Observing

See asteroid 2018 CB’s close encounter on 9 February

As darkness falls over Western Europe on the evening of 9 February, near-Earth asteroid 2018 CB lies almost overhead as seen from the UK. We show you how and when to find this 30-metre-wide space rock as it speeds through the constellations of Perseus and Triangulum, passing just one-fifth of the Moon’s distance away at 22:27 UT (10:27pm GMT).

Picture This

“M33 Core” by Michael van Doorn

This glorious image of the core of Local Group galaxy Messier 33 (NGC 598) in the constellation Triangulum was captured from Almere, Flevoland, Netherlands by astrophotographer Michael van Doorn — winning image of the Galaxies category in the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2015.