Astronomy Now – Page 15

Black hole contains nearly all the mass at the heart of the Milky Way

17 January 2022 Astronomy Now

New observations indicate the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way contains almost all the mass at the very center of the galaxy.

A 150-million-year-old look at a spectacular spiral

17 January 2022 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope is adept at spotting supernova blasts in remote galaxies, helping astronomers pin down the cosmic distance scale. Galaxy NGC 976 it a typically spectacular example of a Hubble target.

Webb mirrors fully deployed, clearing the way for alignment

10 January 2022 Astronomy Now

Two weeks after its Christmas Day launch, engineers completed the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror deployment, clearing the way for alignment and focusing.

The Flame Nebula shines in mesmerising SuperCam image of Orion

5 January 2022 Astronomy Now

The Flame Nebula in Orion, photobombed by the Horsehead Nebula, blazes in a newly processed image captured by the SuperCam instrument at the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment.

NASA holds up final Webb sunshade deploy to double check readiness

3 January 2022 Astronomy Now

Final tightening of Webb’s critical sunshade will clear the way for deployment of the telescope’s optical elements.

James Webb Space Telescope finally on its way to discovery

26 December 2021 Astronomy Now

After years of delays and cost overruns, the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope begins its journey to Lagrange Point 2.

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.

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.