News – Page 208 – Astronomy Now

Lost Beagle 2 spacecraft found on Mars

16 January 2015 Keith Cooper

The UK’s Beagle 2 mission to Mars, which was lost in 2003 as it entered the red planet’s atmosphere, has been rediscovered by NASA’s eagle eye in the Martian sky, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Trans-Neptunian study suggests Solar System contains more planets

16 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Research conducted in Spain and the UK suggests that at least two unknown planets exist beyond Pluto, whose gravitational influence determines the orbits and strange distribution of objects observed beyond Neptune.

Funding approved for 3200-megapixel Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

15 January 2015 Astronomy Now

When the LSST telescope begins operations atop Cerro Pachón in Chile, it will use the largest digital camera ever built and produce the widest, deepest and fastest views of the night sky ever observed.

First light for new exoplanet-hunting telescopes

15 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers extend the search for Neptune-sized and smaller exoplanets to the southern sky with the Next-Generation Transit Survey — a new array of twelve robotic telescopes built by a UK, Swiss and German consortium.

10 years since we landed on Titan

14 January 2015 Keith Cooper

Ten years ago today, on 14 January 2005, a compact, flattened cylinder called Huygens, chock-full of sensors, cameras and scientific experiments, went hurtling through the orange skies of the mysterious moon Titan.

International Astronomical Union opens exoplanet naming contest

13 January 2015 Astronomy Now

The IAU opens the first ever contest allowing members of the public to name ExoWorlds, offering registered clubs and organisations the chance to nominate their favourite systems to take through to the next rounds.

Hubble’s high-definition panoramic view of the Andromeda Galaxy

13 January 2015 Astronomy Now

A large swathe of the Andromeda Galaxy, our galactic next-door neighbour, is mapped in unprecedented detail in the largest NASA Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled.

NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity scales new heights

11 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Despite ongoing problems with its flash memory, Opportunity reached the summit of “Cape Tribulation” on the rim of Endeavour Crater during its 3,894th Martian day, pausing to photograph the stunning vista.

Scientists pinpoint Saturn with exquisite accuracy

9 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers have paired the continent-wide Very Large Baseline Array radio telescope system with NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to determine the position of Saturn and its moons to within two miles — at a range of nearly a billion miles.

NASA’s unprecedented look at superstar Eta Carinae

8 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Eta Carinae is the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years of Earth. A long-term study led by astronomers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center used satellites, ground-based telescopes and theoretical modelling to produce the most comprehensive picture of Eta Carinae to date.