X-Highlight – Astronomy Now

21 May 2022

The monster stars in the monster’s hand

20 May 2022 Keith Cooper

In 2014, a quite remarkable collage was released by scientists who used NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to image the entirety of the Milky Way in infrared light.

Get ready for Jupiter and Mars’ close confrontation

19 May 2022 Mark Armstrong

Keep the diary free towards the end of May to witness another very close conjunction between two of the major planets in the Solar System.

Don’t miss out on Messier 51, the wonderful Whirlpool Galaxy

16 May 2022 Mark Armstrong

Magnificent Messier 51 (NGC 5194), the Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici, is without doubt the best and most famous example of a spiral galaxy that is presented face-on to our perspective.

See a total eclipse of the Moon

13 May 2022 Mark Armstrong

On the 15/16 May (Sunday into Monday) there’s a total eclipse of the Moon visible primarily in the Western Hemisphere, with UK observers catching just the start of totality as the Moon is very close to setting.

Milky Way’s supermassive black hole shines in stunning first portrait

12 May 2022 Keith Cooper

The black hole in the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy has been imaged for the first time, showing a ring of gas encircling the event horizon, beyond which no light can escape.

Observe the Moon occulting Porrima, Virgo’s celebrated second star.

11 May 2022 Mark Armstrong

On the morning of 13 May (12/13), the Moon occults Porrima (gamma Virginis), Virgo’s celebrated binary star, in an event that’s visible across the UK.

Ingenuity zooms over Mars rover’s discarded parachute and backshell

2 May 2022 Astronomy Now

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter captures intriguing images of the Perseverance rover’s discarded parachute and backshell.

Phobos transits the Sun, captured by Mars Rover

27 April 2022 Mark Armstrong

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover’s Mastcam-Z camera has captured Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two small moons (27 x 22 x 18 kilometres), as it transited the Sun’s disc on 2 April

Don’t miss Mercury, now at its evening’s best for the year

24 April 2022 Mark Armstrong

Mercury is now visible soon after sunset in the west-north-western sky.

Link-up with the Lyrids

20 April 2022 Mark Armstrong

The return of the yearly April Lyrids meteor shower is very welcome for meteor observers, breaking the roughly 15-week hiatus since the maximum of the Quadrantids meteor shower on 3 January.