Astronomy

M108 and M109 in Ursa Major are fine galaxies of dissimilar appearance that are curiously somewhat overlooked. Early spring sees the return of the galaxies, monumental rotating structures of many millions of gravitationally bound stars amid interstellar dust and gas that span tens of thousands or more light years in diameter. They’re not termed ‘island universes’ for nothing! The constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is prime galaxy country, with five Messier-designated gems leading its pack of outstanding targets. Messier 109 (NGC 3992) is a fine face-on barred spiral galaxy which imagers will find irresistible. Image: Ron Brecher. Messier 108 (NGC 3556) and 109 (NGC 3992) understandably take a back seat to the majesty of Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, and the peerless pairing ...

Humanity may not be extraordinary but rather the natural evolutionary outcome for our planet and likely others, according to a new model for how intelligent life developed on Earth. The model, which upends the decades-old "hard steps" theory that intelligent life was an incredibly improbable event, suggests that maybe it wasn't all that hard or improbable. A team of researchers at Penn State, who led the work, said the new interpretation of humanity's origin increases the probability of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. "This is a significant shift in how we think about the history of life," said Jennifer Macalady, professor of geosciences at Penn State and co-author on the paper, which published today (Feb. 14) in the journal Science Advances. "It suggests that the evolution of ...

The current exoplanet census contains 5,832 confirmed candidates, with more than 7,500 still awaiting confirmation. Of those that have been confirmed, most have been gas giants ranging from Neptune-like bodies (1992) to those similar to or many times the size and mass of Jupiter and Saturn (1883). Like the gas giants of the Solar System, astronomers generally theorized that these types of planets form in the outer reaches of their star system, where conditions are cold enough for gases like hydrogen and helium and volatile compounds (water, ammonia, methane, etc.) will condense or freeze solid. However, astronomers have noted that many of the gas giants they’ve observed orbited close to their stars, known as “Hot Jupiters.” This has raised questions about whether or not gas giants a...

This month is an interesting one for those of us who love to stargaze. I know the nights are still cooler, so wrap up and head out to watch the stars. While the sun will gradually set later and later until the summer solstice. We will still have plenty of dark sky time. While we do, find somewhere with as little light as possible to look out to the universe.  Constellations  We are going to see some recognisable constellations for this month including Orion the Hunter (best known for his belt of three stars) and Taurus with some notable deep sky objects of its own. Both constellations are quite old, recorded by an astronomer called Ptolemy in the 2nd century, but he did not create or imagine them. They were two of forty eight constellations that he learned of while studying the stars. Back...