Category Archives: Astronomy

Breadcrumb Trail Links

"I'm driven by challenges, and I think I was born to do this.

Publishing date:

Theyre few, but mighty: women represent about 15 per cent of scientists in Canadian astronomy and related physics fields, but their contributions make them a powerful force. Here are three who are winning awards and mentoring the next generation.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

In January, Kathryn McWilliams, PhD, became the first Canadian to receive an honorary fellowship in geophysics from the U.K.-based Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).

I wasnt expecting it at all; it was very surprising and humbling, says McWilliams, a professor of physics and engineering physics at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

The RAS represents scientists in disciplines including astronomy, geophysics and space science. Its coveted fellowships recognize scientists outside the U.K. who have made significant contributions in their fields.

What I do is commonly called space science the science of the space between the Earth and the sun. Were trying to understand Earths space environment, so its kind of a study of weather and how conditions in space created by the suns activity affect us, explains McWilliams.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

McWilliams directs SuperDARN Canada, part of an international effort that uses radar to learn more about the Earths upper atmosphere. As a summer student in 1992, McWilliams helped build the first radar site, and today, she chairs the International SuperDARN Collaboration, which involves researchers from 10 countries.

It works like a police speed radar trap: we send out a signal into the atmosphere up about 250 kilometers, just below the space station. The moving electrically-charged particles up there modify our signal, and we get an echo back. Then, we can look at how the signal changes to determine how fast those particles are moving.

Our laboratory is practically the size of the solar system, and we work with people all over the world, because no one group could have enough funding or enough money to have all the instruments needed to answer these questions. I love that its a collaborative type of research field.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Throughout her studies and career, McWilliams was often the only woman in the room, but that never deterred her.

It can be frustrating, but I just kept pushing ahead and taking advantage of opportunities, she says.

Along the way, Ive had good allies. Things have been improving; someone starting a PhD now would have a different experience than I had decades ago. In order to move ahead, you have to prioritize and make your path.

In 2017, Quebec-born Laurie Rousseau-Nepton became the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a PhD in astrophysics. After graduating from Universit de Laval, she became the resident astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. Rousseau-Nepton is also the principal investigator for SIGNALS, a large-scale observation program using the cutting-edge telescope to investigate more than 50,000 star-forming regions around the Milky Way.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

The project, which includes an interdisciplinary team of about 70 experts, covers many fields of extragalactic astrophysics, says Rousseau-Nepton, who got involved as a summer student helping to build a camera for the project.

I came here for the first flight when the instrument was installed on the telescope, which was exciting, she says.

Stars form everywhere in galaxies, in the Milky Way and in many neighbouring environments, explains Rousseau-Nepton. Depending on how and where theyre formed, they evolve differently.

In astronomy, we do surveys to try to tackle questions that we dont have answers for yet. Star formation is such an important phenomenon because it drives the evolution of the whole universe, she explains.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Before, we didnt have the tools to study star-forming regions around the Milky Way deeply. Now, we can see in great detail whats going on, and by studying thousands of them in different environments and areas were trying to figure out how they change and what they will become.

When it wraps this summer, SIGNALS will create the largest database of its kind. Rousseau-Nepton enjoyed collaborating with several female interns during this project.

By mentoring them, Im making sure they gain the best knowledge and tools. I was the only woman student in my group for a while, so I know how it can feel, and I share my experiences with them, she says.

I love my job. I wake up every day thinking, My job is to look into the universe and try to figure things out; isnt that the best? Im driven by challenges, and I think I was born to do this.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

As a child, Brenda Matthews loved science and looking at the night sky, but she didnt plan on merging the two as a career until her final undergraduate year at McMaster University, when she met Christine Wilson, a female astronomer who had just joined the physics department.

Christine was such a source of inspiration to me that I decided to pursue graduate studies in astronomy at the University of Calgary, says Matthews, who returned to McMaster to do her PhD with Wilson.

Having a female supervisor helped me get to the end of my doctorate and decide to continue, because thats one of the stages where women leave.

Today, Matthews is an astronomer at the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Victoria, B.C. part of the National Research Council of Canada.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Matthews researches planetary systems beyond the solar system, studying debris discs the equivalent of our comet and asteroid belts around other stars to see where planets might be located.

To detect planets that are further away, we can take an image of the system to detect that planet, but were limited in the mass of the planet we can detect, she explains.

