News – Page 137 – Astronomy Now

Tim Peake congratulates Helen Sharman on 25th anniversary of mission to Mir

21 May 2016 Steven Young

Britain’s first astronaut, Helen Sharman, received a congratulatory phone call from Tim Peake aboard the International Space Station during celebrations in London to mark the 25th anniversary of her historic mission to the Mir space station.

Mega-tsunamis ravaged shorelines of ancient Martian ocean

21 May 2016 Astronomy Now

The geologic shape of what were once shorelines through Mars’ northern plains 3.4 billion years ago convinces scientists that two large meteorites – hitting the planet millions of years apart – triggered a pair of mega-tsunamis. These gigantic waves, likely 120 metres high, forever scarred the Martian landscape and yielded evidence of cold, salty oceans.

Astronomers confirm faintest early-universe galaxy ever detected

20 May 2016 Astronomy Now

An international team of scientists has detected and confirmed the faintest early-universe galaxy ever using the ten-metre Keck II telescope on the summit on Maunakea, Hawaii. The team analysed three separate images of the object gravitationally lensed by a foreground galaxy cluster, revealing the distant galaxy as it was 13 billion years ago.

New Horizons collects first science on a post-Pluto object

19 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Warming up for a possible extended mission as it speeds through deep space, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has now twice observed 1994 JR1, a 90-mile-wide Kuiper Belt object (KBO) orbiting more than 3 billion miles from the Sun. Science team members have used these observations to reveal new facts about this distant remnant of the early solar system.

First evidence of comets orbiting a Sun-like star

19 May 2016 Astronomy Now

An international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge have used data from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) to find evidence of ice and comets orbiting nearby Sun-like star HD 181327, which could give a glimpse into how our own solar system developed.

Clues to ancient 15-mile-wide asteroid impact found in Western Australia

18 May 2016 Astronomy Now

An international team of scientists has found evidence of a major asteroid impact that occurred approximately 3.5 billion years ago. Tiny glass beads called spherules formed from vaporised material from the asteroid impact were found in a drill core from Australia in some of the oldest known sediments on Earth.

Stars nearly as old as Sun found to have similar spin rates

17 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Astrophysicists from Germany and America have for the first time measured the rotation periods of stars in a cluster nearly as old as the Sun. It turns out that these stars spin once in about twenty-six days — just like our Sun. This discovery significantly strengthens what is known as the solar-stellar connection, a fundamental principle that guides much of modern solar and stellar astrophysics.

Dwarf planet Haumea’s lunar system smaller than anticipated

17 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Haumea, a dwarf planet on the edge of our solar system, doesn’t have the same kind of moons as its well-known cousin Pluto according to a new study. This is despite original evidence that suggested they both formed in similar giant impacts and adds to the mystery shrouding how these icy bodies formed.

The secret life of the Orion Nebula

16 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Space bears witness to a constant stream of star births. Whole star clusters are often formed at the same time — and within a comparatively short period. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg have proposed a new mechanism that relies on the interplay between magnetic fields and gravitation to explain this quick formation, investigating a filament of gas and dust which also includes the well-known Orion Nebula.

Astronomical software accurately dates 2,500-year-old lyric poem

15 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Physicists and astronomers from the University of Texas at Arlington have used advanced software to accurately date lyric poet Sappho’s “Midnight Poem,” which describes the Pleiades star cluster in the constellation of Taurus having set at around midnight, when supposedly observed by her from the Greek island of Lesbos more than 2,500 years ago.