All About Space

Have you ever wanted to know everything about the universe? This month, All About Space has the full guide to our cosmos, from its birth in the Big Bang and the objects within it to how we suspect it’s going to end – turn to page 14 for our complete

Curiosity made a surprising discovery while investigating clay-rich sedimentary rocks around Gale crater, a former lake that was made when an asteroid struck the Red Planet roughly 3.6 billion years ago. Clay is a good signpost towards evidence of li

Spotting the first signs of activity on a comet of gargantuan size came down to a time-zone advantage. Astronomers in New Zealand were the first to spot a coma spreading around the mega comet C/2014 UN271, also known as Bernardinelli-Bernstein, which

This stunning portrait of NGC 6334, also known as the Cat’s Paw Nebula, is one of the first images taken by the CONCERTO instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX). The white and pink tones have been

Astronomers have discovered a quartet of teenage exoplanets in data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The planets in question lie a little over 130 light years away from Earth. They orbit a pair of little orange dwarf stars, e

Astronomers have discovered a rare, teardropshaped star swirling through the cosmos some 1,500 light years from the Sun. Why does the star have this unusual shape? Because it’s in a toxic relationship with a partner, which is ripping the life from it

Telescope maker Unistellar and camera company Nikon have announced a new partnership to give a wider public of amateur astronomers a chance to use high-end equipment and enjoy the wonders of the night sky just like astronomy professionals. A lot of t

The universe is a vast expanse of space and time filled with matter and energy. The word comes from the Latin universus, meaning ‘all things’, although ours may in fact be just one of many universes in a so-called multiverse. Over the course of billi

Earth’s diameter is 12,756 kilometres (7,926 miles). The Moon orbits Earth at an average of 384,400 kilometres (238,855 miles). The outermost planet in the Solar System, Neptune, orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.5 billion kilometres (2.8 billion mi

It doesn’t take much power to communicate with Mars, but it takes between 3 and 22 minutes for signals to travel each way, making normal conversations impossible. Rovers and other equipment may be stored in low-pressure enclosures. The slight pressur

Steven Freeland Freeland is emeritus professor at Western Sydney University. He is a member of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board. He has represented the Australian Government at United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (C

It’s almost hard to believe that until the early years of the 1990s, astronomers had yet to discover a planet outside the Solar System. Even though scientists were certain that planets orbited other stars, there was little evidence of other planetary

Astronauts face constant radiation as particles streaming off the Sun and high-energy cosmic rays bombard their bodies. Left unchecked, radiation can trigger all sorts of health issues, most notably boosting the danger of developing cancer. When NASA

Polaris, the North Star, is a single point in the night sky which the entire consortium of stars appears to revolve around. Despite being one of the most well-known stars in the sky, Polaris continues to confuse scientists. We still don’t know for su

Agiant comet found far out in the Solar System may be 1,000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it the largest ever found in modern times. Officially designated on 23 June, it’s called C/2014 UN271, or Bernardinelli-Bernstein after its di

Plants have played a pivotal role in space exploration efforts and will be critical for future space travel. From humble beginnings of just a handful of seeds hitching a ride into orbit to sophisticated plant-cultivation systems on the International

When Apollo 14 launched on 31 January 1971, it was carrying a little more than astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa. Stowed away in Roosa’s personal kit were hundreds of tree seeds that orbited the Moon in the Command Module along

There’s a variety of plant-growth experiments currently being conducted on the ISS. These studies are mainly designed to investigate how microgravity affects plant growth and development in order to assess the logistics of plant production during lon

Almost every diagram of a black hole highlights two key parts of these behemoth beasts: the singularity (the centre) and event horizon (the perimeter). But there’s a chance some black holes don’t actually look like this. Some black holes may not have

Fifth in the eight-planet line-up of our Solar System, Jupiter also happens to be the largest, and by quite some distance. The mass of this gigantic ball of gas is two-and-a-half times that of all the other planets put together, and you could fit 11.

More than 25,000 light years away, there’s an enormous star that’s 100 times the size of the Sun. It’s in the constellation of Sagittarius, close to the heart of the Milky Way. Yet for about 200 days in 2012, it virtually vanished from the night sky.

Data from the Via Lactea survey is used here to show the effect of the occulting disc on the giant star VVV-WIT-08. The star is pictured in the centre, dimmed slightly because the disc is moving across it. Although the object that has obscured the st

A simple explanation is that an unknown dark object drifted in front of the giant star, and this just happened to be caught in the data. The astronomers have ruled this theory out, however, because computer simulations show there would need to be “an

TRAPPIST-1 is unique because it is currently the only system for which we could probe the atmospheres of planets that are similar to Earth in terms of size, mass and irradiation received from the star. This facilitated access to small planets is enab

In order to preserve your night vision, you should read our observing guide under red light A conjunction is an alignment of objects at the same celestial longitude. The conjunction of the Moon and the planets is determined with reference to the Sun.

It’s easy to forget the true beauty and splendour of the Milky Way. With acres of countryside being torn apart in favour of cities, the change in our planet’s landscape can only really mean one thing in this regard: light pollution. This yellow to or

Constellation: Capricornus Magnitude: +0.3 AM/PM: PM Saturn is our Planet of the Month this issue, not because it’s particularly bright or well-placed, but because it’s in danger of being overlooked otherwise. The Ringed Planet will be visible in the

Each lunar phase offers different visual treats and delights. A crescent Moon – whether it’s a very young new Moon hanging in the western sky after sunset or an old waning Moon glowing above the eastern horizon before sunrise – is a beautiful sight.

During late August and September, the Great Square of Pegasus swings into view. Although the inside of the ‘square’ seems rather barren, it can be a good test of how clear your skies are – in other words, how much light pollution you suffer from. If

Just north of the North America Nebula, M39 is just visible to the naked eye and makes a superb target through decent binoculars. Just on the edge of naked-eye visibility, this globular star cluster looks like a fuzzy ball of light in 10x50 binocular

As we head into late summer, the night sky is alive with a selection of galaxies and star clusters. Starburst galaxy Messier 82, Messier 106 and neighbouring spiral Messier 94 all offer splendid views. If you’re quick, naked-eye planets Saturn and Ma

Get featured in All About Space by sending your astrophotography images to space@spaceanswers.com Location: Republic of Kazakhstan, Central Asia Telescope: Celestron SkyProdigy 6 Schmidt-Cassegrain “I shot this image of the supermoon with my brother

Cost: £59.99 / $59.99 From: Amazon Type: Newtonian reflector Aperture: 2.99” Focal length: 11.81” BEGINNERS SMALL BUDGETS PLANETARY VIEWING LUNAR VIEWING The National Park Foundation FirstScope ticks all of the boxes on a novice sky-watcher’s wish li

Cost: £9.99 (approx. $13.75) From: thumbsup.com 1 Do you think you have what it takes to mine the surface of the Moon while keeping your astronaut safe and making sure your opponents don’t receive a bigger haul of the lunar bounty than you? If so, th

Shoemaker was a truly remarkable astronomer, having discovered over 800 asteroids and at least 32 comets. What makes Shoemaker’s achievements even more extraordinary is that they were accomplished by a woman who took up astronomy in 1980, at the age