Innehållsförteckning för March 2024 från BBC Sky at Night

MARCH HIGHLIGHTS Interview: X-ray eyes on the sky Dr Charly Feldman on China's Einstein probe and how X-ray vision unlocks the secrets of the Universe. Download our lunar phases 2024 poster Keep up to date with Moon times and phases by downloading and printing our PDF poster covering all of 2024. More amazing images of the Universe View our galleries of the latest images captured by astrophotographers and professional observatories alike. The Virtual Planetarium…

Astronomers could soon be tracking down exoplanets with liquid water oceans not by looking for the presence of water, but instead by searching for the absence of carbon dioxide in their atmospheres. The search for habitable worlds has been governed by the search for liquid water, but there are no observatories that can detect surface water directly. However, space telescopes such as the JWST are able to observe carbon dioxide in a planet's atmosphere. “On Earth, much of the atmospheric carbon dioxide has been sequestered in sea water and solid rock, which has helped to regulate climate and habitability for billions of years,” says Frieder Klein from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who took part in the study alongside astronomers from MIT. This means our planet has significantly less carbon dioxide…

BULLETIN Dark energy – the mysterious substance that's apparently driving our Universe apart – could vary with time, according to the latest results from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). In 1998, two teams of astronomers measured the expansion of the Universe by looking at Type Ia supernovae. These occur when a white dwarf steals stellar material from a nearby companion star until it reaches a critical mass and explodes in a supernova. Because they are always the same mass when they explode, Type Ia supernovae all have the same intrinsic brightness. By comparing this to their apparent brightness, astronomers arrive at an accurate measure of their distance. The 1998 study also measured their redshift and was able to gauge how fast the supernovae's home galaxies were moving away from us.…

Bennu sample finally out After months of careful work, NASA has now completely extracted from its return capsule the sample of asteroid Bennu brought back by the OSIRIS-REx mission. The precious space rock will now be divided up and sent to waiting scientific institutions for analysis. Wales's first dark-sky community Presteigne and Norton have become the first-ever International Dark Sky Community in Wales. The 40km2 area is home to 2,700 people who have worked together to ensure they meet the strict requirements to be named a dark-sky site. Turn to page 36 to find out more about other communities working to keep their skies dark. Brown dwarf has aurora NASA's JWST has found the first evidence of an infrared aurora dancing around a brown dwarf, W1935, a stellar object with…

The year 2023 was the 66th year that The Sky at Night has appeared on our televisions and the first year that I worked as the show's production coordinator. The production base had recently moved from London to Glasgow and the new team were eager to fill the shoes of our predecessors who had helped make such a wonderful show. This was only the second production I'd been a part of since joining BBC Studios, and I was excited to learn more about our beautiful night sky. Before I joined The Sky at Night, I was working as a professional dog groomer. I have a degree in zoology, which drew me to a job in the Science Unit at BBC Studios. Television was a completely new industry for me, but…

Spring Star Party Kelling Heath Holiday Park, Holt, Norfolk, 5–12 March One of Britain's best-known star parties returns. A strict no-lights policy is in force, making it the ideal place to meet up with fellow astronomers and enjoy the delights of the night sky. Plus: red squirrels! Prices start at £26.52 per night for a camping pitch, with more luxurious lodges starting at £350 for three nights. www.kellingheath.co.uk An Evening of Astrophotography Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 8 March, 6pm International Women's Day sees an after-hours panel discussion highlighting and celebrating the work of women in astrophotography, with guests including judges from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Tickets cost £12, concessions £8.50. www.rmg.co.uk Tuning in to Primordial Stars Astronomy Ireland, via Zoom, 11 March, 7pm The University of Nottingham's Dr…

Everything we can see in the world around us is made of atoms. But where did those atoms come from? It's a question that's fascinated natural philosophers and scientists for centuries, and is one we're still learning more about today. At the start of the 18th century, Isaac Newton declared that atoms had probably been created by God at the beginning of time. He believed that atoms were indestructible, “no ordinary power being able to divide what God had made one in the first creation”. However, in the first decades of the 20th century, physicists found that they could break atoms apart in the lab using powerful, albeit earthly, forces, which eventually led to the realisation that every atom in the periodic table is made of just three subatomic particles:…

The fundamentals of astronomy for beginners EXPLAINER EXTRA Aurorae are one of nature's most beautiful spectacles, but also one of the most elusive. For aurora hunters, some nights will yield little more than a green smudge on the horizon, others nothing at all. But then will come the nights when the air will burst into life as light dances across the sky. There are no guarantees when it comes to seeing aurorae, but you might be able to stack the odds in your favour. The next few years are going to be some of the best for those hoping to catch the lights, as our Sun is currently approaching a time of intense activity, known as solar maximum. Scientists watching the Sun predict this could happen in 2024. To understand…

