible polar cap on Pluto

Was water abundant in the first billion years of the universe?

A perfect ring

Astrophysicists create 3-D master map of the universe

Orion SkyQuest XX12g Dobsonian

New Stars for Old: Stories from the History of Astronomy