#winter-stargazing

#winter-stargazing

A meteoroid-a small body moving through space-is called a meteor when it encounters a planet's atmosphere and subsequently produces a bright streak of light. This occurs because the meteoroid is traveling many times faster than the speed of sound.

Thanks to increased solar activity, combined with clearer winter skies and longer hours of darkness, there have already been numerous reports of sightings throughout January across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. In light of this, travel specialists Japan-101 have analysed 100 UK towns and cities to identify the best locations for viewing the phenomenon. Each was scored out of 100 based on artificial light levels, air pollution and cloud cover, and totalled to determine an index score out of 100.

There is a profound, quiet magic in standing alone under a truly dark sky, but the experience becomes something else entirely when shared with a community of fellow explorers. Star parties are the heartbeat of this experience: communal, high-energy gatherings where everyone from veteran astronomers to total beginners can share a wide-angle view of the cosmos. It's a chance to level up your astrophotography skills, learn the latest in deep-space science from experts,

The first time that University of Oxford astronomer Lyla Jung saw the cosmic configuration on her monitor, she almost didn't believe it was real. But it wasand Jung and her colleagues went on to identify one of the largest rotating structures ever found in space: a chain of galaxies embedded in a spinning cosmic filament 400 million light-years from Earth. The finding, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, may give astronomers new insights into galaxies' formation, evolution and diversity, Jung says.

Last week AES Andesa subsidiary of the AES Corporation, an American energy companyannounced it had scrapped its plans for a sprawling, city-size renewable energy project in Chile's Atacama Desert. The Atacama offers some of the world's darkest, clearest skieswhich is why it also hosts several of Earth's most important ground-based telescopes, including those of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) Paranal Observatory, which could've been within a mere five kilometers of the green-energy facility, according to earlier plans.

One of the most exciting aspects is the rich chemistry we detect. We see dozens of different molecules, including some complex organic molecules that contain carbon, the same element that forms the basis of life on Earth. From ACES, we are learning more about how the ingredients for planets, and potentially life itself, can arise in the universe.