Observatory
-
ESA has published a colossal data release from the agency’s Gaia observatory, which is currently engaged in a mission to survey 1 billion stars orbiting in the Milky Way. The data has already shed light on the motion of our galaxy and solar system.
-
The Arecibo Observatory's famous 1,000-ft (305-m) radio telescope is to be demolished after a second support cable failed. An assessment has determined that the radio dish and its 900-ton instrument platform are too unstable to be safely repaired.
-
Last week, the Earth had its closest shave with an asteroid ever recorded, when a small space rock skimmed just 370 km (230 miles) above the surface. For comparison, that’s closer than the orbit of the International Space Station.
-
The focal plane for what will be the world’s largest digital camera has been used to snap the first ever 3,200-megapixel images, with the team now preparing to install this sensor array into a next-generation telescope to study the universe.
-
The Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory in Japan has received an upgrade. A rare-earth element called gadolinium has been added to the water in the facility, which will make it more sensitive to neutrinos from more distant and ancient supernovae.
-
Science operations have been suspended at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico after the radio telescope was damaged on Monday August 10. An auxiliary cable supporting a platform appears to have snapped and fallen, damaging the dish.
-
A team of astronomers has identified what may be the best spot on Earth to stick a telescope. A high plateau in eastern Antarctica would have an exceptionally clear view of the stars, even outperforming other locations on the polar continent.
-
NASA has released a new panoramic infrared image of the center of the Milky Way. With data gathered by the Boeing 747-based SOFIA observatory, the image reveals new details of certain regions that have been traditionally tricky to capture.
-
Black holes are mysterious objects: just when we think we understand how big they can get, we go and find new ones that bend the rules. Now, astronomers have found a stellar black hole in our galaxy that’s so big it defies explanation.
-
If it was in our solar system, the orbit of exoplanet HR 5183 b would swing from the asteroid belt to way out beyond Neptune.
-
In 1974, astronomers used the Arecibo Observatory to beam a message from humanity to the stars, in one of the most well-known attempts to contact possible alien life. For the 44th anniversary of the Arecibo Message, scientists are reaching out to the public for help in designing an updated version.
-
A new exoplanet hunting tool has been installed onto an Australian telescope. Dubbed Veloce, the instrument looks out for the wobble of a star caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets, and it specializes in red dwarfs, the most common type of star in the universe.