News – Page 2 – Astronomy Now

Curiosity Mars rover spots Earth and Venus in bright twilight sky

15 June 2020 Astronomy Now

The Curiosity Mars rover looks up from the martian surface to capture images of Earth and Venus in a bright twilight sky, showing humanity’s home as a tiny speck of light.

More evidence of trouble at the heart of the standard model

15 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have come up with another value for the Hubble constant, more evidence that the standard model of the cosmos and its expansion need revision

New Horizons shows nearby stars from an unearthly perspective

12 June 2020 Astronomy Now

NASA’s New Horizons probe captures images of nearby stars that show the unmistakable effects of parallax when compared with Earth-based views.

Facing another launch delay, work resumes on James Webb Space Telescope

10 June 2020 Astronomy Now

After weeks of downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic, engineers are pressing ahead with work to ready the James Webb Space Telescope for launch

Astronomers find possible near-Earth-like planet in archived Kepler data

9 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Researchers find evidence for an intriguing exoplanet in archived Kepler data, a “mirror-image” Earth-like world in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star.

Titan moving away from Saturn faster than expected

8 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Analysis of Cassini data shows Titan is moving away from Saturn faster than previously thought, shedding new light on solar system dynamics.

Hubble data suggest first stars formed even earlier than previously thought

5 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers find no signs of first-generation population III stars in gravitationally lensed galaxies dating back to within 500 million years of the Big Bang.

Second Proxima Centauri planet confirmed in 25-year-old Hubble data

3 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Reviewing 25-year-old data from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have confirmed the presence of a second planet orbiting Proxima Centauri

Heat blast is smoking gun for how the Galaxy’s most extreme stars form

22 May 2020 Keith Cooper

A powerful wave of thermal radiation caught rippling through an accretionary disc of gas surrounding a distant protostar could be the strongest evidence yet for how the most massive stars in the Universe form.

Perseverance Mars rover making steady progress toward July launch

11 May 2020 Astronomy Now

Despite coronavirus work restrictions, engineers at the Kennedy Space Center are on track readying the Perseverance Mars rover for launch in July