#astronomy

#astronomy

Astronomy on Tap is is a public lecture series where astronomers give short, laid-back talks over drinks at local bars. No background in science required - our scientists share cool stuff about space while the audience just sits back and relaxes, with plenty of time to indulge their curiosity and ask whatever questions they want. This month, we're hosting: John Franklin Crenshaw, PhD - Warning: objects in mirror are farther than they appear! Dark Energy and the expansion of the universe.

Big energetic shifts are in the air, as September not only coincides with the powerful magic of eclipse season, but it also heralds in the autumnal equinox, which is the first official day of fall here in the Northern hemisphere. In 2025, this celestial event takes place on Sept. 22, and it serves as the exact midpoint between the summer and winter solstices.

Scientists for the first time have spotted the insides of a dying star as it exploded, offering a rare peek into stellar evolution. Stars can live for millions to trillions of years until they run out of fuel. The most massive ones go out with a bang in an explosion called a supernova. Using telescopes that peer deep into space, researchers have observed many such explosions. The cosmic outbursts tend to jumble up a dying star's layers, making it hard for scientists to observe the inner structure.

"Everything else disappeared," she told Giz, "even the bright central black hole, and only this little dot remained."

In the summer of 1999, I was a 19-year-old with an interest in astronomy, but no real idea of what I wanted to do with my life - then I saw my first total solar eclipse.

These discoveries show that the building blocks for forming planets can be found even around objects that are barely larger than Jupiter and drifting alone in space.

"The close encounter of 3I/ATLAS to Jupiter provides a rare opportunity to shift Juno from its current orbit around Jupiter to intercept the path of 3I/ATLAS at its closest approach to Jupiter."

Light echoes occur when a massive star detonates, creating a flash of light that expands rapidly. This light defines a spherical shell around the explosion.

A rare planetary alignment will occur on August 10, involving Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune visible in an arc in the night sky.

The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service has predicted that July 22 could come out about a millisecond short of a standard 24-hour spin.

The James Webb Space Telescope and ALMA have observed the protostar HOPS-315, revealing the early moments of planetary creation in a protoplanetary disk about 1,400 light-years away in Orion.

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was detected by the NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope on July 1 while traveling at 137,000 miles per hour from another star system.

The collision occurred 38 million years ago, but only now is it being picked up by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Open clusters of stars, which consist of dozens up to a few thousand stars, are useful for studying the Universe because they formed more or less at the same time.