News – Page 70 – Astronomy Now

‘Radio rebound’ observed in aftermath of gamma ray burst

27 July 2018 Astronomy Now

A powerful gamma ray burst two billion light years away produced a long-lasting “radio rebound” shock wave that surprised astronomers, providing new insights into such cataclysmic explosions.

Epic campaign confirms relativity near supermassive black hole

26 July 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers tracking a star passing close to the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way have detected relativistic gravitational redshift in light reaching Earth.

Mars Express finds evidence of liquid water under Martian pole

25 July 2018 Astronomy Now

ESA’s Mars Express satellite, using ground-penetrating radar, has detected what appears to be a pool of liquid water below the red planet’s south polar region, a potentially habitable environment.

Pluto and Charon, as an astronaut would see them

23 July 2018 Astronomy Now

Three years after the New Horizons spacecraft raced past Pluto and its large moon Charon, mission scientists have released the most accurate colour views yet, showing the distant worlds as they would appear to an astronaut’s eyes.

Planck confirms standard Big Bang model – but ‘tensions’ remain

21 July 2018 Astronomy Now

The European Space Agency’s Planck spacecraft’s final data release confirms the standard model of the Big Bang in unprecedented detail, but disagreement on how fast the cosmos is expanding remains

X-rays indicate collision of young planets may explain star’s dimming

20 July 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers struggling to understand why an unusual stars periodically fades and brightens have collected X-ray observations indicating it may be due to the catastrophic collision of two infant planets.

Adaptive optics ‘tomography’ provides Hubble-class images

19 July 2018 Astronomy Now

A new adaptive optics system being tested on ESO’s Very Large Telescope provides a level of image sharpness that rivals or exceeds the Hubble Space Telescope in narrow fields of view.

A dozen new moons found orbiting Jupiter, pushing total to 79

17 July 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers searching for a hypothesised large planet in the outer solar system far beyond Pluto stumbled across 12 previously undetected moons orbiting Jupiter, pushing the giant planet’s total to a record 79.

Black hole-neutron star mergers could resolve Hubble constant conflict

16 July 2018 Astronomy Now

MIT researchers say gravitational waves from black hole-neutron star mergers may allow astronomers to more accurately measure how fast the Universe is expanding, resolving currently conflicting measurements of the Hubble constant.

MeerKAT radio telescope images Milky Way’s blazing heart

15 July 2018 Astronomy Now

South Africa’s newly inaugurated 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope, a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array, has imaged the heart of the Milky Way in unprecedented detail, revealing long, magnetised filaments and the blazing core where a supermassive black hole lurks unseen at optical wavelengths.