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Is that a moon behind you?

21 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Tethys appears to be peeking out from behind Rhea in this image from the Cassini probe. Scientists believe that Tethys’ surprisingly high albedo is due to the water ice jets emerging from its neighbour, Enceladus.

Philae’s first landing: it’s all a blur

20 December 2014 Astronomy Now

The European Space Agency’s Philae lander captured this blurred view during its first bounce after first contacting the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November.

Europe’s Venus Express mission is at its end

19 December 2014 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft has run out of fuel and will burn up in the atmosphere of Venus in January after a successful eight-year mission.

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft proves it can still find planets

19 December 2014 Astronomy Now

When the primary mission of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft ended in May 2013 due to a failure of its stabilisation system, a team of scientists and engineers developed an ingenious strategy to control the spacecraft. The resulting second mission, K2, has a newfound planet — HIP 116454b

Mars rover detects methane spike, organic molecules

17 December 2014 William Harwood

Carefully analyzing data collected by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, scientists discovered a sudden, unexpected spike in methane levels in the martian atmosphere over a two-month period one year ago.

Swarms of Pluto-size objects kick up dust around adolescent Sun-like star

14 December 2014 Astronomy Now

ALMA observations of the dusty protoplanetary disc surrounding a star known as HD 107146 provides evidence for an entire family of orbiting Pluto-size objects, a solar system in transition from early life to maturity where planets have finished forming.

Researchers detect possible signal from dark matter

13 December 2014 Astronomy Now

EPFL scientists have picked up an atypical photon emission in X-rays coming from space, and say it could be evidence for the existence of a particle of dark matter. If confirmed, it could open up new perspectives in cosmology.

Galactic get-together has impressive light display

12 December 2014 Astronomy Now

NGC 2207 and IC 2163 are two colliding galaxies in the constellation of Ursa Major some 130 million light-years from Earth. Between them they have produced one of the most bountiful collections of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) known.

New Horizons awake for Pluto encounter

11 December 2014 Stephen Clark

Speeding through the outer solar system after a nine-year trek from Earth, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is awake and preparing for an encounter next summer with Pluto.

NASA’s Curiosity rover finds clues to how water helped shape Martian landscape

9 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Observations by NASA’s Curiosity Rover indicate Mars’ Mount Sharp was built by sediments deposited in a large lake bed over tens of millions of years, challenging the notion that warm and wet conditions were transient, local, or only underground on the Red Planet.