So, if you want to detect Neptune or Saturn at their positions around other stars, you can place constraints on planets like that by studying their debris discs. We detect them with optical telescopes or near-infrared telescopes, or through emission: Because all the little comets and asteroids can undergo collisions and generate fine solids, we can detect those in the infrared and at longer wavelengths.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Matthews says astronomy differs from other sciences because its so accessible and visually engaging. Many of us can appreciate seeing the night sky or stunning images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Its important to her to mentor other women pursuing this field.

Its a great job, and if you have a passion for it, you should be able to pursue it, says Matthews, adding that her organization recently formed an equity, diversity and inclusion committee to boost the number of underrepresented groups in the field.

I try to do my part in looking for talent and encouraging them along the way, because that very much benefited me.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Vancouver Sun, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Vancouver Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Excerpt from:

Among the stars: Meet the Canadian women making an impact in astronomy and physics - Vancouver Sun

On 7 March, NASA and the European Space Agency marked the 20th anniversary of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, or ACS, aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. With a wavelength range extending from the ultraviolet through the visible and into the near-infrared regions of the spectrum, the ACS has provided many of Hubbles most spectacular images, revealing uncounted galactic splendours and details, glimpses of the earliest galaxies and providing insights about the inner workings of stars, clusters, nebulae and other deep space denizens.

To mark the anniversary, NASA and ESA showed off prime examples of the cameras work over the years:

There was a sense that ACS would substantially change the way astronomy from space could be done, said Marco Chiaberge, an ESA/AURA astronomer and calibration lead for the ACS instrument. The surveys performed with the ACS led to groundbreaking work for fields such as galaxy evolution, large scale structures, searches for massive exoplanets and more. The impact on the public was also immense because of its unprecedented images.

Added Dan Coe, an ESA/AURA astronomer who was part of the ACS team: Two decades into its mission, the ACS continues to deliver ground-breaking science and some of the most incredible images of the distant Universe, and everything in between. Looking back through the archive of ACS images reminds us of the vast diversity of galaxies, colours and stories that have been shared with the world.

Continued here:

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys marks 20th year in space Astronomy Now - Astronomy Now Online

In 2020 a team of astronomers reported locating the closest black hole system at 1,000 light-years from Earth, but fellow researchers contested the results of the study and teamed up to produce a new study together.

The international team of astronomy researchers has published a new paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics that details the HR 6818 system with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. According to the paper, the HR 6818 system isn't a triple system that consists of one star orbiting a black hole every 40 days and a second star orbiting much wider as it was originally thought. It is actually a system that features two stars orbiting each other with no black hole.

The team used two of the VLT's instruments called GRAVITY and the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), and with the results, were able to conclude that HR 6819 is a binary system that features two stars and no black hole. The reasoning for the miscategorization is that astronomers originally observed the system when one of the stars was ripping the atmosphere off of its companion star, which is described as being much like a vampire drawing blood from its victim.

"We agreed that there were two sources of light in the system, so the question was whether they orbit each other closely, as in the stripped-star scenario, or are far apart from each other, as in the black hole scenario," said team lead Thomas Rivinius, a Chile-based ESO astronomer and co-author of a new paper.

The results "confirmed that there was no bright companion in a wider orbit," and "was able to resolve two bright sources separated by only one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. These data proved to be the final piece of the puzzle, and allowed us to conclude that HR 6819 is a binary system with no black hole," said Abigail Frost, KU Leuven researcher and lead author of the study.

"Our best interpretation so far is that we caught this binary system in a moment shortly after one of the stars had sucked the atmosphere off its companion star," said Julia Bodensteiner, KU Leuven researcher and coauthor, in the statement.

"Catching such a post-interaction phase is extremely difficult as it is so short" and that HR 6819 "presents a perfect candidate to study how this vampirism affects the evolution of massive stars," added Frost.

Continued here:

Astronomers capture 'vampire' star sucking the life out of a victim - TweakTown

The LAMP mission, short for Loss through Auroral Microburst Pulsations, launched at 2:27 a.m. Alaska Standard time (6:27 a.m. EST) Saturday, Mar. 5, 2022, on a Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket.The rocket launched to a nominal apogee and the principal investigator confirmed that good data was received from the experiment.

The mission team includes Allison Jaynes,assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and LAMP co-investigator and graduate student Riley Troyer.

The mission hopes to understand an often overlooked kind of aurora, called a pulsating aurora, and to test a theory on what causes them.

The LAMP mission is an international collaboration with contributions from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, Dartmouth College, University of New Hampshire, and University of Iowa, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tohoku University, Nagoya University, and Kyutech in Japan.

