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2,052 articles from Astronomy.com

The Sky This Week from March 29 to April 5: Comet Pons-Brooks puts on a show

Friday, March 29With a Moonless sky after sunset, tonight is a great time to target fainter deep-sky objects. After the sky grows fully dark, look north to find the Little Dipper, whose handle ends with the star Polaris, the North Star. To the dipper’s lower right is Draco the Dragon, a long, winding constellation thatContinue reading "The Sky This Week from March 29 to April 5: Comet...


WEDNESDAY 27. MARCH 2024


The active Sun

Mark Johnston from Scottsdale, Arizona Prominences and filaments snake across this 6-panel mosaic of the Sun in inverted Hα taken March 13 with a 4-inch Lunt telescope. Each panel is 200 stacked frames (out of 2,000). The post The active Sun appeared first on Astronomy...

Astronomers map 1.3 million supermassive black holes

Ever wonder where all the active supermassive black holes are in the universe? Now, with the largest quasar catalog yet, you can see the locations of 1.3 million quasars in 3D. The catalog, Quaia, can be accessed here. “This quasar catalog is a great example of how productive astronomical projects are,” says David Hogg, study co-authorContinue reading "Astronomers map 1.3 million...

The Milky Way’s central black hole could have a hidden jet

At 4 million times the mass of the Sun, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is rather humdrum, as far as supermassive black holes go. But a new analysis reveals that it’s a lot more like its larger cousins than scientists thought. It may even be able to harness itsContinue reading "The Milky Way’s central black hole could have a hidden jet" The post The Milky Way’s central...


TUESDAY 26. MARCH 2024


More than a few nearby stars show signs they ate young planets

Stars in mid- and later life don’t always end up with as many planets as they started with. Early in their evolutionary histories, planetary systems are places of chaos, and some planets get flung out of their star’s grasp entirely, only to end up a rogue world traveling through space. But sometimes planets encounter anotherContinue reading "More than a few nearby stars show signs they ate...


MONDAY 25. MARCH 2024


Exploring the Sails

Team ShaRA: Massimo Di Fusco/Aygen Erkaslan/Marco Firenzuoli/Egidio Vergani/Andrea Iorio/Rolando Ligustri/ Fernando Linsalata/Donato Lioce/Alessandro Ravagnin/Riccardo Maffioli/Giampaolo Michieletto/Cristiano Trabuio The bluffs and ridges of this little-imaged nebular complex lie on the edge of a giant “super shell” of expanding molecular gas known as the IRAS Vela Shell, which lies in the Gum...

The Great North American Eclipse: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher

It’s been a long wait, but the Great North American Eclipse is just about here. On April 8, Mexico, the United States, and eastern Canada will be treated to a total solar eclipse — arguably the greatest of all spectacles in the solar system. Click here for all of Astronomy magazine’s 2024 eclipse coverage. “What’sContinue reading "The Great North American Eclipse: This Week in...

How do globular clusters remain intact for so long?

How do globular clusters remain intact for so long? As stars orbit the common center of mass, shouldn’t they cross orbits and collide regularly, destroying the cluster in relatively short order? Terrence SchellKelowna, British Columbia, Canada Globular clusters are ancient, spherical groups of stars that are often as old as the galaxies they orbit. TheContinue reading "How do globular clusters...

Every Full Moon, you can see the craters made famous in 2001: A Space Odyssey

On April 3, 1968, more than a year before Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, a film that was destined to become a science-fiction classic was shown in U.S. cinemas for the first time. Although many cinema-goers were baffled by 2001: A Space Odyssey, many others fell head over heels in love with Stanley Kubrick’sContinue reading "Every Full Moon, you can see the craters made famous in 2001: A...


FRIDAY 22. MARCH 2024


Saguaro sky

Chris Cook, from East Dennis, Massachusetts The night sky spins above the landscape of Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona in this 8-hour star trail shot. The imager used a DLSR to take 30-second exposures at f/4 and ISO 5000. The post Saguaro sky appeared first on Astronomy...

Remembering Tom Stafford, the Apollo commander who did his part to thaw the Cold War

The passing of Tom Stafford leaves only seven surviving Apollo Moon voyagers. Nicknamed “Mumbles”, this Air Force three-star general dodged death on the launchpad, set records as one of the fastest humans in history, and won the Congressional Space Medal of Honor for an epic mission of space détente with Soviet Russia. Born on Sept.Continue reading "Remembering Tom Stafford, the Apollo...

The Sky This Week from March 22 to 29: The Full Moon eclipsed

Friday, March 22Spring’s premier globular cluster, M3, is on display in the constellation Canes Venatici this evening. Not sure where that is? No problem! This somewhat lesser-known star pattern lies just behind Ursa Major, below the curving handle of the Big Dipper. And M3 has an easy signpost early tonight: It stands 12° above theContinue reading "The Sky This Week from March 22 to 29: The...


THURSDAY 21. MARCH 2024


The rumblings that led to the ‘alien spheres’ probably came from a truck

Seismic activity from a meteorite that landed in the Pacific Ocean in 2014 led to an underwater expedition and speculation from some the meteorite might be of interstellar origin. A new study suggests the seismic activity likely has a much more down-to-Earth explanation. It was from a truck. That’s the conclusion from a team ofContinue reading "The rumblings that led to the ‘alien...

