News – Page 13 – Astronomy Now

Hubble Space Telescope in ‘safe mode’ – engineers troubleshooting

2 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers are troubleshooting command and data timing issues aboard the Hubble Space Telescope that have temporarily knocked the observatory out of action.

The curious incident of the star that wasn’t there

24 October 2021 Astronomy Now

Astronomers find a white dwarf with a presumed Jupiter analog, evidence at least some planets can survive a star’s transition to red giant and white dwarf.

Exoplanet collision likely stripped away a terrestrial world’s atmosphere

21 October 2021 Astronomy Now

Researchers observe what may be the aftermath of a titanic collision in a solar system 95 light years away that stripped the atmosphere from a terrestrial planet.

Webb telescope unboxed after shipment to Guiana Space Center

20 October 2021 Stephen Clark

Engineers removed the James Webb Space Telescope from its intercontinental shipping container in South America last week, and kicked off a final pre-launch comprehensive electrical systems test ahead of blastoff in December on an Ariane 5 rocket.

NASA asteroid explorer leaves planet Earth on Atlas 5 rocket

16 October 2021 Stephen Clark

Bound for a pristine population of ancient asteroids, a NASA science probe named Lucy took off from Cape Canaveral before dawn Saturday and rocketed into space on top of an Atlas 5 launcher to begin a 12-year, $981 million mission seeking out clues about the early solar system.

Study shows nukes a viable last resort for asteroid defence

6 October 2021 Astronomy Now

Study indicates nuclear ‘disruption’ of a threatening asteroid could provide a viable last-minute defence if too late for more-effective deflection.

BepiColombo gets first glimpse of Mercury

5 October 2021 Stephen Clark

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft swept past Mercury Friday in the first of six high-speed flybys to gradually set up the probe’s trajectory for a critical manoeuvre in 2025 to enter orbit around the Solar System’s innermost planet.

Winds in Great Red Spot’s outer regions speeding up

28 September 2021 Astronomy Now

In yet another Great Red Spot surprise, researchers find winds in the huge storm’s outer reaches have sped up over the past decade.

InSight lander detects most powerful marsquake yet

25 September 2021 Astronomy Now

The InSight Mars lander detects three powerful marsquakes in one month, shedding new light on the planet’s interior.

X (rays) mark the spot where a black hole ate a star

23 September 2021 Astronomy Now

An elusive intermediate-mass black hole blamed for star’s destruction in tidal disruption event.