Archive – Page 66 – Astronomy Now

A naked-eye comet graces our skies

7 July 2020 Mark Armstrong

Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is putting on a fine showing in the pre-dawn northern sky after emerging intact from perihelion (closest point to the Sun).

Curiosity kicks off summer road trip up Mount Sharp

6 July 2020 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has started a summer road trip, skirting dangerous sand as it heads for its next target.

Quantum jolts measured at macro scales in gravity wave detector

6 July 2020 Astronomy Now

Researchers measure the unimaginably small jostling caused by quantum fluctuations at human scales.

Now you see it, now you don’t; a massive star disappears

2 July 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers ponder the fate of a massive star in a remote dwarf galaxy that disappeared without a trace.

Launch of NASA’s next Mars rover delayed to 30 July

1 July 2020 Astronomy Now

Launch of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has been delayed to 30 July at the earliest after a series of processing snags.

Most massive black hole yet discovered redefines ‘gargantuan’

1 July 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers find a supermassive black hole 8,000 times more massive than the one at the heart of the Milky Way.

Giant star spots, not dust, likely culprit in dimming of Betelgeuse

29 June 2020 Astronomy Now

The pronounced dimming of the red giant Betelgeuse likely was caused by huge star spots, not by intervening dust, researchers say.

A vast stellar nursery, a familiar target for amateurs, reveals its brilliant majesty

29 June 2020 Astronomy Now

A favourite target for amateur astronomers, M17, also known as the Omega, or Swan, Nebula, comes to life in a dramatic ESO image capturing the full extent of the enormous star-forming region.

Monster black hole in early universe challenges theorists

25 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a 1.5-billion-solar-mass black hole dating back to within 700 million years of the Big Bang birth of the cosmos.

Gravity waves herald merger of black hole and enigmatic companion

24 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Gravity waves indicate the merger of a massive black hole and a much less massive companion that may represent a new class of objects.