Astronomy

Artist's impression of ʻOumuamua. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser In the past decade, astronomers have witnessed three interstellar objects (ISOs) passing through the solar system. These include the enigmatic 'Oumuamua in 2017, the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov in 2019, and 3I/ATLAS in July 2025. This latest object also appears to be a comet, based on recent observations that showed it was actively releasing water vapor as it neared the sun. The detection of these objects, which were previously theorized but never observed, has piqued interest in the origins of ISOs, their dynamics, and where they may be headed once they leave the solar system. Since...

3I/ATLAS, our third discovered interstellar visitor, has been in the news a lot lately for a whole host of reasons, and rightly so given the amount of unique scientific data different groups and telescopes have been collecting off of it. A new pre-release paper from researchers at the Auburn University Department of Physics recounts yet another interesting aspect of the new visitor - its water content. Almost all comets have some amount of water in them, as water is one of the most common substances in the universe, despite its absence on many of the worlds of our solar system. Typically, comets have a “coma” of water particles trailing behind them as they approach the Sun. Doing so heats up the particles, sublimating them into water vapor, which then streams behind the comet, giv...

Can you believe we are in August already? Let’s hope for another sunny heatwave and some clear skies for stargazing. Read below to know what to look out for this month! Sturgeon Moon Mark your calendars! The next full Moon will grace the skies on 9th August at 8:55am (UK time). This month’s Moon is traditionally known as the Sturgeon Moon, a name rooted from North American tradition. It has also been known as the Swan Flight Moon, Red Moon and Grain Moon.   The name comes from the giant lake sturgeon, a prehistoric-looking fish that once thrived in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. These freshwater giants were most easily caught in late summer and were a vital food source for Native American communities in the region. While once plentiful, sturgeon are now a much rarer sight due to overf...

A generative AI impression of a circumstellar disc surrounding a free floating planet. Though not bound to any star, these solitary giant planets appear to possess discs similar to the one that formed the planets around our Sun. Planets without stars may not be so lonely after all. New research led by astronomers at the University of St Andrews suggests that free-floating giant planets—those adrift in interstellar space—can host their own miniature planetary systems. Using the unparalleled infrared vision of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the team studied a sample of eight young, isolated planetary-mass objects with masses five to ten times that of Jupiter. Though not bound to any star, these solitary giants appear to possess dusty circumplanetary discs—structures similar to the o...