News – Page 58 – Astronomy Now

Astronomers find most distant Solar System body to date

19 December 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found the most distant body yet discovered in Earth’s solar system, a dwarf planet 120 times farther from the Sun than Earth.

New Horizons’ path to Ultima Thule clear of hazards

19 December 2018 Astronomy Now

After a careful analysis of the path ahead, no rings or moons have been found that could threaten the New Horizons probe on its approach to Ultima Thule.

Binary star ‘odd couple’ spotted by ALMA

16 December 2018 Astronomy Now

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array has spotted a young binary star system in which two very different size suns are in the process of forming in a swirling cloud of gas and dust.

Filling in the blanks in Hubble’s ‘deep field’ view of cosmos

14 December 2018 Astronomy Now

A newly released “deep field” image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures galaxies during the epoch of massive star formation three billion years after the Big Bang.

Tangled magnetic fields may power jets from supermassive black holes

14 December 2018 Astronomy Now

New computer simulations show tangled magnetic fields in jets streaming away from supermassive black holes may be creating powerful electric fields and currents accelerating particles to enormous energies

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots InSight on red planet

13 December 2018 Astronomy Now

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured a bird’s eye view of NASA’s InSight lander on the surface of Mars, along with the spacecraft’s heat shield, backshell and parachute.

ALMA finds well-developed protoplanetary discs around young suns

12 December 2018 Astronomy Now

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array has captured stunning views of 20 protoplanetary discs around young, nearby stars, all of them suggesting planets are forming faster than expected

InSight selfie reveals drab, featureless plain – just what the doctor ordered

11 December 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s InSight Mars lander has snapped its first selfie on the surface of the red planet, revealing a level, almost featureless plain that’s exactlly the sort of landing site mission scientists wanted.

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft detects water-bearing minerals on Bennu

11 December 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft now exploring the asteroid Bennu has spotted hydrated minerals across the rocky surface of the ancient body, indicating the action of water in the distant past

Voyager 2 crosses solar boundary, moves into interstellar space

10 December 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s long-lived Voyager 2 probe, still sending back data 41 years after launch in 1977, has finally moved into interstellar space, joining Voyager 1 in the void between the stars.