Starmus unveils its program for ‘Starmus VII, The Future of our Home Planet’

BRATISLAVA, March 20 — STARMUS has announced today an unparalleled lectures program for its seventh edition which is meant to be the most inspiring debate on the future of our home planet. As announced in May 2023, the prestigious STARMUS Festival, — the brainchild of astrophysicist Garik Israelian, PhD and Queen guitarist Brian May, alsoContinue reading "Starmus unveils its program for...


WEDNESDAY 20. MARCH 2024


These supermassive black holes, equal to 28 billion Suns, are the heaviest ever measured

Two supermassive black holes — comprising a binary system — are locked in a chicken fight so intense that it has come to a standstill. And rather than merging, this fight has dragged on for over three billion years. The black hole binary system lies in the center of the elliptical, radio galaxy called 4CContinue reading "These supermassive black holes, equal to 28 billion Suns, are the...

2024 solar eclipse: Updates, live video and photos

Happy 2024 eclipse! We invite you to join Astronomy Magazine’s Dave Eicher and Michael Bakich at 12:30 p.m. Central on Monday, April 1, for a special live event here and on YouTube. Eicher and Bakich have seen dozens of eclipses and have the gift of explaining the science behind them clearly. Some of what they’llContinue reading "2024 solar eclipse: Updates, live video and photos" The...

Dwarf galaxies turned on the lights near the dawn of time, JWST reveals

Astronomers have long been baffled by how our universe emerged from the “Dark Ages,” the critical epoch from about 400,000 years after the Big Bang until starlight pervaded the cosmos for the first time. This primordial cosmic fog prevailed until about 1 billion years after the Big Bang, but precisely how it lifted has beenContinue reading "Dwarf galaxies turned on the lights near the dawn of...


TUESDAY 19. MARCH 2024


How the grisly substitute-king ritual kept rulers ‘safe’ during ancient eclipses

On April 8, millions of Americans will be able to see the magic of a total solar eclipse. Humans have been alternatively amused, puzzled, bewildered and sometimes even terrified at the sight of this celestial phenomenon. A range of social and cultural reactions accompanies the observation of an eclipse. In ancient Mesopotamia (roughly modern Iraq), eclipses were in factContinue...

Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association to host a free festival March 30

The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will hold the Tucson Astronomy Festival from 3 to 9 p.m. MST on Saturday, March 30, 2024, at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park Ramada 1 in Tucson. There is no fee to attend. The family event is open to all. Participants will have an opportunity to see celestial objects, including theContinue reading "Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association to host a free festival...

How should we classify the cosmos?

So much is happening in astronomy these days that it’s hard to keep track of the cosmic zoo, much less how each object fits into the overall celestial landscape. Scientists typically organize  their respective domains through classification systems, such as biology’s five kingdoms and three domains, chemistry’s periodic table, and physics’ standard model. Finding orderContinue reading...

One-winged angel

Marty Weintraub, from Duluth, Minnesota An aurora arcs over a fjord on the Norwegian island of Senja, roughly 3° north of the Arctic Circle, lighting up the villages of Bergsbotn and Indregård. This 1.6-second exposure was taken with a Sony a7 IV mirrorless camera and a 14 mm lens at f/1.8 and ISO 2500. The post One-winged angel appeared first on Astronomy...


MONDAY 18. MARCH 2024


The zoo of active galaxies: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher

In 1963, Caltech researcher Maarten Schmidt had a eureka moment. He was looking at the spectrum of a mysterious object named 3C 273, a source that had been found and cataloged with then-novel radio telescopes. It appeared to be a star emitting extremely high amounts of energy. But bizarrely, its spectrum matched no known elementsContinue reading "The zoo of active galaxies: This Week in Astronomy...

Are the percentages of dark matter and dark energy stable?

Are the percentages of dark matter and dark energy stable, or is the ratio of dark matter to dark energy to observable matter changing? Charles MartinThe Villages, Florida All the atoms and radiation in the universe make up less than 5 percent of its contents. The rest is composed of two invisible, enigmatic entities: darkContinue reading "Are the percentages of dark matter and dark energy...

Build a Sun projector with a finder scope or cheap binoculars

The practice of using a device to project an image of the Sun is thousands of years old. But if using a pinhole doesn’t give the image quality you want, then try this project. The final image will look a lot better. You’ll need a little lumber, a bit of hardware, a tape measure, andContinue reading "Build a Sun projector with a finder scope or cheap binoculars" The post Build a Sun projector...

The ‘highly speculative’ prospect that life once existed on the Moon

The following is an excerpt from Still As Bright: An Illuminating History of the Moon, from Antiquity to Tomorrow by Christopher Cokinos. The book will be published April 2, 2024, by Pegasus Books. Actual seas, water, waves, and wave crests, there upon the surface of the primal Moon? Magma hissing on a watery beach, steamContinue reading "The ‘highly speculative’ prospect that life...