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Is the universe ringing like a crystal glass?

1 July 2015 Astronomy Now

Two physicists at the University of Southern Mississippi have discovered that the universe might not only be expanding, but also oscillating or “ringing” at the same time, something that has occurred seven times since its creation.

NASA explains why 30 June received an extra ‘leap second’

30 June 2015 Astronomy Now

Although we are unaware of it in our everyday lives, the Earth’s rotation is slowing down, so each mean solar day is about 0.002 seconds longer than the last. NASA explains why Tuesday, 30 June 2015, will have an extra second, or “leap” second, added.

Messier 87 has swallowed an entire galaxy in the last billion years

26 June 2015 Astronomy Now

M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy with a total mass more than a million million times that of the Sun that lies at the centre of the Virgo Cluster about 50 million light-years away. New observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have revealed the full extent of the galaxy’s cannibalistic nature.

Monster black hole wakes up after 26 years

26 June 2015 Astronomy Now

On 15 June 2015, a long-time acquaintance of X-ray and gamma ray astronomers made its comeback to the cosmic stage: V404 Cygni, a system comprising a black hole and a star orbiting one another. It is located in our Milky Way galaxy, almost 8,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.

Red dwarf seen stripping atmosphere from Neptune-sized exoplanet

25 June 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered an immense cloud of hydrogen dispersing from a warm, Neptune-sized planet orbiting a nearby star. It may offer clues as to how hot super-Earths — massive, hot versions of Earth — are born around other stars.

Celestron boosts UK presence

24 June 2015 Astronomy Now

American telescope manufacturer Celestron has unveiled a new distribution centre to better serve astronomers in the UK.

New Horizons sees Pluto’s close approach hemisphere and Charon’s ‘dark pole’

24 June 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft doesn’t pass Pluto until July 14th — zipping by about 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometres) above the surface of the dwarf planet after a journey of almost 3 billion miles — but the mission team is making tantalising new discoveries as the piano-sized probe bears down on the Pluto system.

Nonphotosynthetic pigments could be biosignatures of life on other worlds

23 June 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers have found that if organisms with nonphotosynthetic pigments — those that process light for tasks other than energy production — cover enough of a distant exoplanet’s surface, their spectral signal could be strong enough to be detected by powerful future telescopes now being designed.

Saturn moon’s ice canyons viewed by Cassini

21 June 2015 Stephen Clark

Saturn’s moon Dione received a fleeting visitor on 16 June, when NASA’s Cassini spacecraft whizzed by to image bizarre streaks thought to be canyons with ice walls up to 100 stories tall.

The mysterious ‘lakes’ on Saturn’s moon Titan

21 June 2015 Astronomy Now

Titan is home to seas and lakes filled with liquid hydrocarbons, but what forms the depressions on the surface? A new study using data from the joint NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) Cassini mission suggests the moon’s surface dissolves in a process that’s similar to the creation of sinkholes on Earth.