For more information, see these stories and the LAMP web page:

The rest is here:

NASA Sounding Rocket Launches into Aurora | Physics and Astronomy - The University of Iowa - The University of Iowa

ProfessorCraig Kletzingwas one of three distinguished University of Iowa faculty members who gave presentations at the39th Presidential Lecture on Feb. 27.

The lecture event, titled The University of Iowa at 175: Proud Legacy, Promising Future, was held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, at Hancher Auditorium and concluded a multi-day celebration of the UIs 175thanniversary.

In his presentation, "Space Science at the University of Iowa," Kletzing talked about space physics at Iowa, starting with a history of space physics in the department and how it got started. He then discussed past and current space physics projects and concluded with what the department has planned for the future, recognizing some young faculty who will carry this work forward in thefuture. Greg Howes, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy introduced Kletzig.

See Kletzing's presentation starting at 7:10 on YouTube:

Speakers at the Presidential Lecture also includedPatricia Winokur, executive dean, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research, and professor of internal medicine in the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, andChristopher Merrill, director of the International Writing Program. UI President Barbara Wilson led a discussion with the speakers following their presentations.

Kletzing holds the Donald A. and Marie B. Gurnett Chair in physics and astronomy. He joined the UI faculty in 1996 and his research interests lie in experimental space plasma physics, particularly measuring electric and magnetic wave fields in Earths Van Allen radiation belts. He is the principal investigator for theTandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites(TRACERS) anda $115 million contract award from NASA, announced in June 2019, that is the largest single award in UIhistory.

He has been principal and co-investigator on several sounding rockets and is also the principal investigator of a laboratory plasma experiment collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles, to uncover more about how the auroras transfer energy. Kletzing has served on the National Research Councils Committee on Space and Solar Physics; NASAs Sounding Rocket Working Group; the Geospace Electrodynamic Connections Science and Technology Definition Team; and NASAs 2005 Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap Committee. He has authored or co-authored more than 290 peer-reviewedpublications.

The rest is here:

Kletzing Speaks at 39th Annual Presidential Lecture | Physics and Astronomy - The University of Iowa - The University of Iowa

Astronomers have discovered the largest radio galaxy ever, stretching at least 16 million light-years through space, new research shows.

The galaxy named Alcyoneus after the son of Ouranos, the Greek primordial god of the sky was discovered about 3 billion light-years from Earth by a "stroke of luck," according to a statement from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Radio galaxies house supermassive black holes at their cores. As matter falls into the black hole, it releases energy in the form of two radio jets from opposite sides from the galaxy's center, also known as an active galactic nucleus.

Related: Discovery of two new giant radio galaxies offers fresh insights into the universe

Using data from the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) network of radio telescopes located across Europe, researchers detected two massive plasma plumes emitted from a seemingly normal supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Measuring at least 16 million light-years in length, these two jet streams stretch more than one hundred Milky Ways in diameter, representing the largest known structure of galactic origin, according to the statement.

The material blasted into space by these two jet streams includes the building blocks for new star formation. Traveling at almost the speed of light, this material heats up and dissolves into plasma, which glows in radio light that LOFAR is able to detect.

Astronomers using the radio telescopes were previously unable to detect Alcyoneus because the plumes are relatively faint. The researchers reprocessed existing images of the galaxy, revealing subtle, new patterns that alerted the team to the massive galactic structure.

While radio jets have been detected in many galaxies, including the Milky Way, the researchers are unsure how Alcyoneus grew to be so massive. At first, they thought it could be due to an usually large black hole, an exorbitant amount of stardust or incredibly powerful jet streams. However, these features appear relatively normal compared to other radio galaxies, according to the statement.

Alcyoneus may offer new clues about the structure of our universe, also known as the cosmic web, which is believed to connect all galaxies. This complex network is composed of filaments of clustered galaxies, separated by giant voids.

The intergalactic medium between galaxies may play a role in shaping the galaxy's massive plasma plumes. Therefore, the researchers plan to further investigate Alcyoneus' environment to see if anything in its surroundings can explain its unusual growth, according to the statement.

The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

See the article here:

Astronomers discover massive radio galaxy 100 times larger than the Milky Way - Space.com

Over the years, many have asked me to recommend books to help them in their study of the stars and constellations.

In this column, I'll provide reviews of three books that I consulted during my formative years in the hobby.

All three proved most valuable to me for my then-burgeoning interest in astronomy and I'm sure the same would hold true for most anyone who will take the time to use them today.

A Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press, 2001160 pages

This was my very first astronomy book, which I received at the age of 8, and is in my opinion still among the very best as an introduction to not only the stars and constellations, but astronomy as well. "Stars," first published in 1951, is one of a series of pocket Golden Guides on nature and physical science, which has been updated over the years, most recently in 2001.

The book was written by naturalist Herbert S. Zim (1909-1994) and astronomer Robert H. Baker (1883-1964). The latter was once head of the University of Illinois Department of Astronomy and was also the author of what is still considered a classic among college textbooks on astronomy ("Introduction to Astronomy," Van Nostrand publishers). Baker also authored two other excellent books, "When the Stars Come Out" and "Introducing the Constellations," both published by Viking Press.

Augmenting the text by Zim and Baker are 150 beautiful color paintings rendered by James Gordon Irving (1913-2012), whose paintings were exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History and the National Audubon Society in New York City.

This book was an immense help to me in identifying the brightest stars and constellations at a very young age. There are 23 maps that show constellations as lines connecting the principal naked-eye stars, traced within pictorial images of what each star pattern supposedly represented.

Additional charts and diagrams help, although the four seasonal star maps which are used to locate these stars are a bit confusing.

Nonetheless, the book contains a lot of valuable information and observing tips regarding the sun, moon, planets and stars, as well explanations for unusual atmospheric phenomena such as the sun's red color at sunrise and sunset, rainbows, lunar and solar haloes as well as the aurora borealis or northern lights.

If you're just starting out with astronomy as a hobby, this little handbook is perfect for anyone who wants to enjoy the wonders of the night sky. Written in easy-to-read language, it is ideal for use at home, as well as to take along on a vacation or a camping trip.

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2008160 pages

As I noted for the Golden Guide's "Stars," there were pictorial images of the person, creature or object that a constellation represented. But 70 years ago, Hans Augusto Rey (1898-1977) devised a different methodology of identifying the constellations using his own stick-figure star patterns and introducing them in "The Stars: A New Way to See Them," a guidebook published in 1952 and revised several times ever since. Indeed, this book has been extremely popular, going through a number of printings and selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Many people swear by Rey's patterns, claiming they are easier to learn and see in the sky.

I first came across a copy of Rey's book when I was 10 years old and was immediately intrigued by a number of his clever creations, such as the Gemini twins holding hands (most often used in advertising the book).

There are, however, many legends and mythological stories that date back thousands of years explaining the creation of the constellations. But for his book, Rey for the most part has ignored these ancient legends and performed radical surgery on virtually all of the constellations, seemingly to conform solely to his ideas as to what a particular star picture should look like.

It makes one wonder who had the more fertile imagination: those cultures who actually invented the constellations all those many centuries ago, or Rey himself?

Some examples:

For Ursa Major, Rey made the end of the Big Dipper's handle long regarded in mythology as the tail of the Great Bear into its nose!

In the case of Cetus, the whale, he turned that mammal's tail into its face, even though the star Deneb Kaitos is located there; Arabic for the southern tail of Cetus.

Hercules has always been considered a kneeling giant with its brightest star, Rasalgethimarking "the head of the kneeler." But Rey turns Hercules into a man wielding a club with Rasalgethi marking his left foot.

As for Virgo, her brightest star, Spica, is supposed to mark a spike of wheat held in her hand. But according to Rey, Spica is the Virgin's "brightest jewel," positioned he writes, "on an unusual spot" (her derrire).

And then in those cases where some constellations came reasonably close to depicting what they represented, Rey could not leave well enough alone. In some cases, like with Pegasus, the flying horse and Taurus, the bull, his stick-figure renditions were decidedly forced and not really all that obvious, looking more like abstract art something resembling sketches by Pablo Picasso.

Despite these drawbacks, I still very much like "The Stars: A New Way to See Them" as an easy-to-comprehend work that, among other things, explains to the novice how not mistake a planet for a star and cites the reasons for planetary movements. The speed of light and light-years are explained on a totally non-technical level, and overall, this book does an admirable job in explaining some of the complicated concepts about the night sky and what it contains.

And I would even regard Rey's abstract patterns as a challenge to those who wish to hone their star-finding skills.

Harper and Row, New York, 1970334 pages

From time to time, I have mentioned Henry M. Neely (1877-1963) who, after a distinguished career in radio, took up astronomy relatively late in life. He was a longtime lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium and became one of the nation's leading popularizers of astronomy. Sadly, he died before I had a chance to hear any of his lectures, but Neely wanted everyone to share in the beauty and splendor of the heavens. His 1946 book "A Primer for Star-Gazers" was last updated in 1970 and remains a powerful yet simple tool in the study of the stars and constellations.

