Archive – Page 338 – Astronomy Now

Kepler astronomers discover ancient star with five Earth-size planets

27 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers in the US and UK have discovered one of the oldest planetary systems in the galaxy, orbiting one of the first generation of stars that formed 11.2 billion years ago when the universe was less than 20% of its current age.

Farewell, until the next time, 2004 BL86: a personal view

27 January 2015 Ade Ashford

Clear skies in eastern England during the night of 26th/27th January enabled this fortunate observer to take a good look at and photograph asteroid 2004 BL86 during its close approach to Earth.

Asteroid that flew close by Earth 26th January has a moon

27 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Radar observations made with NASA’s 70-metre-wide Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California yesterday show that close-approach asteroid 2004 BL86 has a small moon.

Exoplanet J1407b possesses ring system 200 times larger than Saturn’s

26 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers in The Netherlands and United States show that a young giant planet or brown dwarf known as J1407b possesses a complex ring system 120 million kilometres in diameter.

Chandra celebrates the International Year of Light

26 January 2015 Astronomy Now

The United Nations has declared 2015 the International Year of Light, and to recognise the start of the event, the Chandra X-ray Center is releasing a set of images that combine data from telescopes tuned to different wavelengths of light.

Orbiting Aragoscope could image Earth and sky at higher resolution than Hubble

25 January 2015 Astronomy Now

University of Colorado researchers are poised to update NASA on their revolutionary Aragoscope concept — a telescope in geostationary orbit capable of imaging objects in space or on Earth at hundreds of times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.

ASA reducer/corrector for Newtonians

24 January 2015 Steve Ringwood

With this lens from ASA (Astro Systeme Austria) you can make rich-field Newtonian telescope even richer, whilst correcting aberrations, for stunning wide-field views or shorter exposures while astroimaging.

Black hole on a diet creates a ‘changing look’ quasar

24 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Yale University-led researchers have been able to study both the bright and dim phases of a quasar in a single source, an object that had dimmed by a factor of six or seven, compared with observations from a few years earlier.

24th Jan: Griffith Observatory live webcast of rare triple moon shadows on Jupiter

23 January 2015 Ade Ashford

With good weather predicted, UK observers are in for a early treat on the morning of Saturday, 24th January, when a rare triple shadow transit of Jupiter’s moons occurs — an event not to be repeated until 2032. If cloudy, Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles is hosting a live webcast.

Rosetta data from ‘C-G’ give closest-ever look at a comet

22 January 2015 Astronomy Now

A special issue of journal Science published 23rd January reveals details about the shape, evolution and lifespan of comet 67P-Churyumov/Gerasimenko.