Archive

TESS completes first year of operation; begins mapping northern sky

28 July 2019 Astronomy Now

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite – TESS – mapped the southern sky during its first year of operation and is now imaging the northern sky in search of exoplanets and other phenomena.

NASA’s Mars 2020 rover looking more and more like a rover

28 July 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, scheduled for launch on 17 July 2020, is rapidly maturing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where engineers recently tested the spacecraft’s multi-joint robot arm as critical instruments and other systems are installed and tested.

Seek out some fine summer multiple stars

28 July 2019 Ade Ashford

Observers in the British Isles can rejoice that summer astronomical twilight all night is drawing to a close. But if Jupiter and Saturn are currently too low to view, you’re blighted by light pollution, or moonlight robs you of nebulae, why not seek out some of the many beautiful double and multiple stars on show?

Sky-Watcher’s Sun-seeker

28 July 2019 Steve Ringwood

Steve Ringwood reviews the Solarquest goto solar mount that helps observers track and image our nearest star.

Up and over a spiral galaxy

27 July 2019 Astronomy Now

A sharply angled perspective, such as the one shown in Hubble Space Telescope image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3169, can make it seem as if we, the viewers, are craning our necks to see over a barrier into the galaxy’s bright centre.

India launches robotic mission to land on the Moon

22 July 2019 Stephen Clark

Seeking to become the fourth nation to successfully land on the moon, India launched an ambitious robotic lunar mission named Chandrayaan 2 on Monday, targeting a touchdown near the lunar south pole Sept. 6.

See the International Space Station above the eclipsed Moon on 16 July

16 July 2019 Ade Ashford

The serene beauty of the International Space Station gliding silently across the sky needs nothing more than the naked eye to appreciate. But when the dazzling ISS is also in conjunction with a partially eclipsed Moon, Saturn and Jupiter on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch, be sure to look low in the southeast through south around 10:06pm BST on 16 July 2019!