The future looks very bright for Australian radio astronomy but it was somewhat clouded earlier this year when CSIRO’s radio astronomy program took a dramatic hit in the Australian federal budget. CSIRO…
Over in the northern hemisphere, where summer is in full swing, it’s the time of the Perseids meteor shower. Generally it’s their best shower of the year, with 100 meteors predicted each hour over August…
The year’s biggest “supermoon” will rise on August 10. Like last time, there will be many pictures trying to showoff the “over-sized” moon. But I don’t think it deserves so much attention. At 7.09pm BST…
After a decade of travelling through space, and years before that of mission planning, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft is right on track to deliver a superb mission. Already it has…
On the night of Monday August 4, mainland Australia will see Saturn disappear behind the moon. It’s the third time this year that the moon and Saturn will perfectly line up, as viewed from our part of…
Arp220 is a nearby Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy similar to what ALESS65 would look like if it were closer to Earth.
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
A galaxy more than 12 billion light years from Earth is heading for a “red and dead” future because it is running out of the fuel needed to make new stars. The galaxy, known as ALESS65, is an ultra-luminous…
The first images from Australia’s Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope have given scientists a sneak peek at the potential images to come from the much larger Square Kilometre Array (SKA…
Today I awoke to the news that Germany has announced its intention to withdraw from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. The SKA is an ambitious project that plans to build a radio telescope with…
There’s a lot of dust between us and the edge of the universe.
H Raab/Flickr
It’s almost three months since a team of scientists announced it had detected polarised light from the afterglow of the Big Bang. But questions are still being asked about whether cosmic dust may have…
The origin of today’s burst of energy has astronomers puzzled.
AP Photographie /Flickr
A titanic eruption in our neighbouring galaxy, Andromeda, has sent shockwaves through the astronomical community here on Earth. NASA’s Swift satellite detected a flood of gamma rays at 21:15 UTC yesterday…
Earth was treated to a magnificent show during the Perseid meteor shower in 2010. Will the northern hemisphere get a similar show with the Camelopardalis shower on Saturday?
ESO/S. Guisard
Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland e Tanya Hill, Museums Victoria Research Institute
Across North America, Europe and Japan, skywatchers will be out in force this weekend with high hopes of catching a never-before-seen meteor shower. Predicted to peak this Saturday, May 24, the shower…
The strongest magnets in the universe – but how does a magnetar form? (Artist’s impression of magnetar in the cluster Westerlund 1.)
ESO/L. Calçada
Magnetars are stars that are incredibly dense, rapidly spinning, amazingly hot and – as their name suggests – are the most magnetic objects known in the universe. The magnetic field on the surface of a…
Now you see it – and now you don’t.
Christina L. F./ Flickr
Tanya Hill, Museums Victoria Research Institute e Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland
Everyone’s favourite ringed planet – the magnificent Saturn – is well worth some extra attention in the coming days. Tomorrow night, it reaches opposition, shining at its very best and brightest, directly…
We’ve stellar astronomy research programmes and need to keep them up.
Flickr/xJason.Rogersx (image cropped)
AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, we’re asking how each science discipline will contribute to Australia…
Beta Pictoris b spins faster than the fastest spinning planet in our solar system.
ESO/L. Calçada & N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Tanya Hill, Museums Victoria Research Institute e Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland
Over the past two decades, almost 1,500 exoplanets have been discovered orbiting distant stars – but Dutch astronomers have determined for the very first time just how fast one of those exoplanets is spinning…
A solar eclipse as seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2012 – similar to what many Australians will see this afternoon (weather permitting, of course).
Robert Adams/Flickr
Due to a rare alignment of events, many Australians will today experience a second eclipse this month. A partial solar eclipse will be visible from across Australia later this afternoon, following the…
Let’s hope it’s barren.
NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-CalTech
Last week, scientists announced the discovery of Kepler-186f, a planet 492 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. Kepler-186f is special because it marks the first planet almost exactly the same…
A single Lyrids meteor captured during last year’s shower.
Flickr/Mike Lewinski
If you’re willing to rise early tomorrow morning then there’s the chance to see a meteor shower, known as the Lyrids, which may been responsible for a bright light seen recently over Russia. A dashcam…
The Automated Planet Finder is hunting planets all by itself.
Laurie Hatch
People around the world are being invited to learn how to hunt for planets, using two new online apps devised by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin and UC Santa Cruz. The apps use data from…