Archive – Page 38 – Astronomy Now

NASA spacecraft blasts off on experimental mission to divert asteroid

24 November 2021 Stephen Clark

A small NASA space probe blasted off from California early Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a first-of-its-kind mission to change the orbit of an asteroid, pioneering a technique that may one day be used to divert an asteroid off of a collision course with Earth.

James Webb Space Telescope launch delayed pending ‘incident’ review

23 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is being delayed at least four days after a ground processing “incident” at the French Guiana launch site.

Longest partial lunar eclipse for nearly 600 years favours North America

18 November 2021 Mark Armstrong

There’s a partial eclipse of the Moon on 18/19 November which is a favourable event for observers in North America. Lasting for 208.4 minutes (the deeper, umbral part of the eclipse) it is the longest since 1440.

Apparent galactic train wreck actually widely separated galaxies in chance alignment

17 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Examples of colliding galaxies are commonplace, but chance alignments showing apparent collisions between widely separated galaxies are more rare, but equally spectacular.

Hubble camera back on line; other instruments remain in ‘safe mode’

17 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers restore Hubble camera to operation amid troubleshooting to bring other instruments back on line after a data synchronisation glitch.

Catch Leonid meteors in the moonlight

16 November 2021 Mark Armstrong

The famous Leonid meteor shower returns this week, with its activity predicted to peak between 09h and 11h UT on November 17.

Engineers test workarounds to recover from Hubble synchronisation glitch

5 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers are testing workarounds to recover from a data handling glitch aboard the Hubble Space Telescope that has put the observatory in ‘safe mode,’ suspending science operations.

Observe remote Uranus at this favourable opposition

4 November 2021 Mark Armstrong

Uranus, the remote seventh planet from the Sun and the third-largest planet overall, comes to opposition on the night of 4/5 November, when it can be easily found through a pair of humble 10 x 50 binoculars.

A mysterious ‘superbubble’ carved in the heart of a glowing emission nebula

3 November 2021 Astronomy Now

A 250-light-year-wide superbubble in an emission nebular hints at unseen processes at work to carve out a void in glowing clouds of hydrogen gas an dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Hubble Space Telescope in ‘safe mode’ – engineers troubleshooting

2 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers are troubleshooting command and data timing issues aboard the Hubble Space Telescope that have temporarily knocked the observatory out of action.