Mars – Page 29 – Astronomy Now

See a 1-day-old Moon challenge

21 January 2015 Ade Ashford

What’s the youngest Moon you’ve ever seen? While the best opportunities generally occur in Northern Hemisphere spring when the ecliptic’s high, 21st January offers UK observers a 28-hour-old lunar crescent.

Professor Mark Sims on the discovery that Beagle 2 made it to the surface

16 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Professor Mark Sims of Leicester University speaks to Astronomy Now’s Keith Cooper on the discovery that Beagle 2 made it to the surface on Christmas Day 2003.

Lost Beagle 2 spacecraft found on Mars

16 January 2015 Keith Cooper

The UK’s Beagle 2 mission to Mars, which was lost in 2003 as it entered the red planet’s atmosphere, has been rediscovered by NASA’s eagle eye in the Martian sky, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Mars meets Neptune in the evening sky

15 January 2015 Ade Ashford

Outermost planet Neptune is currently visible in binoculars if you know just where to look. Fortunately, Mars forms a convenient guide on the night of 19th January as the two planets appear close together in the early evening sky.

NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity scales new heights

11 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Despite ongoing problems with its flash memory, Opportunity reached the summit of “Cape Tribulation” on the rim of Endeavour Crater during its 3,894th Martian day, pausing to photograph the stunning vista.

Elusive Mercury and dazzling Venus together as evening stars

2 January 2015 Mark Armstrong

Inner planets Mercury and Venus are currently approaching conjunction, low to the southwest horizon shortly after sunset. If you have an extra clear sky, then Mars completes the scene.

Four billion-year-old meteorite reveals climate of ancient Mars

27 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Recovered from an Antarctic ice field exactly 30 years ago, a 4 billion-year-old Martian meteorite named ALH84001 reveals a detailed record of the Red Planet’s climate, back when water likely washed across its surface.

Mars rover detects methane spike, organic molecules

17 December 2014 William Harwood

Carefully analyzing data collected by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, scientists discovered a sudden, unexpected spike in methane levels in the martian atmosphere over a two-month period one year ago.

NASA’s Curiosity rover finds clues to how water helped shape Martian landscape

9 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Observations by NASA’s Curiosity Rover indicate Mars’ Mount Sharp was built by sediments deposited in a large lake bed over tens of millions of years, challenging the notion that warm and wet conditions were transient, local, or only underground on the Red Planet.

Researchers suggest Martian meteorite contains organic carbon of biological origin

4 December 2014 Astronomy Now

An analysis of a Martian meteorite named Tissint, seen to fall in the Moroccan desert on 18th July 2011, revealed small fissures filled with organic carbon that is possibly biological in origin, according to an international research team.