Wisconsin skywatchers can experience a busy lineup of celestial events starting with the Sturgeon Moon, the peak of the Perseids meteor shower, and two eclipses, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac and NASA. Clear skies over Milwaukee and across the state provide prime conditions for viewing these upcoming astronomical phenomena. Perseids Meteor Shower Peak Dates … Read more
A buck moon rising on Thursday night will deliver stargazing conditions across Australia by outshining two meteor showers, thanks to a positioning further from Earth than usual, according to the Sydney Institute for Astronomy. Micro Moon Timing and Visibility Across States Stargazers in Tasmania, the ACT, Victoria, and New South Wales can expect the micro … Read more
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have directly detected four previously hidden white dwarfs orbiting nearby red dwarf stars within 20 parsecs of the Sun, according to a study published in Oxford Academic. The research, titled “Direct detections of white dwarfs in four WD+dM post-common envelope binaries within 20 pc,” resolves a long-standing observational challenge … Read more
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant exoplanet named Beta Pictoris d hidden within the Beta Pictoris system, 63 light-years from Earth, using a breakthrough spectroscopic technique that bypasses the star’s bright debris disk. According to NASA, the discovery makes this system only the second known planetary system to host at … Read more
The US Federal Communications Commission approved a satellite launch by startup Reflect Orbital to test a thin-film reflector designed to direct sunlight toward specific locations on Earth, according to agency records. The Earendil-1 satellite aims to extend usable hours for solar cells and provide illumination for critical operations by reflecting abundant sunlight during nighttime hours, … Read more
A amateur astronomer’s routine search for hiking routes on Google Maps has led to the identification of a massive 15.5-mile-wide meteorite impact crater in Quebec, Canada. Named Uhackatik, the site was confirmed by geologists following an investigation, marking one of the biggest impact crater discoveries in recent years, according to the Canadian Press. The Discovery … Read more
The observable universe is significantly larger than its age in light-years because space has continuously expanded while light travels toward Earth. While the universe is approximately 13.77 billion years old, the distance to the edge of the observable universe is roughly 45 billion light-years. This discrepancy exists because the expansion of space itself carries distant … Read more
Stargazers across North America and mid-northern latitudes can use the moon as a celestial guide this week to locate two of the night sky’s most prominent features: the blue-white star Spica and the red supergiant Antares. According to data provided by Stellarium, the moon’s position relative to these stars offers an accessible entry point for … Read more
When two black holes collide, they do not simply vanish into silence; they ring like a struck bell, shedding energy through gravitational waves in a process known as “ringdown.” According to a review, scientists are now using these fading vibrations to perform “black hole spectroscopy,” turning the aftermath of cosmic mergers into a precision laboratory … Read more
Solar storm risks to Earth’s infrastructure may be significantly underestimated because there is no known upper limit to how the planet responds to solar wind, according to a study published in Nature. Research led by Nithin Sivadas of NASA and Maria Walach from Lancaster University suggests that previous beliefs in a “leveling off” of atmospheric … Read more