Archive – Page 330 – Astronomy Now

Distant supernova split four ways by gravitational lens

5 March 2015 Astronomy Now

An astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, has found a massive galaxy within the MACS J1149 galaxy cluster that is gravitationally bending and magnifying light to create four separate images of a distant supernova.

See the smallest Full Moon of 2015 tonight

5 March 2015 Ade Ashford

If you feel that tonight’s rising Full Moon is that bit smaller than usual then you’d be right, for this is a so-called Micromoon — one that occurs close to the point in the Moon’s orbit where it is furthest from the Earth.

Why isn’t the universe as bright as it should be?

4 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers from MIT, Columbia University, and Michigan State University have developed a theory describing how clusters of galaxies may regulate star formation, explaining why galaxies don’t churn out as many stars as they should.

Wayward star cluster Kim 2 located far from home in the Galactic suburbs

4 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers conducting the Stromlo Milky Way Satellites Survey at the Australian National University discover a small star cluster that is about ten times more distant than the average globular in the halo of the Milky Way.

Rosetta glimpses its own shadow on comet 67P

4 March 2015 Stephen Clark

The sharp-eyed science camera on Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter caught a view of the probe’s fuzzy shadow when controllers guided the spacecraft just a few miles over its subject’s nucleus last month.

Planets Venus and Uranus in close conjunction

4 March 2015 Ade Ashford

On Wednesday, March 4th, planets Venus and Mars will be easy naked-eye objects in the western sky at dusk, but in a telescope you’ll have the added bonus of spotting gas giant Uranus very close to Venus.

Dawn Ceres Arrival News Briefing

3 March 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA holds a news conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to preview the arrival of the Dawn probe at Dwarf Planet Ceres.

Wind-distorted wave creates huge Y-shaped features in Venusian clouds

3 March 2015 Astronomy Now

When observed in the ultraviolet, Venus’ atmosphere is covered by dark Y-shaped structures whose origin and evolution has been a mystery since their discovery more than half a century ago. Now astronomers in Spain and Portugal have described the mechanism that sustains this phenomenon.

NASA spacecraft nears historic arrival at dwarf planet Ceres

2 March 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to entering orbit around Ceres on Friday, March 6th — the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet.

An old-looking, dusty galaxy in a young universe

2 March 2015 Astronomy Now

One of the most distant galaxies ever observed, A1689-zD1, has provided astronomers with the first detection of dust in such a remote star-forming system and tantalising evidence for the rapid evolution of galaxies after the Big Bang.