WELCOME

This month All About Space returns to the

A split sky

© ESO The Moon, Saturn and Mercury are

China’s Chang’e 5 lands on the Moon, collects first lunar sample

The craft touched down in the northwest part

Arecibo radio telescope hanging platform collapses

Source: Wikipedia Commons © Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán

Newfound ‘Kraken merger’ may have been the biggest collision in Milky Way history

© ESA/NASA/ESO The Milky Way has more than

Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa may spout water plumes

NASA plans to send its Europa Clipper to

Big dust storms may have driven off much of Mars’ water

Dust storms are common on the arid Red

Faint ‘super-planet’ found by radio for the first time

Brown dwarfs are huge, but didn’t quite make

MEADE ETX-125 OBSERVER

DARK MATTER

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Where did dark matter come from?

Bubbles in the early universe may have solved the mystery 

What is dark matter?

It’s not really ‘dark’, but it has some properties

Dark matter vs Dark energy

Even more mysterious than dark matter is a phenomenon in the universe called dark energy

The biggest unanswered questions about dark matter

Is there more than one kind? Could there

EXPLORING HELL

Needing to navigate mechanical rovers on Venus, NASA offered a prize

“WE STILL NEED TO HAVE MORE DIVERSITY IN THE ASTRONAUT CORPS”

DR BERNARD HARRIS JR. 

DID MINI-MOONS MAKE THE EARTH?

A new theory suggests ‘moonfalls’ may have formed our planet’s first continents

Earth’s little moons

Our Solar System’s planets have more than one moon – even ours on occasion

NASA’S NEW MISSION TO MARS

The rover that’s about to begin a fascinating hunt for life on the Red Planet

The making of Earth

The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted theory of how our planet formed at roughly the same time as the rest of our Solar System’s worlds

MEET PERSEVERANCE AND INGENUITY

Here’s how the rover and drone will operate on the surface of Mars

LANDING ON MARS

Matt Wallace, the deputy project manager on the mission, explains what will happen during the landing

PERSEVERANCE VS PREVIOUS MARS ROVERS

© NASA/JPL-Caltech © NASA/JPL-Caltech 1 Sojourner Weight: 11

The story of the stars

We look up today and see the stars divided into the same familiar shapes as our ancestors, but how did the constellations come to be?

Ancient astronomy

Though the ancient Greek interpretations are the ones that stuck, what did other cultures see in the stars?

Myths and monsters

How the ancient Greeks wove lasting legends into the sky

A whole cast of stars

SIn Greek mythology, Cepheus and Cassiopeia were the king

Uncovering the southern skies

How the Age of Exploration discovered new groups of stars to give meaning to

WHERE PERSEVERANCE WILL LAND

The rover is targeting an interesting region in the northern hemisphere of Mars called Jezero Crater

GALEX SOLVES BLUE RING NEBULA MYSTERY

A stellar collision is the culprit behind the strange ultraviolet phenomenon

WEIRD DISCOVERY ON TITAN

A newfound molecule has raised hopes that Saturn’s largest moon hosts the building blocks needed for life

Titan’s weird molecule

Cyclopropenylidene’s presence in this location was highly unexpected

what happens on titan’s surface?

1. Nitrogen & methane leave the surface These

HOW TITAN HAS THE INGREDIENTS FOR LIFE

It’s this moon’s similarities to Earth that have drawn alien life hunters towards it

WHAT’S UP WITH THE MILKY WAY?

MYSTERIES  OF THE  UNIVERSE

HOW CHIME IS USED TO DISCOVER FAST RADIO BURSTS

Located in Okanagan Falls, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment picked up on FRB 200428 

THE DIY APPROACH TO SPACE DISCOVERY

STARE2’s trio of radio detectors were cobbled together by a student using household items

A MYSTERY SOLVED?

The detection of an FRB in our galaxy has led astronomers to conclude such bursts involve a magnetar

Arecibo Observatory

Prior to its decommissioning and sudden collapse, this huge dish made many invaluable contributions to astronomy

Anatomy of the Arecibo Observatory

The integral equipment that enabled the telescope to peer into the skies

Inside the Arecibo Message

A letter to the cosmos, beamed from the huge dish towards globular star cluster M13 in Hercules

Frequent frequency fiddling

Source: Wikipedia Commons © Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán

Discover the universe using a radio telescope

1 Crab Pulsar Both the period and location

Vital statistics

Head-to-head

Arecibo vs FAST

GREAT SPACE IMAGES OF 2020

From the stunning Westerlund 2 to the mighty Jupiter, our eyes in the sky have seen some spectacular sights this year. Here are just a few of them

SOLAR ORBITER’S FIRST VIEW OF THE SUN

Solar Orbiter was launched back in February 2020

HUBBLE’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY IMAGE

Since the Hubble Space Telescope opened its eye

BUTTERFLY NEBULA

Despite the Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302) being one

SATURN 2020

© NASA/ESA This exquisitely detailed and stunning image

SPACEX CREW-1

© NASA 2020 has been an exciting year

JUPITER AND EUROPA 2020

© NASA/ESA This image of Jupiter and its

DARK RAYS IN IC 5063

© NASA/ESA In the heart of this Hubble

CARINA NEBULA’S WESTERN WALL

Using the 8.1-metre (26-foot) Gemini South telescope at

CURIOSITY’S MARS SELFIE

© NASA/JPL-Caltech Curiosity is well known for taking

OSIRIS-REX TAKES A SAMPLE OF BENNU

In a NASA first, more than 320 million

COMET NEOWISE

© NASA/ESA Hubble’s spectacular eye was used to

Will the International Space Station ever be replaced?

ASK Space Our experts answer your questions

Why are there no green stars?

© NASA The night sky is speckled with

Will the universe end?

There are three widely considered fates for the

What’s at the centre of a black hole?

Black holes have an ‘impossible’ singularity at the

What gives the planets their colours?

© NASA The colours of the planets depend

Does gravity behave the same throughout the cosmos?

Without gravity, everything needs to be tied down © NASA As far

Has alien life ever visited Earth?

It is possible that life on Earth was

What would be involved in landing humans on Pluto?

The New Horizons spacecraft conducted a flyby study

What’s in the sky?

ESSENTIAL GUIDES AND ADVICE FOR AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS

Planetarium

14 January 2021

Moon calendar

The Moon does not pass the meridian on 28 January

Illumination percentage

Planet positions

All rise and set times are given in GMT

This month’s planets

Mercury will glide past Jupiter and Saturn, which remain close together after their great conjunction last year

Schiller

To start off the New Year, spot one of the strangest-shaped craters on the Moon

Naked eye & binocular targets

Explore the sparkling winter wonders in and around Orion

Little-known treasures of Taurus

Deep sky challenge

The Northern Hemisphere

Get stuck into a plethora of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters

Celestron Cometron FirstScope 76

Designed with the beginner or casual astronomer in mind, this tabletop telescope is portable, provides good views and doesn’t take up too much space

In the shops

The latest books, apps, software, tech and  accessories for space and astronomy fans alike

3 FREE DIGITAL BOOKS FOR EVERY READER!

Katie Bouman

Bouman was instrumental in imaging a black hole