Astronomy Now – Page 56

ALMA finds previously unseen ancestors of elliptical galaxies

7 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using the ALMA radio telescopes have found a population of galaxies not seen in the deepest views of the Hubble Space Telescope.

A cosmic seagull soaring through space on wings of ionised gas

7 August 2019 Astronomy Now

The European Southern Observatory’s VLT Survey Telescope caught the Seagull Nebula in flight on the border between Canis Major and Monoceros 3,700 light years away, a vast assembly of hot gas and dust giving birth to new stars.

Another look at Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, courtesy of Juno

6 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot may be shrinking, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at spectacular pictures from the Juno orbiter captured during a 21 July flyby.

Iron-poor star hints at nature of first-generation suns

2 August 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found an exceptionally iron-poor star that may represent second-generation suns born in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang

Planet-hunting telescopes capture intriguing view of Centaurus A

1 August 2019 Astronomy Now

The SPECULOOS planet-hunting telescopes at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile captured a spectacular view of Centaurus A, a galaxy 11 million light years away harbouring the nearest active galactic nuclei, a supermassive black hole 100 million times more massive than the Sun.

TESS helps astronomers pinpoint possibly habitable exoplanet

31 July 2019 Astronomy Now

Following a lead provided by the TESS planet-hunting spacecraft, astronomers have found two more worlds lurking in a solar system 31 light years from Earth.

Going out with a bang, not a whimper, Eta Carinae continues to amaze

30 July 2019 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured another remarkable view of Eta Carinae, finding magnesium where it wasn’t expected and shedding new light on the “Great Eruption.”

Star orbiting supermassive black hole again confirms relativity

29 July 2019 Astronomy Now

In yet another validation of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, precise measurements of a star’s light as it orbits the black hole at the center of the Milky Way show the predicted gravitational redshift.

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.