Astronomy Now – Page 74

Hubble peers into a globular cluster on the outskirts of the LMC

28 November 2018 Astronomy Now

An unusual globular cluster on the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud, seen here in an image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, features an unusual mix of young an old stars, possibly the result of an encounter with a giant gas cloud in the distant past.

Time-lapse shows Beta Pictoris b sailing through its orbit

27 November 2018 Astronomy Now

ESO’s Very Large Telescope has captured a remarkable series of images showing the hot, young exoplanet Beta Pictoris b moving in its orbit from one side of its star to the other.

Rehearsing for more detailed spectroscopic exoplanet analyses

23 November 2018 Astronomy Now

Using adaptive optics and a high-resolution spectrograph, astronomers have confirmed the presence of water in the atmosphere of a planet 130 light years away.

ESA’s CHEOPS exoplanet hunter will launch in October-November 2019

23 November 2018 Astronomy Now

The European Space Agency says the CHEOPS satellite will launch in October 2019 to learn more about how planets in the Earth-to-Neptune size range form and evolve.

A glorious globular, M22 delights amateurs and professionals alike

23 November 2018 Astronomy Now

Messier 22 is a stunning sight in even small telescopes, but nothing rivals this spectacular view of the globular cluster’s crowded heart as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in visible and infrared light.

TRAPPIST-1 planets likely inhospitable, but one may have water

21 November 2018 Astronomy Now

New research indicates most, if not all, of the worlds orbiting the M dwarf TRAPPIST-1 lost whatever water they might have had early in the star’s history due to intense ultraviolet radiation.

NASA selects Jezero Crater for Mars 2020 landing site

19 November 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA says the Mars 2020 rover will land in Jezero Crater on or near a broad river delta and a now-vanished lake were signs of past microbial life my be awaiting discovery.

Colliding stellar winds hint at possible gamma ray burst to come

19 November 2018 Astronomy Now

Two massive, rapidly-rotating Wolf-Rayet stars are generating a titanic pinwheel of stellar wind-driven dust that hints at a cataclysmic gamma ray burst in the (astronomically) near future.

Most luminous known galaxy gobbles up its neighbours

18 November 2018 Astronomy Now

Data from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array, or ALMA, shows the most luminous known galaxy is powered in part by dust being sucked in from three nearby galaxies.

Scientists bid Kepler probe final goodnight and farewell

18 November 2018 Astronomy Now

Flight controllers sent a final set of commands to the exoplanet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, shutting the spacecraft down after it finally ran out of propellant, ending a spectacular mission.