News – Page 53 – Astronomy Now

MAVEN’s orbit lowered to support Mars 2020 data relay

16 February 2019 William Harwood

NASA is using aerobraking to lower the orbit of the agency’s MAVEN Mars orbiter to support data relay operations with the upcoming Mars 2020 rover.

NASA selects mission to explore origins of cosmos

14 February 2019 Astronomy Now

NASA has approved construction of a spacecraft to carry out all-sky spectral observations to learn more about the evolution of the universe.

End of an era: NASA gives up on Opportunity rover

14 February 2019 Astronomy Now

After a final attempt to restore contact with the Opportunity Mars rover, NASA managers declared the spacecraft lost, bringing a 15-year mission to an end.

Ultima Thule even stranger than previously thought

11 February 2019 Astronomy Now

New images of Ultima Thule show the snowman-shaped Kuiper belt body actually resembles a pancake attached to a ‘dented walnut.’

Curiosity captures stunning panorama on slopes of Mount Sharp

10 February 2019 Astronomy Now

Before departing Vera Rubin Ridge on the slopes of Mount Sharp, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover sent back a spectacular 360-degree panorama.

Surprisingly salty young star found in Orion complex

8 February 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have identified sodium chloride – table salt – in a vast ring of debris around a massive young star, the first such discovery to date.

New analysis shows Milky Way a decidedly ‘warped” spiral

5 February 2019 Astronomy Now

Precisely mapping more than 1,300 Cepheid variable stars with known distances, astronomers have shown the disc of the Milky Way galaxy is warped.

A meteoroid crashes on eclipse-darkened moon

3 February 2019 Astronomy Now

Amateur and professional astronomers alike captured the flash generated by a small meteoroid crashing into the moon during the January lunar eclipse.

Gravity measurements surprise Mars researchers

1 February 2019 Astronomy Now

Analysing gravity data from the Curiosity Mars rover, researchers have found Gale Crater might not have been completely filled in the distant past.

Hubble stumbles on previously unseen dwarf galaxy

31 January 2019 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope to determine the age of a globular cluster stumbled on a previously unknown, relatively nearby dwarf galaxy.