Category Archives: Astronomy

September Supermoon: the best place and time to see tonight’s bigger and brighter full moon

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Find a viewing spot that is dark and looks towards the east, which is where the moon will rise. A flat location will give a ‘really cool’ perspective, experts say

If you look up into the sky on Wednesday night, you’ll likely notice the full moon gleaming bigger and brighter than usual.

You’ll be looking at the second supermoon of the year – the term for when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth while it is full.

How to take a good photograph of the full moon on your phone or camera

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Let there be night: digital billboards to be turned off to curb light pollution under Melbourne city proposal

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Illuminated signs have increased nocturnal artificial light and are detrimental to the city’s liveability and sustainability, a review has found

Large digital billboards could be turned off late at night under a proposal by Melbourne city council to crack down on light pollution and reduce its health and environmental impacts.

A review, commissioned by the council, recommended the introduction of a curfew for illuminated signs above ground level.

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‘Once in a lifetime event’: rare chance to see explosion on dwarf star 3,000 light years away

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T Coronae Borealis, or the Blaze Star, was last seen in 1946 and will be visible again some time between now and September

In what is being called a “once-in-a-lifetime event”, light from a thermonuclear explosion on a star has been travelling towards Earth for thousands of years and it will be here any day.

T Coronae Borealis (also known as T Cor Bor, T CrB, and the Blaze Star) will be as bright as the North Star (for those in the northern hemisphere).

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Carbon detected in galaxy observed 350m years after big bang

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Exclusive: ‘Massive’ discovery raises possibility that conditions for life were present almost from dawn of time

Astronomers have detected carbon in a galaxy observed just 350m years after the big bang, in observations that raise the possibility that the conditions for life were present almost from the dawn of time.

The observations, made by the James Webb Space Telescope, suggest that vast amounts of carbon were released when the first generation of stars exploded in supernovae. Carbon is known to have seeded the first planets and is a building block for life as we know it, but was previously thought to have emerged much later in cosmic history.

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Potentially habitable planet size of Earth discovered 40 light years away

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Queensland- and Scotland-based PhD students co-lead team celebrating ‘Eureka moment’ spotting Gliese 12b

An Australian university student has co-led the discovery of an Earth-sized, potentially habitable planet just 40 light years away.

Shishir Dholakia, a PhD candidate in astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland, is part of an international team that published the discovery in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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Aurora australis offers second chance of ‘bloody awesome’ southern lights display on Sunday

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Solar storm effects delight stargazers in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia but most in NSW miss out

Australians should have a second chance to see the aurora australis on Sunday night, experts say, after a Saturday southern lights display so spectacular it left at least one astronomer in tears.

Social media users posted pictures of brightly coloured skies in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and around the world.

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Warning over solar storm that could give US rare view of northern lights

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Noaa issues warning for extreme G5 geomagnetic storm, with effects due to last through weekend and possibly into next week

A ferocious solar storm powerful enough to knock out or disrupt satellite and communications systems, the power grid and radio signals was raging on Friday, space weather researchers warned.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) issued a rare warning for extreme G5 geomagnetic storm conditions when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. The last extreme G5 event was in 2003.

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Video of sun’s surface shows solar rain, eruptions and coronal moss

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Ethereal scenes of flowing super-heated material may help explain why atmosphere is hotter than surface

The sun’s otherworldly landscape, including coronal moss, solar rain and 6,000-mile-tall spires of gas, is revealed in footage from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

The observations, beamed back by the European Space Agency probe, reveal feathery, hair-like structures made of plasma and also capture eruptions and showers of relatively cooler material falling to the surface.

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After an absence of 71 years, the green-tinged Devil Comet returns to Australian skies

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While 12P/Pons-Brooks may not be as famous as Halley’s, its appearance close to Jupiter is causing great excitement for stargazers

The green, horned “Devil comet” is now visible in Australian skies, offering a once-in-lifetime chance to see a unique celestial body.

The comet – real name 12P/Pons-Brooks – was nicknamed the Devil comet because eruptions from its nucleus can make it look like it has two horns. More recently, Star Wars fans have nicknamed it the Millennium Falcon.

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Rare lunar event to shed light on Stonehenge’s links to the moon

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Archaeologists and astronomers to study Wiltshire site’s lesser understood connection to the moon

The rising and setting of the sun at Stonehenge, especially during the summer and winter solstices, continues to evoke joy, fascination and religious devotion.

Now a project has been launched to delve into the lesser understood links that may exist between the monument and the moon during a rare lunar event.

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Northern lights predicted across US and UK on Monday night in wake of solar storms

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Spectacular aurora borealis caused by geomagnetic storms on sun’s surface may be visible in North America as far south as the midwest

Solar eruptions are sending a stream of particles towards Earth, creating spectacular auroras in both hemispheres.

