Archive – Page 86 – Astronomy Now

Infant stars dine on a ‘cosmic pretzel’ of dusty debris

4 October 2019 Astronomy Now

Two young stars in a binary system weave an unusual tapestry as surrounding gas and dust are pulled into looping filaments and swirls.

NASA, DLR continue work to salvage martian “mole”

4 October 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA and the German Aerospace Center continue exhaustive efforts to help a stalled heat probe hammer its way below the martian surface.

Across the Sky of History

4 October 2019 Astronomy Now

Wang Zheng of China was named winner of the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 in the category Skyscapes with a mystical image of the night sky as a meteor falls.

Record rocket firing avoids mission-ending eclipse for Juno

2 October 2019 Astronomy Now

A record 10.5-hour thruster firing nudged the solar-powered Juno spacecraft’s orbit just enough to avoid a mission-ending eclipse.

See the young Moon meet the gas giants at dusk, 3–5 October

1 October 2019 Ade Ashford

Skywatchers in Western Europe and the UK should look low to the south-southwest at nautical dusk on 3 and 5 October 2019 to view the waxing Moon pass close to Jupiter and Saturn, the Solar System’s largest gas giant planets. Observers at northern temperate latitudes should make the most of any opportunities to view these planets before they are lost in twilight.

The Watcher

1 October 2019 Astronomy Now

This breathtaking image of the Northern Lights over Norway’s Lofoten Islands taken by Nicolai Brügger has won the top prize in the aurorae category of the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 competition.

ALMA provides a fresh look at a cosmic jellyfish

30 September 2019 Astronomy Now

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array captures the glowing tentacle-like tail of molecular debris streaming away in the wake of a spiral galaxy as it plows through the gas permeating an enormous galactic cluster.

Astronomers spot three supermassive black holes on collision course

30 September 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using X-ray, optical and infrared telescopes have spotted three galaxies – hosting three supermassive black holes – in the process of merging.

View the International Space Station at its best from the UK

28 September 2019 Ade Ashford

If you have never seen the International Space Station (ISS), make the most of clear skies over the next few nights. It’s capable of exceeding Venus at its brightest and visible for up to 7 minutes as it crawls across the sky in an arc from west to east. Find out when and where to see some favourable passes of this 420-tonne, 109-metre-wide spacecraft over the British Isles and Western Europe.

Into the Shadow

28 September 2019 Astronomy Now

Hungarian photographer László Francsics’ composite image of a total lunar eclipse was declared winner of the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 and is now on display at a special exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.