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Posts by
Deborah Byrd
Are Saturn’s rings young or old?
Cassini data suggested that Saturn's rings were only 10 to 100 million years old. A new study suggests that a "ring rain" onto Saturn makes the rings look younger than they really are, and that in fact Saturn's rings date back billions of years.
September 17, 2019
Sub-auroral arc over Peyto Lake, Alberta
STEVE, and the northern lights. Does it get any better than this?
September 15, 2019
Milky Way’s black hole appears to be getting hungrier
"We have never seen anything like this in the 24 years we have studied the supermassive black hole. It’s usually a pretty quiet, wimpy black hole on a diet. We don’t know what is driving this big feast."
September 15, 2019
A distant galaxy’s black hole seen to flare unexpectedly
Astronomers now call recently-discovered flares from supermassive black holes in distant galaxies quasi-periodic eruptions. "Giant black holes regularly flicker like a candle but the rapid, repeating changes seen in GSN 069 from December onwards are something completely new," said one scientist.
September 14, 2019
Hazy light pyramid in east? False dawn
If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you can see the zodiacal light, or false dawn, at this time of year. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, look for it after sunset.
September 14, 2019
Yesterday evening’s Venus-Mercury conjunction
The close conjunction of Mercury with Venus in last night's evening sky was near the sun and exceedingly tough to spot, even with optical aid. Still, EarthSky friend Helio Vital managed to capture it!
September 13, 2019
Astronomers spy a 2nd interstellar visitor
Astronomers think the object they've labeled C/2019 Q4 - discovered August 30 - came from a place far, far away. If confirmed, it's only the 2nd interstellar object ever detected, after 'Oumuamua in 2017.
September 12, 2019
Latest Saturn portrait, from Hubble
The solar system’s most photogenic planet, captured by most earthlings' favorite space telescope.
September 12, 2019
Scientists detect towering balloon-like structure near Milky Way’s center
It's a huge bipolar gas structure, hundreds of light-years across, centered on our galaxy's center and near the galaxy's central supermassive black hole. Astronomers found it with the new, supersensitive MeerKAT telescope in South Africa.
September 11, 2019
Did underground explosions create Titan’s lakes?
The lakes on Saturn's moon Titan are filled with liquid methane, not water, and some are surrounded by steep rims. A new study suggests these features might have been caused by explosions of warming nitrogen, which created Titan's lake basins long ago.
September 11, 2019
