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Some astronomy highlights for viewing this month
Image: Luath Press
Coming soon: a new book celeberating the beauty
of the cosmos in science, images, and poetry. The
book is a collaboration between Prof John C Brown,
Astronomer Royal for Scotland, and Scots poet
Rab Wilson and is available in book stores from May.
The book "combines a beginner's introduction to the
scientific workings of the universe together with
inspired poems and haikus, and superb imagery
from astro-photographers and artists." (Amazon)
What`s in the Shetland Sky in 2019 ?
Weather Today Mossbank Shetland
Live Video Stream and Weather Data
Astro Imaging without a Telescope
Some Suggestions for Binoculars
Free courses in Astronomy, Physics, Astrobiology and more
Our first attempt to record Jupiter`s radio emissions
on 20.1Mhz ( June 2014 ) Listen to the files here .
Meteor Shower Camelopardalids 2014
Did you know you can also listen to meteor showers ?
Plots and Audio samples from the Camelopardalids !
Hurlers Stone Circles Project - Cornwall
Image: Luath Press
Coming soon: a new book celeberating the beauty
of the cosmos in science, images, and poetry. The
book is a collaboration between Prof John C Brown,
Astronomer Royal for Scotland, and Scots poet
Rab Wilson and is available in book stores from May.
The book "combines a beginner's introduction to the
scientific workings of the universe together with
inspired poems and haikus, and superb imagery
from astro-photographers and artists." (Amazon)
Image: NASA, ESA, and P. van Dokkum (Yale University)
New study confirms original Yale finding that
galaxy DF2 has almost no dark matter
Andromeda galaxy. Image: NASA
Australian astronomers' research suggests
the Andromeda galaxy is smaller than previously
thought. Their calculations suggest Andromeda
is actually about the same size as the Milky Way
and not three times as massive.
Israeli Spacecraft On Way to the Moon
Image: SpaceX
Israel's first moon mission has successfully launched
from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The Beresheet spacecraft, which is privately built, is
taking a long fuel-efficient route, gradually elongating its
orbit until passing close to the Moon to be captured by
its gravity. The spacecraft is also a time-capsule, with
hundreds of digital files on board, including a full version
of the Wikipedia encyclopedia. It will attempt a lunar
Image JAXA:Sampler horn to collect material for return to Earth 2020
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
announces that the Hayabusa2 spacecraft has
successfully touched down and taken a sample
of asteroid Ryugu which it has accompanied
since mid 2018. It fired a "bullet" into Ryugu at
close range, then gathered pieces of ejected
material using a "sampling horn".
The mission has made contact with the surface
several times before. The mothership previously
dropped two hopping rovers onto the asteroid
and a small lander (MASCOT) a few weeks later.
JAXA has a main mission page here
Image from Opportunity's front hazard-avoidance camera:
NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Eight months after losing contact with the Opportunity
Rover on Mars, NASA announces that the mission has
"It is because of trailblazing missions such as
Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave
astronauts walk on the surface of Mars," said NASA
Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "And when that day
arrives, some portion of that first footprint will be
owned by the men and women of Opportunity, and
a little rover that defied the odds and did so much
Credit: NASA
On their annual day of remembrance, NASA
will pay tribute to agency members who lost
their lives while furthering the cause of
exploration and discovery. Those remembered
include the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and
Video of Meteor over Sumburgh Head
Webcams at Sumburgh Head, Shetland, capture
a bright meteor streaming across the night sky.
Chinese Probe Chang'e 4 Lands on
Credit: CNSA: First image taken by Chang'e 4 probe
China's robotic Chang'e 4 mission touched
down in the 115-mile-wide Von Kármán
Crater on 2nd Jan - the first soft landing on
the far side of the Moon. Chang'e 4 will
perform experiments to help improve our
understanding of the structure, formation
and evolution of our natural satellite
Read a report from the Chinese National Space Agency here
First 5Kg Scottish Satellites Launched
Image credit Credit: Isro
First two Glasgow built satellites, funded by UK
Space Agency, are launched. The tiny satellites
are designed to monitor weather and help combat
InSight Lands Successfully on Mars
Mars Lander, InSight, lands successfully on Mars
and sends back first photo of its surroundings.
"My first picture on #Mars! My lens cover isn’t off
yet, but I just had to show you a first look at my
new home. More status updates:
http://go.nasa.gov/InSightStatus #MarsLanding"
Updates and background info are available
on NASA's InSight mission page: Here
26th November : Landing Day on Mars
NASA's InSight spacecraft is scheduled to land
on Mars on 26th November - the first landing for