Adi Foord, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Now out in space for more than two years, the James Webb Space Telescope is a stunningly sophisticated instrument.
Changes in light qualities during a solar eclipse are quick and drastic, so familiarity with aperture and shutter speed are important. People with cameras among viewers of a partial solar eclipse in Yanguan town, Haining City, China, in 2009.
(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Apart from technical aspects, a successful photograph of the eclipse serves as a lasting reminder of the sense of wonder and the feeling of being part of something larger than ourselves.
A telescope can reveal so much of the night sky, including Saturn’s rings and the Moon’s craters. But choosing the right telescope is a difficult decision – here’s what you need to know.
From improving our understanding of dark matter to revealing the location of Earth 2.0, the Extremely Large Telescope promises answers to some of the biggest scientific questions of our time.
A visualisation of the huge, glowing planetary body produced by a planetary collision.
Mark Garlick
Canada’s partnership in the world’s largest radio telescope, located in South Africa and Australia, creates new opportunities for research, but the benefits go beyond astronomy.
The Herschel Museum in Bath, England, has a new display of a handwritten draft of Caroline Herschel’s memoirs.
Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons
Kris Pardo, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Astronomer Caroline Herschel’s work discovering and cataloging astronomical objects in the 18th century is still used in the field today, but she didn’t always get her due credit.
A light, cheap space telescope design would make it possible to put many individual units in space at once.
Katie Yung, Daniel Apai /University of Arizona and AllThingsSpace /SketchFab
Space telescopes are limited in size due to the difficulties and cost of getting into orbit. By revamping an old optical technology, researchers are working on a lightweight and thin telescope design.
New research shows that the destructive merging of a star and a planet expels huge amounts of gas, as shown in this artist’s impression.
K. Miller/R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)
Stars begin to expand when they run out of fuel and can become thousands of times larger, consuming any planets in the way. For the first time, astronomers have witnessed one such event.
Euclid is set to launch this year on a rocket built by SpaceX.
Work performed by ATG under contract for ESA
Artificial intelligence tools are making waves in almost every aspect of life, and astronomy is no different. An astronomer explains the history and future of AI in understanding the universe.
LST-1 prototype in La Palma, Spain.
Tomohiro Inada/CTA
The most energetic events in the universe shower us with unbelievably energetic particles of light. Capturing these can help us to solve some enticing cosmic mysteries.
SAURON: radio intensity (purple) from MeerKAT overlaid on an optical image from the Dark Energy Survey.
Michelle Lochner / The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration 2005