News – Page 78 – Astronomy Now

Old IMAX projectors simulate Sun in key test for Parker Solar Probe

1 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Scientists used four vintage IMAX projectors to simulate the blazing light from the Sun that a key instrument on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will experience when flying closer to Earth’s star than any other spacecraft.

Hubble spots surviving companion to a supernova

26 April 2018 William Harwood

For the first time, the Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the surviving companion of a star that exploded in a supernova blast 17 years ago, evidence that supernovas can originate in binary star systems.

With luck, James Webb may spot first-generation stars

26 April 2018 Astronomy Now

With gravitational lensing, patience and a bit of luck, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may be able to directly image some of the first stars to light up in the wake of the big bang birth of the universe.

Uranus stinks. No, really, it does

26 April 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using a powerful spectrometer attached one of the world’s largest telescopes have discovered that Uranus smells like rotten eggs thanks to hydrogen sulphide in its upper atmosphere.

NASA’s new planet-hunting satellite begins climb into science orbit

25 April 2018 Stephen Clark

Looping back near Earth for the first time since its launch one week ago, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite fired its thrusters early Wednesday to begin boosting its orbit toward the moon for a May 17 gravity assist maneuver that will help catapult the probe into its unique science orbit.

Gaia data pins down 1.7 billion suns in most detailed star catalogue ever

25 April 2018 Astronomy Now

The second data release from the European Space Agency’s hard-working Gaia spacecraft reveals the position and brightness of nearly 1.7 billion stars in the most detailed star catalogue ever developed.

Large galaxies may host multiple supermassive black holes

24 April 2018 William Harwood

Many, if not all, large galaxies host supermassive black holes, including the Milky Way. A new study predicts such galaxies likely host more than one, far from the galactic core, the result of earlier mergers.

The search for uncharted asteroids and comets continues

24 April 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft has been hard at work the past four years, charting asteroids and comets across the solar system, helping astronomers identify near-Earth objects as well as more distant asteroids and comets.

After “terrific” launch, TESS nears first major orbit-raising burn

23 April 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s new planet-hunting TESS observatory completed its first post-launch thruster firing Saturday, setting up for a big boost Wednesday that will send the spacecraft toward the moon for a flyby next month, the next maneuvers in a two-month process to reach the mission’s final science orbit in mid-June.

Astronomers collect spectra in search for Sun’s lost siblings

20 April 2018 William Harwood

Australian astronomers are in the process of collecting the spectra of a million stars across the Milky Way in a project to study galactic evolution. In the process, they hope to track down at least some of the sun’s lost siblings.