Apologies for the late posting, but as those who follow me on twitter or facebook could have told you, I just became a father again. The new arrival keeps me busy, so updates are slow. And with those excuses out of the way, let’s talk about the 318th Carnival of Space. This week’s carnival is hosted by Pamela Hoffman of Everyday Spacer, and packs in a varied program. If you click that link, you’ll learn about Apollo era lunar geology, … Continue reading →
It’s old news by now, but a very bright fireball streaked across the Southern African skies at about 11pm, 21 November 2009. My wife saw it first-hand, and this is how she descibed it: “At about eleven pm on Saturday night (21 November), the whole of Northern South Africa lit up. I was on a drive back from a wedding near Brits to Pretoria when the sky went bright white and then faded from purple to blue and then finally … Continue reading →
Guest post by Andrew Symes Just as “go-to” technology simplified the use of telescopes, astronomy apps are revolutionizing the way new and experienced stargazers find their way around the night sky. One of the newest apps is Starmap Media for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Created by the makers of the Starmap and Starmap PRO planetarium apps, Starmap Media is designed for anyone looking to learn more about the night sky and astronomy in general. Part planetarium, part … Continue reading →
Welcome to the 317th Carnival of Space. Once again, it’s Urban Astronomers turn to scour the Internet for news and articles on space science and astronomy and bring them together into one place. We’ve had a lot of submissions this week, so let’s cut straight to the chase: From the Chandra X-ray space telescope’s official blog we have an article titled Too Hot to Swallow: New Chandra results help explain why gas near the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole is … Continue reading →
When astronomers pointed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA) at the Spitzer dark cloud SDC335.579-0.292, hoping to study partially developed proto-stars, they were not expecting to discover a record-breaking 500 stellar mass monster. The unborn star, situated some 11000 light years away, is the largest ever seen in the Milky Way, and will likely evolve into a supergiant star some 100 times the mass of the Sun. Stars form in vast clouds of cold gas and dust, which coalesce into … Continue reading →