The aurora borealis – in the northern hemisphere – will be potentially visible on Monday night in the US as far south as the midwest. The northern lights, more commonly associated with northern Europe, could also be visible in northern United Kingdom.

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Planet-eating stars more common than previously thought, astrophysicists find

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New research from Australian scientists shows strong evidence even mid-life stable stars like our sun have engulfed entire planets

Planet-eating stars are more abundant in the universe than previously thought, an Australian-led study has found.

The study, by the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (Astro 3D), looked at “co-natal” or twin stars, born from the same molecular cloud, where one had “eaten” a planet and the other had not.

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Astronomers detect ‘waterworld with a boiling ocean’ in deep space

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Exclusive: Significant discovery, made by James Webb telescope, provokes disagreement over conditions on planet’s surface

Astronomers have observed a distant planet that could be entirely covered in a deep water ocean, in findings that advance the search for habitable conditions beyond Earth.

The observations, by Nasa’s James Webb space telescope (JWST), revealed water vapour and chemical signatures of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet, which is twice Earth’s radius and about 70 light years away. This chemical mix is consistent with a water world where the ocean would span the entire surface, and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge, although they do not envisage a balmy, inviting seascape.

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‘Old smokers’: astronomers discover giant ancient stars in Milky Way

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Stars sat fading quietly for years before suddenly puffing out vast clouds of smoke

Astronomers have discovered a mysterious group of giant elderly stars at the heart of the Milky Way that are emitting solar system-sized clouds of dust and gas.

The stars, which have been named “old smokers”, sat quietly for many years, fading almost to invisibility, before suddenly puffing out vast clouds of smoke. The discovery was made during the monitoring of almost a billion stars in infrared light during a 10-year survey of the night sky.

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Revealed: the oldest black hole ever observed, dating to dawn of universe

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Exclusive: astronomers surprised at size of 13bn-year-old object, which raises new questions about where black holes came from

Astronomers have detected the oldest black hole ever observed, dating back more than 13bn years to the dawn of the universe.

The observations, by the James Webb space telescope (JWST), reveal it to be at the heart of a galaxy 440m years after the big bang. At around a million times the mass of the sun, it is surprisingly big for a baby black hole, raising the question of how it grew so big so quickly.

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Astronomers spot ‘overweight’ planet that appears too big for tiny host star

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Fact that planet 13 times bigger than Earth is orbiting star nine times smaller than sun shows ‘how little we know about the universe’

Astronomers have spotted an “overweight” planet that appears to be far too massive for its petite host star.

The planet, which is 13 times bigger than Earth, is orbiting a star called LHS 3154, which is nine times smaller than the sun. The planet’s heft is unremarkable in its own right, but its pairing with an ultracool dwarf star, the smallest and coldest stars in the universe, has puzzled scientists.

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‘Like a ball of fire’: Perseids meteor shower to peak this weekend

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While meteors are active from July, Perseids will be most visible in northern hemisphere this Saturday and Sunday

Stargazers will be in for a treat this weekend as the best meteor shower of the year is expected to peak.

The Perseids are named after the Greek hero Perseus because the meteor shower appears to come from the eponymous constellation.

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Euclid telescope lifts off in search of the secrets of dark universe

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European Space Agency mission launches on SpaceX rocket from Florida to shed light on dark energy and dark matter

A European-built orbital satellite was launched into space on Saturday from Florida on a mission to shed new light on dark energy and dark matter, the mysterious cosmic forces scientists say account for 95% of the known universe.

The Euclid telescope, named for the ancient Greek mathematician known as the “father of geometry”, was carried in the cargo bay of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which blasted off about 11am EDT (1500 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force station. A live stream of the liftoff was shown on Nasa TV.

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Supermassive black hole at heart of ancient galaxy ‘far larger than expected’

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Discovery of GS-9209, one of the furthest from the Milky Way, adds to evidence that large black holes prevent star formation, astronomers say

A supermassive black hole discovered at the heart of an ancient galaxy is five times larger than expected for the number of stars it contains, astronomers say.

Researchers spotted the immense black hole in a galaxy known as GS-9209 that lies 25bn light-years from Earth, making it one of the most distant to have been observed and recorded.

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Cosmic explosion last year may be ‘brightest ever seen’

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Astronomers say gamma-ray burst may have been result of star collapsing to form black hole

A cosmic explosion that blinded space instruments last year may be the brightest ever seen, according to astronomers.

The blast took place 2bn light years from Earth, producing a pulse of intense radiation that swept through the solar system in October last year.

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