Astrobotany is going to be critical for future space exploration, particularly in the realm of providing caloric support for extended spaceflight missions. In the near future it’s unlikely we will use plants as an oxygen source in a bioregenerative l

This billowing mass of dust filaments and gas tendrils stretching across 100 light years of space is the Vela supernova remnant – the scattered ashes of a star that exploded about 11,000 years ago. The image was acquired by the Dark Energy Camera (DE

Cost: £16.99 / $20 From: Canongate Books 1 Prepare for a cosmic view of our place in universal history with this enlightening volume where celestial cycles permeate our Earthly lives. Jo Marchant’s book delves into our centuries-old relationship with

A stronomers have spotted the closest visiblelight example yet of a supermassive black hole ripping apart and devouring a star. This star’s gory death can be blamed on a black hole with a mass equal to around a million Suns. The event occurred in the

Many amateur astronomers think that Cassiopeia is a rather barren constellation, and perhaps compared to its more glitzy neighbours it is. For example, nearby Perseus has the stunning and famous ‘Double Cluster’ of NGC 869 and NGC 884, Taurus has it

If you’ve observed all of the events this month has to offer, or you’re in between astronomical events, why not take a tour of April’s star patterns? The constellations of Hydra I (the Water Snake), Leo (the Lion) and Ursa Major (the Great Bear) cont

R ubin was always fascinated by the stars. After earning her undergraduate degree at Vassar College, Rubin attempted to enrol at Princeton University, where she hoped to continue her dreams of becoming an astronomer. However, the institution refused

Uranus is a truly fascinating world – a slow-moving, faraway ‘ice giant’ planet much larger and colder than our own lush, green Earth. Because it’s so faint, many amateur astronomers and skywatchers have never actually seen it themselves, but this mo

To the naked eye our planet’s natural satellite is a small bonewhite disc with some dark markings and a couple of bright spots on it. However, seen through even a small telescope the Moon is a stunning sight, covered with fascinating details and feat

An alignment of objects at the same celestial longitude. The conjunction of the Moon and the planets is determined with reference to the Sun. A planet is in conjunction with the Sun when it and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Sun. How high

The mysterious workings of Jupiter’s intense magnetic field are coming to light thanks to a tiny jet buried deep in the gas giant’s T atmosphere. Every four years, this jet appears to fluctuate like a wave. While it’s not yet clear what drives this a

here was a time when we thought that our Milky Way galaxy was all there is. In the 18th century, when astronomers like Charles T Messier began spotting faint, fuzzy patches of light between the stars, it was thought they must be clouds within our own

Smethurst is an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford and star of the astronomy-themed YouTube channel ‘Dr. Becky’, where each week she explains either an unsolved mystery, a weird object found in space or general space news with an unnatural le

Cost: £1,399 / $1,699.95 From: Nikon Type: Mirrorless Sensor: 24.5-megapixel backlit CMOS Lens mount: Nikon Z (FX) ISO range: 100 to 51,200 Viewfinder size and resolution: 2.1k dots, 3.2-inch touchscreen Video capability: 4K at 30fps Weight (body): 6

Recent observations of Betelgeuse, a star located in Orion, have created a mystery about the red supergiant. They suggest that it’s spinning much faster than a star its size should be able to. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, le

Along with its 2x Barlow lens, two eyepieces, a red-dot finder, EQ1 equatorial mount and aluminium tripod and accessory tray, the Sky-Watcher Skyhawk-114 offers excellent optics with lightweight convenience, which makes it a perfect all-rounder for a

Just how big can a star get? The biggest stars in terms of diameter are red supergiants J that swell to enormous sizes as their lives come to an end. As they begin to exhaust their fuel and go through internal changes, these stars brighten, swelling

In examining a pair of icy asteroids at the edge of the Solar System, the James Webb Space Telescope is helping scientists understand the evolution of the ice giant Neptune. These findings could also help reveal how the ancient Earth grew saturated

Interstellar distances are difficult to conceive. Our nearest star is Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf that lies 4.3 light years away – that’s more than 266,000 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. Even if our fastest spacecraft, Voyager 1, which i

SCAN HERE TO GET OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER Did you know that some planets wander the universe without a parent star? These sunless worlds, known as rogue planets, are estimated to exist in huge numbers - for every star, there are supposedly 20 of these e

New images captured by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile reveal unique insights into planet formation around young stars. In these portraits, emerging planetary systems look more like miniature galaxies rather than discs of debris. The figures

It’s long been established that Venus, like Mercury, does not have a moon. But does that mean the celestial body has always been entirely alone? Not quite. In 2002, a quasi-satellite was discovered by Brian A. Skiff at Lowell Observatory. Recently na

This magnitude +6.3 globular cluster looks like a fuzzy star in binoculars. Some 26,000 light years away, it’s over 12 billion years old and contains around 300,000 stars. It’s often overlooked since bigger and brighter Messier 13 is so close. The mo

Scientists have taken an instrument originally designed to study huge celestial objects in the cosmos and repurposed it to investigate the world on an infinitely smaller scale. With this instrument, they managed to probe the heart of an atom. The tea

Earth isn’t the only world which accommodates water. There are moons in the Solar System half the size of Earth that hold much more of it. These are known as ocean worlds. Astronomers continue to scrutinise these places in great detail, as they have

Ever since astronomers first began discovering planets outside of the Solar System, dubbed ‘exoplanets’, in the mid-1990s, our picture of the Solar System as a ‘typical’ arrangement of planets and stars has been turned on its head. Among the 5,600 or

Astronauts can now get a bit of simulated fresh air while working out in space. A new virtual-reality (VR) headset paired with a new exercise bike lets International Space Station (ISS) astronauts experience their favourite cycling routes on Earth. D

Parazynski is a former NASA astronaut and physician. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle flights, seven spacewalks and is the only person to have both flown in space and summited Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. In total he has clocked

Titan’s underground ocean may lack the organic chemistry necessary for life, according to new astrobiological T research. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon, and the second-largest moon in the entire Solar System. It’s famous for being shrouded in a smog