Unfortunately, revised distances for many stellar and deep-sky objects dating back to the book's first edition were never updated. Thus, on page 195, the Andromeda galaxy is listed as being 750,000 light-years away, whereas current figures are more than three times as great. But the author's aim in this book is to help you find the stars, not to fill you with facts and figures. Neely visualized his reader as wanting simply to recognize the principal stars and constellations without making a real study of astronomy.

"A Primer" follows this philosophy from cover to cover. It contains 96 sky maps all drawn by Neely, with all navigational stars indicated as such, and with a unique calendar that tells which maps to use for prominent objects. This book proves itself to be an elaborate yet easy-to-use star finder. Follow the instructions in Chapter 5 ("How to Use This Book"), then go outside, select the proper map for the evening, rotate the book as directed, look at the page, then at the sky, and there should be the desired constellation. Phonetic spellings of star and constellation names are given next to the regular spellings. The Big and Little Dippers and Cassiopeia's "W" are chosen as the first groups to recognize, for later use in locating others. The book provides excellent descriptions of how to find each constellation and notable objects within it.

Neely had a predilection for turning some classical star patterns into geometric shapes. Thus, we are introduced to "The Kite in Auriga," "The Long Wedge of Gemini," "The Great Virgo Triangle," and depicting Hercules as yet another kite ... but also with a tail.

He may well have been the very first to turn Sagittarius from an archer into a teapot (Chapter XXIV) and on page 187, he incorporated the stars of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila into a baseball game in the sky. Deneb was home plate; Epsilon Cygni, first base; Eta, second base; Delta, third base; and Sadr, the pitcher's mound. Left fielder Vega and center fielder Albireo are running to catch a fly ball in left-center field, while Altair, the right fielder, watches. Such imaginative variants of constellations are quite effective in teaching the sky, especially to youngsters.

The only negative for this book that I would register is in Chapter 16, where Neely turns the constellations of Andromeda, Perseus, Aries and Triangulum into his own creation: The Yacht.

I must tell you that in all my years of skywatching, I have never been able to visualize it, even though Neely claims that, "... it does not require nearly as great a stretch of the imagination as many of the traditional figures allegedly seen by ancient stargazers."

With all due respect to Neely, I disagree!

Like some of Rey's creations, The Yacht is a highly abstract star pattern. Good luck with it!

Overall, however, this fine book should make the task of a beginner to locate all the stars and constellations noted in this text quite easy and, as Henry Neely himself would like it to be, most enjoyable.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York'sHayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy forNatural History magazine, theFarmers' Almanacand other publications. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

Link:

Book reviews for three guides to the stars and constellations - Space.com

The Milky Way galaxy feasted on more galaxies in its early days than astronomers thought.

The Gaia spacecraft uncovered the remains of an ancient cosmic collision in our Milky Way, revealing a previously unknown galaxy, now nicknamed "Pontus," absorbed by the Milky Way long before our galaxy looked the way it does now.

Pontus was a galaxy that strayed too close to the Milky Way and "fell in" to our galaxy's gravity about 8 billion to 10 billion years ago, the European Space Agency, which operates Gaia, said in a statement Thursday (Feb. 17).

Related: See a virtual Milky Way map from Europe's Gaia spacecraft

Events like this merger are important to learning about the Milky Way, ESA added, as it shows "the 'family tree' of smaller galaxies that has helped make the Milky Way what it is today."

Gaia launched into space nearly a decade ago, in 2013, on an ambitious mission to chart the sky in three dimensions more precisely than ever. Movements of stars and other objects nearby us will in turn reveal insights about the Milky Way's composition, formation and evolution, mission managers say on the Gaia website.

This latest work on galactic mergers arose from a study of the Milky Way's halo, which is a zone filled with globular clusters of older stars, stars that have low metallicity, and other interesting objects. "Foreign galaxies" in the halo may show up in this region in different ways, depending on the speed of the collision, ESA stated in the press release about the study.

"When a foreign galaxy falls into our own, great gravitational forces known as tidal forces pull it apart," ESA stated. "If this process goes slowly, the stars from the merging galaxy will form a vast stellar stream that can be easily distinguished in the halo. If the process goes quickly, the merging galaxy's stars will be more scattered throughout the halo and no clear signature will be visible."

