Category: Weekly Update

Interesting Astronomy news from the week of 8/21/2022

Read about the coolest discoveries, research updates, and images of this week’s astronomy: A JWST discovery of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, an extrasolar world covered in water, and a new planetary nebula. JWST discovery of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet For the first time, astronomers have found solid evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet! Carbon dioxide is an important component of the atmospheres of planets in our solar system, found on rocky planets like Mars and […]

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Interesting Astronomy news from the week of 8/14/2022

Read about the coolest discoveries, research updates, and images of this week’s astronomy: New insights into turbulence raging inside distant stars, a discovery of one of the largest black hole jets, and a beautiful image of a comsic dance! New insights into turbulence raging inside distant stars Stunning new images created by Keele researchers highlight the turbulent flow of energy inside distant stars. They were created using the 3D simulation software “PROMPI”, which scientists have been using to investigate stellar interiors with the aim of understanding the […]

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Interesting Astronomy news from the week of 8/7/2022

Read about the coolest discoveries, research updates, and images of this week’s astronomy: A new JWST brown dwarf, the first ever detection of gas in a planetary disk, and a new image of colliding galaxies from Gemni North Observatory

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 8/15/2021

Next week’s night sky: From Saturday onward, the night is prime milky-way viewing. Go out at around 2 hours after sunset to look at the beautiful band of bright stars snaking across the sky! Martian Images Images of knobbly rocks and rounded hills are delighting scientists as NASA’s Curiosity rover climbs Mount Sharp, a 5-mile-tall mountain within the 96-mile-wide basin of Mars’ Gale Crater. The rover’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam, highlights those features in a panorama captured on the 3,167th Martian day,. This location is particularly exciting: […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 8/8/2021

Next week’s night sky: When the moon completes the first quarter of its journey around Earth on Sunday, Aug. 15 at 11:19 a.m. EDT (1519 GMT), its 90-degree angle away from the sun will cause us to see the moon half-illuminated — on its eastern side. In the first quarter, the moon always rises around midday and sets around midnight, so it is also visible in the afternoon daytime sky. The evenings surrounding the first quarter are the best ones for seeing the lunar terrain when it […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 6/13/2021

Next week’s night sky: The moon will officially reach its full phase on Thursday, June 24 at 2:39 p.m. EDT (1839 GMT). The June full moon, colloquially known as the Strawberry Moon, Mead Moon, Rose Moon, or Hot Moon, always shines in or near the stars of southern Ophiuchus, the Serpent-Bearer. The indigenous Ojibwe people of the Great Lakes region call this moon Ode’miin Giizis, the Strawberry Moon. For the Cree Nation it’s Opiniyawiwipisim, the Egg Laying Moon (referring to the activities of wild water-fowl). The Mohawks […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 6/6/2021

Next week’s night sky: When the moon completes the first quarter of its orbit around Earth at 11:54 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 17 (0354 June 18 GMT) its 90-degree angle away from the sun will cause us to see it half-illuminated — on its eastern side. In the first quarter, the moon always rises around noon and sets around midnight, so it is also visible in the afternoon daytime sky. The evenings surrounding the first quarter are the best ones for seeing the lunar terrain when […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 4/25/2021

Next week’s night sky: The annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower is produced by particles of material left behind by repeated passages of Halley’s Comet. The shower, which runs from April 19 to May 28, will peak in intensity before dawn on Thursday, May 6. Aquarids meteors will appear to be travelling away from a radiant point in Aquarius. That spot will lie near the southeastern horizon, not far from Jupiter. The southerly radiant makes this shower better for observers at low latitudes. On the peak night, watch […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 3/28/2021

Next week’s night sky: The moon will officially reach its new phase on Sunday, April 11 at 10:30 p.m. EDT or 7:30 p.m. PDT. That translates to 02:30 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Monday, April 12. While new, the moon is traveling between Earth and the sun. Since sunlight can only reach the far side of the moon, and the moon is in the same region of the sky as the sun, the moon becomes completely hidden from view from anywhere on Earth for about a day. […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 3/21/2021

Next week’s night sky: At the end of March we receive another opportunity to view the Zodiacal Light – if you live in a location where the sky is free of light pollution. After the evening twilight has disappeared, you’ll have about half an hour to check the western sky for a broad wedge of faint light extending upwards from the horizon and centered on the ecliptic (i.e., below Mars). The viewing period will end with the new moon on April 11. A new picture of a […]

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