Astronomy

Sunspots were widely spread on the Sun on 1 August 2023. Image: Sheri Lynn Karl. The Sun is our very own special star, which we rely on totally for our continued existence. The long summer days, hopefully blessed with the year’s best weather conditions, when the Sun rides high in the sky, are ideal for becoming better acquainted with our life-giver. When thinking of astronomy, the Sun isn’t the first thing that springs to mind but you would be missing out on glimpsing an extremely dynamic world. How is it possible to see anything when the Sun is so intensively hot and bright and what will I be able to see anyway?  A suitably filtered small telescope can reveal a wealth of detail at various wavelengths, including spectacularly in hydrogen-alpha (at 656.3nm), but observing sunspots crossing...

Multiwavelength finding chart of the inner ≈0.4 pc of the Galactic center observed in the K-band (red) and L-band (blue) observed with NACO (VLT). Credit: Astronomy & Astrophysics (2024). DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202449729 Observational astronomy shows that newly discovered young stellar objects (YSOs) in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* located in the center of our galaxy behave differently than expected. They describe similar orbits to already known young evolved stars and are arranged in a particular pattern around the supermassive black hole. Studies show that Sgr A* causes th...

Night Sky June Summer is almost here so welcome back for another month of objects to look out for in the night sky, with some good weather (fingers crossed)! June has a few things for us to see, first thing being the summer solstice. Summer Solstice Thursday 20th of June this year marks the summer solstice. The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year and the shortest night of the year, this is because the Earth’s axis on this day will be most directly inclined towards the sun, giving the northern hemisphere plenty of sunshine. The solstice occurs when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky at noon. This point is called the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees North latitude). On this day, the Sun appears to stand still at its most northern point before reversing direction. Many ...

Arcturus (alpha Boötis) is the brightest star north of the celestial equator and only Sirius outshines it from UK shores. Dominating the short, late-spring nights is Arcturus, the brightest star of the northern hemisphere sky and the sentinel of spring. It’s the brilliant leader of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, or Bear Keeper, an area of the night sky that’s bereft of bright deep-sky objects, including no Messier-designated targets. Don’t you think then that it’s rather fitting that otherwise uninspiring Boötes has been handed the distinct honour of hosting Arcturus, as well as several superb double stars, including the beautifully formed and named Pulcherrima (Izar, epsilon Boötis).  Arrive at Arcturus Arcturus is a magnificent naked eye star, shining at magnitude –0.04 – o...