Archive – Page 39 – Astronomy Now

Hubble Space Telescope completes its annual ‘grand tour’ of the Solar System

13 December 2021 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope takes its annual tour of the outer planets, capturing spectacular views of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune to help astronomers monitor their always changing weather patterns.

Titanic solar storm on young Sun-like star poses warning for Earth

13 December 2021 Astronomy Now

Astronomers spot record superflare, huge coronal mass ejection, erupting from young Sun-like star.

It’s time for the Geminid meteors to burst out bright

12 December 2021 Mark Armstrong

The peak of the Geminid meteor shower is predicted to take place on Monday night into Tuesday morning. Year on year, the Geminids have become the best and most reliable of the annual meteor showers.

The planets put on a sunset sky show

6 December 2021 Mark Armstrong

As 2021 draws to a close, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are seen together soon after sunset in the south to south-western sky. This attractive and enticing spectacle is embellished when a waxing crescent Moon comes a-calling in early December.

Comet Leonard on course for a good showing

29 November 2021 Mark Armstrong

Comet 2021 A1 (LEONARD) has broken out of the cometary pack to brighten up and shine close to naked-eye magnitude. All the indications look good for it at the very least to become a nice object through a pair of binoculars.

Curiosity Mars rover beams back ‘artistic’ postcard view of Gale Crater

26 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Pausing on the slopes of Mount Sharp, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover set back two black-and-white panoramas that were colourised to provide an “artistic” view looking back along its recent path with the rim of Gale Crater rising in the distance.

NASA resumes James Webb launch preps after incident review

26 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers find no damage to James Webb Space Telescope after ground-processing incident that jostled the $10 billion observatory.

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.