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Mysterious star remains silent on the SETI front

9 December 2015 Keith Cooper

A mysterious star that erratically dims by nearly a quarter as a swarm of unknown objects passes in front of it – leading to speculations that artificial objects could be orbiting the star – continues to refuse to give up its secrets after a search for laser pulses from the system turned up empty.

Colliding neutron stars seeded solar nebula with heavy elements

9 December 2015 Keith Cooper

Heavy elements present at the dawn of the Solar System were produced by a nearby merger of two neutron stars, which unleashed a powerful gamma-ray burst, according to astronomers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

VLT studies mysterious dwarf galaxy born in cosmic collision

9 December 2015 Astronomy Now

The spectacular aftermath of a 360 million year old cosmic collision is revealed in great detail in new images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Among the debris is a rare and mysterious young dwarf galaxy. This galaxy is providing astronomers with an excellent opportunity to learn more about similar galaxies that are expected to be common in the early universe, but are normally too faint and distant to be observed by current telescopes.

Saturn’s moon Prometheus seen up close

9 December 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spied details on the pockmarked surface of Saturn’s moon Prometheus (86 kilometres, or 53 miles across) during a moderately close flyby on 6 December 2015. This is one of Cassini’s highest resolution views of Prometheus, a moon which orbits Saturn just interior to the narrow F ring, which is seen here at top.

Get ready for the Geminid meteor shower!

8 December 2015 Ade Ashford

The Geminids of 8—17 December are widely regarded as the most active and consistent annual meteor shower, with peak predicted rates of 100 shooting stars per hour under dark skies. With new Moon occurring on Friday, 11 December, prospects for this year’s Geminid display are therefore expected to be very favourable — UK weather permitting!

The brilliant core of a starburst galaxy

8 December 2015 Astronomy Now

This image taken by NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases the brilliant core of NGC 1569 in the constellation Camelopardalis, one of the most active galaxies in our local neighbourhood. The entire core is 5000 light-years wide.

Lunar occultation of Venus

7 December 2015 Astronomy Now

Venus is seen next to the crescent moon during the daytime, prior to the start of occultation, on 7 December 2015 in Washington, D.C. in the United States. The moon occulted, or passed in front of, Venus for the second time this year.

Cassini peers through the haze of Saturn’s moon Titan

6 December 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Cassini probe recently peered through the hazy clouds of Saturn’s moon Titan to reveal features on the surface below. The infrared image was captured during a more distant than usual fly past of the moon.

ALMA spots monstrous baby galaxies cradled in dark matter

6 December 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) have discovered a nest of colossal baby galaxies 11.5 billion light-years away. The young galaxies seem to reside at the junction of gigantic filaments in a web of dark matter. These findings are important for understanding how enormous galaxies like these are formed and how they evolve into huge elliptical galaxies.

Magnified image of the faintest galaxy from the early universe

5 December 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers harnessing the combined power of NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have found the faintest object ever seen in the early universe. It existed about 400 million years after the big bang, 13.8 billion years ago. The new object is comparable in size to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a diminutive satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.