Astronomy

How many

Raise your arms if you see an aurora.

What is Miranda really like?

An unusually active sunspot region is now crossing the Sun.

Peering from the shadows, the

Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

Dark, smooth regions that cover the Moon's

Every so often (in geologic time) Earth's magnetic field does a flip. The north and south magnetic poles gradually trade places in a phenomenon called a geomagnetic reversal. Scientists long thought this happened every ten thousand years or so. However, new evidence from deep ocean cores show that at least two ancient reversals didn't follow that script. One took about 18,000 years to flip and the other took 70,000 years. Such lengthy time lapses could have seriously affected Earth's atmospheric chemistry, climate, and evolution of life forms during the Eocene period of geologic history.

Astronomers might have spotted a star in the Andromeda Galaxy collapsing directly into a black hole, without the accompanying fanfare of a supernova.

The post Astronomers Discover Second Failed Supernova Candidate appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

In a new study, researchers say that non-biological sources they considered could not fully account for the abundance of organic compounds in a sample collected on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover.

Astrophotography with remotely operated telescopes is easier than you might think.

The post Astro-Imaging from a Distance: A Remote Experience appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Here's a different approach to recording deep-sky targets over natural and urban landscapes.

The post A New Approach to Nightscapes: Urban Deepscaping appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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At 16:45 GMT/17:45 CET the first Ariane 6 rocket with four boosters lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 12 February, taking 32 Amazon Leo satellites to orbit.

This is Ariane 6’s most powerful version yet. The new three-stage European rocket can be adapted according to each mission with either two or four boosters as well as the length of the fairing – the nosecone that splits vertically in two. This launch was the sixth Ariane 6 flight, the first to fly with four boosters and also the first with the long fairing.

Ariane 6 in its four-booster configuration, known as Ariane 64, doubles the rocket’s performance compared to the two-booster version that has flown five times including the inaugural flight in 2024. The P120C boosters used by Ariane 6 are one of the most powerful one-piece motors in production in the world. Flying with four boosters takes Ariane 6 to a whole new class of rockets. With the extra thrust from two more boosters Ariane 6 can take around 21.6 tonnes to low Earth orbit, more than double the 10.3 tonnes it could bring to orbit with just two boosters.

Dedicating multiple nights to a single target can lead to surprising results.

The post Ultra-Deep Astro-Imaging appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Several years ago, an automated sky survey spotted a distant supermassive black hole that tore apart a star. The star that got too close, and the resulting tidal disruption event released a lot of energy. But the SMBH is exhibiting a strong case of cosmic indigestion, and has been burping out the remains of the star for four years. And it keeps getting brighter and brighter.

An intrepid team of scientists has created ‘smart underwear’ to measure human flatulence in a bid to better understand our farts

The EPA has scrapped a rule stating that climate change harms human health. Here’s what that could mean

Here's how to reveal the reflected light of stellar explosions photographically.

The post Imaging Supernovae: Illuminate Echoes of Light appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Four worlds around a small, dim star are challenging theories of planet formation

Life may have begun when RNA molecules began to replicate themselves, and now we’ve finally found an RNA molecule that is very close to being able to do this