Astronomy Now – Page 227

iStar WXT 204-6LT refractor review

29 March 2015 Astronomy Now

For truly immersive deep-sky views, it’s hard to better the high contrast, wide-angle images delivered by a large aperture refractor of short focal ratio. Refractor expert Neil English takes the 8-inch f/6 iStar WXT 204-6LT through its paces and likes what he sees.

A dramatic starscape in the Southern Hemisphere

29 March 2015 Astronomy Now

This view in the southern constellation of Ara (The Altar) is a treasure trove of celestial objects. Star clusters, emission nebulae and active star-forming regions are just some of the riches observed in this region lying some 4000 light-years from Earth.

Dark matter even darker than once thought

28 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have studied how dark matter in clusters of galaxies behaves when the clusters collide. The results show that dark matter interacts with itself even less than previously thought, and narrows down the options for what this mysterious substance might be.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year

27 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Collins and the Royal Greenwich Observatory have produced a third masterful assortment of some of the best astrophotographs in the world.

Astronomers upgrade their cosmic light bulbs for studying the fabric of space

27 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers identify the best Type Ia supernovae for gauging cosmic distances, potentially improving these measurements with a precision of more than two times that achieved before, up to six billion light-years away. These findings will help light the way to understanding dark energy.

Supermassive black hole blasts star-making gas from galaxy’s core

26 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Many galaxies blast huge, wide-angled flows of material outward from their centres, pushing to their outer edges enough dust and gas each year that otherwise would have formed more than a thousand stars the size of our Sun. A team led by University of Maryland scientists has found the driving force behind these massive molecular outflows.

Wandering Jupiter swept away super-Earths, creating our unusual Solar System

25 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers from Caltech and UC Santa Cruz say that Earth belongs to a second generation of planets in our Solar System after Jupiter swept clear the first, resulting in the formation of a planetary system unlike any other astronomers have yet found.

The dwarf galaxy that reveals the history of the universe

24 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Dwarf galaxy I Zw 18 stands out for its extreme scarcity of heavy elements, a characteristic typical of primeval galaxies. A map of ionised helium in the galaxy has just been published, indicating the presence of peculiar stars similar to the first that ever shone in the universe.

UK headquarters for the world’s largest telescope?

23 March 2015 Astronomy Now

The Square Kilometre Array Organisation’s decision to extend its selection process to decide where to site the permanent headquarters of the array is welcomed by the Institude of Physics and the Royal Astronomical Society, backing a bid for the UK’s Jodrell Bank Observatory to be the host.

Active asteroid spun so fast that it exploded

23 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers used the 10-metre Keck II telescope in Hawaii to examine a so-called active asteroid, P/2012 F5, that mimics a comet with a tail, but ejects dust like a shot without an obvious reason. The researchers found that it had a very fast spin rate and probably fragmented.