News – Page 35 – Astronomy Now

European Space Agency says Solar Orbiter launch delayed to 7 February

26 January 2020 Stephen Clark

Officials have delayed the launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket with the European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft from Cape Canaveral by two days to Feb. 7, a ripple effect from time spent fixing a minor issue last week during a launch vehicle countdown dress rehearsal.

White dwarf chows down on brown dwarf companion in feeding frenzy

26 January 2020 Astronomy Now

A chance observation buried in the Kepler Space Telescope’s data archive revealed a dwarf nova that brightened by a factor of 1,600 in a single day.

Oldest known asteroid impact may have played role in ending ancient ice age

24 January 2020 Astronomy Now

A heavily-eroded impact structure in Western Australia – Yarrabubba – is now known to be the oldest of the world’s roughly 190 known major impact sites.

Astronomers find more bizarre objects orbiting Milky Way’s black hole

16 January 2020 Astronomy Now

Strange objects orbiting the Milky Way’s central black hole appear to be binary stars that were forced to merge under the influence of the hole’s gravity.

Hubble finds evidence for widely held ‘cold dark matter’ theory

12 January 2020 Astronomy Now

Using the Hubble Space Telescope an eight gravitationally lensed quasars, researchers have found strong evidence for cold dark matter.

Lucy mission gets another asteroid target – a tiny moon

10 January 2020 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Lucy probe will visit a record seven asteroids during its 12-year mission, including one recently found to feature a small moon.

Trail-blazing astronomer Vera Rubin honoured

8 January 2020 Astronomy Now

The observatory that will operate the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope has been renamed in honour of the late astronomer Vera Rubin.

TESS finds its first Earth-size planet in host sun’s habitable zone

7 January 2020 Astronomy Now

NASA exoplanet-hunting TESS satellite has found its first habitable-zone Earth-size planet and another orbiting an eclipsing binary system.

SOFIA captures Milky Way’s core in stunning infrared glory

6 January 2020 Astronomy Now

An extremely sharp infrared view of the Milky Way’s central regions may shed light on how massive stars form and what feeds the galaxy’s central black hole.

‘Godzilla’ galaxy, one of largest observed, hosts a trillion suns

6 January 2020 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope is helping astronomers study one of the largest spiral galaxies yet found, a “Godzilla” galaxy hosting a trillion stars.