Stars are not the only way by which we may detect a merging galaxy, however. If the intruder contains globular stars or small satellite galaxies, these may also show up in the halo. The new study focused on looking for this data.

Scientists named the incident after Greek mythology, which identifies Pontus as one of the first children of Gaia, the goddess of the Earth.

Besides finding the Pontus event, the team identified five other distinct merging groups (already known to science) and a possible sixth in the data. The already known five events are called Sagittarius, Cetus, Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus, LMS-1/Wukong, and Arjuna/Sequoia/Iitoi.

ESA noted that Pontus and most of these other events happened around the same time period, 8 billion to 10 billion years ago, but Sagittarius is more recent at 5 billion to 6 billion years ago. "As a result, the Milky Way has not yet been able to completely disrupt it," the agency added of the Sagittarius event.

A study based on the research was published Thursday (Feb. 17) in The Astrophysical Journal, led by Khyati Malhan, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. The work was based upon an early release of Gaia's third large set of data, set to drop on June 13.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomor Facebook.

Read this article:

Astronomers spot remains of long-lost galaxy eaten by the Milky Way - Space.com

University of Arizona astronomy students are tracking the object projected to crash into the Moon later this spring.

UA planetary sciences professor Vishnu Reddy says his students met the challenge of confirming the object is a spent booster stage of a Chinese rocket launched in 2014.

We observed it with a telescope on campus and were able to compare similar boosters left in Earth orbit by other missions," explained Reddy. "We compared one from Space X and one from the Chinese mission and it turns out we got a pretty good match.

Scientists predict the rocket stage will impact the far side of the Moon in early March.

It wont be visible from Earth, but Reddy says astronomers are aiming to get photographs of the eventual crash site from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter already circling the Moon.

Follow this link:

University of Arizona astronomy researchers track space junk to the Moon - AZPM - Arizona Public Media

View larger. | Location of asteroid 1999 VF22 on the night of February 21, 2022, just hours before its closest approach. Facing north with a 12 or larger diameter telescope. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry/ Stellarium.

A cruise-ship-sized space rock called 1999 VF22 will safely pass Earth on February 22, 2022. Itll be this particular space rocks closest approach in more than 100 years. Closest approach will be at 2:54 a.m. EST (07:54 UTC) on February 22. The asteroid will pass us at a distance of 3.3 million miles (5.4 million km) or almost 14 times the Earth-moon distance. Despite this safe expanse, it will still be close enough for astronomers to study the asteroid using radar. The Virtual Telescope will also air its flyby live. And you can use a (large) backyard telescope to watch it slide past.

Asteroid 1999 VF22 will come slightly closer in 128 years, when it returns on February 23, 2150.

This isnt a newly discovered asteroid. The Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona discovered it way back on November 10, 1999. The date of discovery is how asteroid 455176 got its designation of 1999 VF22.

The 2022 lunar calendars are still available. Order yours before theyre gone!

Asteroid 1999 VF22 is traveling at 56,158 miles per hour (25.1 km/s) relative to Earth. Even though it will pass at a safe distance, its still classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid due to its predicted close passes by Earth.

From February 19 to 24, astronomers will point the 230-foot (70-meter) DSS-14 Goldstone Radar Antenna in California at the space rock.They plan to study this asteroid, which appears to completeone revolutionevery four hours.

What do we already know? We know that asteroid 1999 VF22 has an average size of 1,017 feet (310 meters) in diameter. Previous radar studies from the Arecibo Observatory revealed it to be a rounded space rock.

And we know that 1999 VF22 orbits the sun every 1 1/2 years. So it sometimes passes close not only to Earth, but also to Mars, Venus and Mercury.

You can see the asteroid yourself with a 12-inch or larger diameter telescope. No telescope? No problem. You can also watch it live from the Virtual Telescope starting at 00:00 UTC on February22.

Bottom line: Asteroid 1999 VF22 will swing past Earth at a safe distance on February 22, 2022. You can watch the event live via Virtual Telescope.

Eddie Irizarry of the Sociedad de Astronoma del Caribe (Astronomical Society of the Caribbean) has been a NASA Solar System Ambassador since 2004. He loves public outreach and has published multiple astronomy articles for EarthSky, as well as for newspapers in Puerto Rico. He has also offered dozens of conferences related to asteroids and comets at the Arecibo Observatory. Asteroid 33012EddieIrizarry, a 7.8 km space rock, has been named in his honor.

The rest is here:

Watch live as an asteroid safely passes Earth on February 22 - EarthSky