News – Page 72 – Astronomy Now

Dawn zooms in on Ceres’ enigmatic Occator Crater

2 July 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is now in an orbit around the asteroid Ceres that carries it as close as 35 kilometres (22 miles), giving researchers a bird’s eye view of enigmatic Occator Crater and its famously bright deposits of sodium carbonate.

Astronomers catch new planet in the process of forming

2 July 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have managed to spot a new planet in the process of forming in a dusty disk surrounding a hot young star. It is the first definitive observation of its kind, opening a new window in exoplanet research.

Astronomers detect magnetic field in remains of supernova 1987A

1 July 2018 Astronomy Now

Supernova 1987A is one of the most studied stellar explosions in history and more than 30 years after the blast, astronomers have detected a magnetic field 50,000 times weaker than a refrigerator magnet.

Complex organics spewing from sub-surface ocean on Enceladus

29 June 2018 Astronomy Now

The late, great Cassini spacecraft detected geysers spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, evidence of a vast sub-surface ocean. Now, researchers have found complex organic compounds in the icy plumes.

NASA again delays launch of James Webb Space Telescope

28 June 2018 Astronomy Now

An independent review board has recommended, with NASA concurrence, a 10-month delay for launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, to March 2021, to allow time to address a host of technical and managerial issues.

‘Oumuamua, first known interstellar visitor, is a comet after all

28 June 2018 Astronomy Now

The cigar-shaped ‘Oumuamua, now sailing out of the Solar System after crossing the gulfs of interstellar space and looping past the Sun, has gained speed slightly, indicating it is a comet, not an asteroid as originally believed.

The Hubble Space Telescope’s jaw-dropping Messier catalogue

28 June 2018 William Harwood

Amateur astronomers the world over routinely use the Messier catalog as a guide to deep space targets visible in relatively small telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope provides an altogether different experience.

Supercomputer simulation reverse engineers star cluster formation

27 June 2018 Astronomy Now

Supercomputer simulations show star clusters, regardless of size, form in the same way, starting with a dense cloud of interstellar gas and shaped over several million years by gravity, turbulence and radiation pressure

Ruling out false positives – and negatives – in search for life on other worlds

26 June 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers and astrobiologists are working to understand what lines of evidence will be needed to confirm the presence of life on an exoplanet, how to collect that evidence and how to avoid being misled.

Kepler finds nearly 80 more exoplanet candidates in recent search

25 June 2018 Astronomy Now

In a dress-rehearsal of sorts for NASA’s next planet-hunting satellite, researchers sifting through recent observations by NASA’s ageing Kepler space telescope have identified nearly 80 new candidate exoplanets.