Archive – Page 88 – Astronomy Now

30 years later, Voyager 2’s flyby of Neptune still thrills

22 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Three decades ago, on 25 August 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft raced past Neptune and its icy moon Triton, thrilling scientists and the public at large with spectacular images that remain unrivaled today.

Second giant planet found orbiting Beta Pictoris

22 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a second giant planet orbiting the nearby star Beta Pictoris where a solar system is in the process of forming.

See the Moon hide a trio of Hyades stars at dawn on 24 August

20 August 2019 Ade Ashford

Have you ever seen the Moon hide a star? If you’re an early riser in the UK with a small telescope on Saturday, 24 August 2019 then you can potentially witness the disappearance and reappearance of three naked-eye stars in the Hyades open star cluster of Taurus between 3:40am BST and shortly after sunrise.

NASA’s Europa Clipper approved for development

20 August 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA formally approves development of the Europa Clipper, a spacecraft intended to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa in search of clues about a potentially habitable sub-surface ocean.

Black hole gobbles neutron star, belches gravity waves

19 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Gravity waves detected 14 August indicate the apparent destruction of a neutron star being ripped apart by a black hole, researchers say

Showing what’s to come when the Sun grows old

19 August 2019 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope provides a look into the Sun’s future, imaging a planetary nebula in Orion that shows what happens when a star burns through its nuclear fuel in old age.

A supernova that may shed light on how the first stars died

18 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers find an apparent pair-instability supernova, a titanic blast that may shed light on how the first stars ended their lives in a metal-poor cosmos.

A core-warping impact in Jupiter’s past?

17 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Researchers a collision between Jupiter and a still-forming planet at the dawn of the solar system best explains data suggesting the gas giant’s core is less dense than expected.

Persistence – and adaptive optics – track Io volcanoes

16 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Using adaptive optics, researchers have been monitoring Jupiter’s tortured moon Io for the past five years, gaining new insights into its persistent volcanism.

Analysis shows 1-in-6 stars may host Earth-size planets

16 August 2019 Astronomy Now

A new analysis shows roughly Earth-size planets in habitable-zone orbits can likely be found around one in six relatively nearby Sun-like stars.