Category Archives: News and Updates

News about Astronomy and Space Science. Find every news item and update here, in blog format. You can get these updates sent straight to your mailbox by subscribing here, or you can subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking the link.

NASA’s IRIS take a look at the Sun’s interior

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Back in July, NASA launched their new Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft. IRIS is designed to study one specific level of the Sun’s atmosphere at unprecedented speed and details, in the hope of resolving one of the greatest mysteries in solar astronomy. The answers it discovers will not only improve our knowledge of how the nearest star works, but will also improve our understanding of the Solar Wind, and help us to better predict space weather events that threaten … Continue reading →

Globular Cluster study measures individual star motions

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Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have managed to track the motions of over 30,000 stars in a globular cluster orbiting the Milky Way galaxy.  Their observations have revealed that there are two distinct populations of stars in the cluster: Those created when the cluster first formed, and a second group that were born a hundred million years later. The team of astronomers, led by Professor Harvey Richter of the University of British Columbia, combined 8 years worth of … Continue reading →

The six tails of asteroid P/2013 P5

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In September 2013, astronomers working with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) discovered that a newly found asteroid had a comet-like tail. Closer study revealed that the tail was composed of six distinct streams of dust. This was surprising enough, but when they took a closer look two weeks later they were astonished to find that the structure of the system had changed completely. The asteroid drew attention from the start: asteroids are small and distant enough that they only ever … Continue reading →

Carnival of Space #323

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Welcome, come in to the 323rd Carnival of Space!  The carnival is a community of space science and astronomy writers and bloggers, who submit their best work each week for your benefit.  It’s my turn again, and it’s a bit special for it is to be the last article published on Urban Astronomer before we move hosts.  I’m taking my time with the migration, as I want to get it right without losing any content (You realise there’s over 950 … Continue reading →

Sun’s Older Twin found

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An older, but almost identical star to the Sun has been found in the constellation of Capricornus (The Sea Goat). Mankind has only been studying the Sun for the last 400 years (a very small percentage of its 4.6 Billion year lifespan), but by studying very similar stars at various ages, we have been able to extrapolate a lot of information about our own star. These stars are commonly termed “Solar twins” and now an international team of researchers, led … Continue reading →