Metal clouds turn a scorching -hot exoplanet into the universe’s largest mirror

WELCOME

ISSUE 146

NASA doubles its spacesuit options for Artemis astronauts, the Moon and ISS crews

NASA has asked two spacesuit providers to make

ALL ABOUT SPACE

Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1

The wreckage of a cosmic clash of the titans

© ESA/Webb, NASA A new image from the

A dark nebula dominates this gorgeous new view of Orion

© NOIRLab Dark, billowing clouds sweep across a

Webb’s view of Saturn

© NASA, ESA The first official photo of

Perseverance rover digs up a diverse set of organic molecules on the Red Planet

NASA’s Perseverance rover works at a rocky outcrop

Buried oceans may be common on icy exoplanets

Many exoplanets may have oceans beneath their icy

THE MILKY WAY

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

BAND AROUND THE SKY

From our point of view on Earth, the

THE MILKY WAY BY NUMBERS

100 400 TO BILLION The estimated number of

UNFOLDING STRUCTURE

Astronomers are still making new discoveries about the

STELLAR TRAFFIC JAMS

Although it’s tempting to imagine spiral arms as

DARK MATTER MYSTERY

Stars close to the centre of the galaxy

GALACTIC HISTORY

The oldest known stars of Population II have

STELLAR POPULATIONS

Stars in the Milky Way come in two

THE GALACTIC NEIGHBOURHOOD

Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to Earth

GALACTIC CANNIBAL

The LMC is about one-hundredth the size of

SURPRISE AT THE CENTRE

Sagittarius A* was imaged by the Event Horizon

LIFE IN OUR GALAXY

Astronomers estimate that the Milky Way is home

ORBITAL RINGS

These megastructures could ring around Earth to provide global transport systems

“It would be cool if we were some simulation”

The host of StarTalk has become one of the world’s best known astrophysicists, popularising space and science for millions

OBJECT HOTTER THAN THE SUN FOUND ORBITING A DISTANT STAR AT BREAKNECK SPEED

A weird celestial object that’s blurring the line between planet and star has been uncovered

WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHANGE ASTRONOMY?

With computers growing smarter than ever, training them how to spot and categorise astronomical objects could lead to a plethora of breakthroughs

HOW TO FIND AN ALIEN MOON

The different methods being used to hunt for exomoons

HUBBLE’S TUNING-FORK CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

1 Sc:open spiral These contain more Population I

COSMIC ‘SANDWICH’ THEORY COULD EXPLAIN HOW SMALLER PLANETS ARE FORMED

Sandwiched planet formation may arise as the result of gas and dust being squeezed between large planets

TIME APPEARED TO MOVE FIVE TIMES SLOWER IN THE FIRST

BILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG

CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Alongside Earth, our planetary neighbourhood is changing. But not for the better…

SIX OF THE BEST

It turns out that the sky isn’t the limit when it comes to a good old-fashioned practical joke

MARS HELICOPTER PHONES HOME AFTER A 63-DAY SILENCE

Rugged terrain had kept Ingenuity from communicating with its robotic partner, the Perseverance rover

WHY DOES JUPITER CHANGE COLOUR?

For years, scientists have tried to work out why Jupiter’s bands frequently move and change colour. Now they believe they’ve found the answer

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

See the exact changes that took place more than ten years apart

A HUNGRY BLACK HOLE ‘SWITCHES ON’ AS ASTRONOMERS WATCH IN SURPRISE

J221951 is one of the most extreme examples yet

Will the Moon ever leave us?

Artist’s impression of the view of Earth from

NEPTUNE

The isolated azure ice giant remains a relative mystery

NEWS FROM NEPTUNE

A dark storm on Neptune mysteriously reversed A

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH A CAPTURED ASTEROID?

Asteroids could provide us with rare resources

METEOR SHOWER VIEWING

Speeding through the atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour, meteor showers offer an exciting view for stargazers

WHAT’S IN THE SKY?

What to look out for during this observing period

PLANETARIUM

24 AUGUST 2023

THIS MONTH’S PLANETS

The ringed gas giant will be gracing the evening skies for astronomers

COPERNICUS

Get up close to the ‘Monarch of the Moon’

NAKED EYE AND BINOCULAR TARGETS

See a cloud of stars and shells of gas produced by faraway dying suns in the summer sky

DIVING DEEP INTO THE SUMMER SKY

The ghostly remains of dead stars, glittering ancient star clusters and a spectacular galaxy far, far away await

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

Autumn brings some astronomical favourites into view

CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER DX 102AZ

Innovative technology provides the simplest and quickest solution yet to finding objects to observe, and this instrument will be very popular with beginners

IN THE SHOPS: STAR PROJECTORS

Our round-up of the best star projectors on the market right now

TYCHO BRAHE

The peculiar life of the last great naked-eye astronomer revealed

CELESTRON

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