10 New Merger Events in Gravitational-Wave Data

An independent team has found additional black hole mergers in LIGO data.

Still image from a simulation of the merger of two black holes of very different masses wobbling around each other in their inspiraling orbit. Redder colors represent stronger waves. This simulation matches the characteristics of GW190412, which both the LVK and IAS pipelines detected.

Stargazers: Community of Wonder

Virginia State Parks / CC BY 2.0

Companionship adds to the stargazing experience; but even if you're alone, you never know who else might be looking skyward.

On a clear night this past summer, I was outside with my 114mm Dobsonian and a mission to find the Ring Nebula. I found it, and it was glorious. I spent a full hour peering through the eyepiece and marveling at the speck of hazy fuzz.

Hubble's Future in the Webb Era

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Even though it’s far past its warranty, the Hubble Space Telescope is still proving its worth in this new era.

Perhaps you’ve heard: The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the latest and greatest observatory in space, wowing the astronomical community with amazing images released last week.


But amid all the excitement, the Hubble Space Telescope — NASA’s orbital transformational observatory now for more than 32 years — continues its exploration and discovery.


"We believe that we can keep Hubble doing the ground-breaking science it is known for through the latter part of this decade and possibly into the next," says public affairs officer Claire Andreoli (NASA Goddard).

HUBBLE: FROM TROUBLE TO TRIUMPH

Deployed on April 25, 1990, from the cargo bay of the U.S. space shuttle Discovery, Hubble got off to a rocky start: A defective mirror wasn’t discovered until after deployment and calibration.

Three years later, astronauts repaired the defect with "corrective lenses," named the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) package, which they placed in the telescope during the STS-61/Servicing Mission One.




Even though it's far past its warranty, Hubble is still proving its worth in this new era that includes the James Webb Space Telescope.

The post-Hubble Future in the Webb Era appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

source https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/hubbles-future-in-the-webb-era/

Planets and Comets Can't Hide from SOHO's Eye

With the help of the Solar Heliospheric Observatory, you can not only keep track of the planets in the daytime sky but maybe even discover a comet.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory can photograph rare events that can't be seen from the ground, like this grouping of four planets and the Pleiades near the Sun that happened on May 15, 2000.ESA / NASA / SOHO

The post Planets and Comets Can't Hide from SOHO's Eye appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Nature is replete with rhythms. Earth spins, planets revolve, variable stars pulsate, and the moon waxes and wanes. Many of us watched Jupiter and Saturn squeeze together during the recent Great Conjunction, then followed them until they disappeared in the solar glare in January.

source https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/planets-and-comets-cant-hide-from-sohos-eye/

Pallas Makes a Point in Pisces

Spice up your fall observing with a dash of Pallas and nibble of Neptune. Both planet and asteroid are easy to spot in a small telescope.

The post Pallas Makes a Point in Pisces appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

I've never been able to wrap my mind around the fact that the total mass of the main asteroid belt equals just 4% the mass of the Moon. That seems hardly enough to matter, and yet our fate rests on those scraps and shards. A single smack from a 10-kilometer-wide stray and humanity — along with thousands of other species — could face the possibility of extinction. Their small bulk paired with their outsize destructive potential is just one reason to observe asteroids.