Archive – Page 38 – Astronomy Now

Astronomers mining an increasingly rich trove of TESS exoplanet data

24 January 2022 Astronomy Now

NASA’s TESS spacecraft has now found more than 5,000 exoplanet candidates, including three newly-confirmed worlds that face uncertain futures.

Rippling sand dunes across the floor of a crater at zero longitude on Mars

24 January 2022 Astronomy Now

Rippling sand dunes across the floor of a martian crater provide an intriguing backdrop for map makers using the depression to identify zero longitude on the red planet.

Black hole contains nearly all the mass at the heart of the Milky Way

17 January 2022 Astronomy Now

New observations indicate the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way contains almost all the mass at the very center of the galaxy.

A 150-million-year-old look at a spectacular spiral

17 January 2022 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope is adept at spotting supernova blasts in remote galaxies, helping astronomers pin down the cosmic distance scale. Galaxy NGC 976 it a typically spectacular example of a Hubble target.

Webb mirrors fully deployed, clearing the way for alignment

10 January 2022 Astronomy Now

Two weeks after its Christmas Day launch, engineers completed the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror deployment, clearing the way for alignment and focusing.

The Flame Nebula shines in mesmerising SuperCam image of Orion

5 January 2022 Astronomy Now

The Flame Nebula in Orion, photobombed by the Horsehead Nebula, blazes in a newly processed image captured by the SuperCam instrument at the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment.

‘We nailed it!’ Webb clears major hurdle with full sunshade deployment

5 January 2022 Stephen Clark

The final layers of the James Webb Space Telescope’s sunshade were robotically pulled taut with a system of motors, cables, and pulleys Tuesday, clearing a major milestone before unfolding mirrors to collect light from the oldest galaxies in the Universe.

NASA holds up final Webb sunshade deploy to double check readiness

3 January 2022 Astronomy Now

Final tightening of Webb’s critical sunshade will clear the way for deployment of the telescope’s optical elements.

Catch some Quadrantid meteors to kick off 2022

1 January 2022 Mark Armstrong

The annual Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on the night of 3/4 January and, as one of the recognised major meteor showers of the year, there’s a great chance to see at least dozens of shooting stars each hour, especially as the Moon will not interfere this year.

Webb ready for critical work to open sunshield

31 December 2021 Stephen Clark

The James Webb Space Telescope opened covers that protected the mission’s folded sunshield Thursday, and deployed a momentum flap to help the observatory balance against the unending light pressure from the sun.