#astronomy

#astronomy

As the last strip of pink on the horizon fades to indigo on the Maniototo Plain in Otago, every word I speak arrives in a puff of condensation. Six hundred metres above sea level, in winter the temperature here can drop to -15C. Spring isn't much warmer. But the chill is worth it. Standing in the dark in what feels like the middle of nowhere, I've come to a paddock not far from the historic mining town of Naseby to stargaze.

'Inside it, you have the part of the galaxy that is still actively building itself with ongoing star formation. Outside it, you have a disc region populated almost entirely by stars that have drifted there from elsewhere.'

The new images of the Sombrero Galaxy, captured by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera, reveal its bright core amid 2,000 globular star clusters tightly bound by gravity.

The precise expansion rate of the universe - called the Hubble constant - has turned into a major pain point as attempts to nail it down keep leading to widely differing figures.

The lantern slides are transparent photographs or paintings on glass plates designed to be projected onto a screen using an early slide projector. They were sitting in three plastic tubs in a Fuertes office.

The square structure, topped with a telescope dome, was built for the 1769 Transit of Venus - an event that also saw Captain James Cook dispatched across the globe to secure a clearer view.

MoonFest draws inspiration from John Draper, who made history in 1840 by capturing one of the earliest photographs of the moon, bridging the gap between Earth and our celestial neighbor.

On Wednesday 22 April, the Flamsteed Astronomers will bring their smart scopes and telescopes up Shooters Hill and set up on the Castle's rooftop viewing platform.

Astronomy on Tap is a free 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 sits back and relaxes, with plenty of time to indulge their curiosity and ask whatever questions they want.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth lines up between the moon and the sun. The sun's light is blocked casting a shadow on to the moon. But in some eclipses sunlight does reach the moon indirectly, daubing the moon in a sunset palette. Any light that does pass shines through our atmosphere and transforms the lunar surface into a deep, coppery red.