The first group of people to bring attention to the growing problem of light pollution were astronomers. At no point in our history have we produced and consumed light more than we do now, bringing an increase in light pollution at an alarming rate, with impacts on our health and the environment, especially nocturnal biodiversity. It has also reshaped our perception of not only the night sky, but also the night. However, protecting dark skies is a labour of love that relies heavily on collaboration, and the number of people focusing on this topic has never been greater. Thanks to the growing pool of committed people and communities, we have never been better equipped to tackle light pollution. Unlike other pollutants, it's relatively easy to eliminate light pollution and its…

1. Melotte 111 We'll start with a favourite ‘made for binoculars’ target. Look midway between mag. +2.9 Cor Caroli (Alpha (α) Canum Venaticorum) and mag. +2.1 Denebola (Beta (β) Leonis) and you should see a misty patch about 6° across. Your 10x50s will resolve it into 30 or more stars, all of which are mag. +10.5 or brighter; any fainter ones have been gravitationally ejected from the cluster by a process called mass segregation. ☐ SEEN IT 2. M53 A degree northeast of mag. +4.9 Diadem (Alpha (α) Comae Berenices), there's a small misty patch that appears to grow in size and brightness if you centre it in the field of view but look at Diadem. This is the globular cluster M53, and the trick you used to make it…

The largest and most sensitive radio observatory in history, the Square Kilometre Array is currently being built in two remote areas in the Southern Hemisphere: the Great Karoo semi-desert in South Africa and the outback of Western Australia. As you read this, installation of the first of four dishes at the site in South Africa should be under way. Eventually, the entire SKA observatory will consist of almost 200 radio dishes and more than 130,000 smaller antennas, distributed over two continents. SKA is expected to leave its mark in every field of astronomy, from solar physics to cosmology. ► At the SKA Global Headquarters at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, UK, close to the venerable 76-metre Lovell Telescope, SKA director Phil Diamond recounts the history of the project. “More than…

Beyond the Solar System lie cold, dark and vast regions that were once shrouded in mystery. It is here that we have discovered various worlds, objects left over from the early days of the Solar System, a barrier that shelters us from harmful interstellar particles and a giant cloud filled with icy objects. Right now, NASA's Voyagers 1 and 2, and the New Horizons spacecraft are travelling into these uncharted territories, giving us a glimpse into the realms beyond our cosmic neighbourhood. Here we take a look at the regions found at the edge of our Solar System. The Kuiper belt A frigid realm where Pluto resides The Kuiper belt is a huge ring-shaped region beyond the orbit of Neptune. The main belt spans from 30 to 50 AU, with…

Arguably, 2023 was the year that artificial intelligence (AI) really gained mainstream attention, inspiring – like any technological advance throughout human history – both evangelical enthusiasm for its potential benefits and apocalyptic horror at its likely downsides. Yet AI has been around for much longer than the likes of ChatGPT. The term itself was first coined back in 1956, and scientists have been working on ways for computers to ‘think’ and respond to us in a more ‘human’ way since at least the 1960s. Without us even noticing, much of our modern life today relies on AI, whether it's your social media activity, Netflix viewing choices or digital home assistants like Alexa and Siri. It's all about making our technology appear to act in a more responsive way, a principle…

Lunar clair-obscur effects are tricks of the light that produce recognisable shapes on the Moon's surface. They occur when jumbled areas of light and shadow produce something that looks familiar. Most occur near the terminator and fade into and out of view in a few hours. This isn't true for all clair-obscur effects, though. The L-Shaped Mountain, for example, is visible on the waning gibbous Moon under direct lighting away from the terminator for many days. It occurs when the steep sides of a mountain to the west of crater Lamèch become fully illuminated to form a bright letter ‘L’. Others such as the popular Lunar X and V fall under the transient category. As the light of the lunar dawn hits the regions in which they form, recognisable patterns…

FREE BONUS CONTENT Find our extended Gallery at www.skyatnightmagazine.com/ bonus-content △ Milky Way over Volcán de Fuego Chirag Upreti, Acatenango summit, Guatemala, 9 November 2023 PHOTO OF THE MONTH Chirag says: “To get this shot of Volcán de Fuego with the Milky Way, I climbed to the summit of Volcán de Acatenango, another dormant volcano. From 13,000ft, I had a clear view and waited hours for it to erupt, with Sagittarius on the right of the frame along with the late-autumn Milky Way.” Equipment: Sony a7 III camera, Sigma 14–24mm f/2.8 lens, Leofoto LS-255CEX Ranger tripod Exposure: ISO 2000 f/2.8, 20” Software: Lightroom, Photoshop Chirag's top tips: “In night landscape photography, proficiency with your equipment in the dark is paramount. Out in the field, patience and persistence are also vital:…

EYE ON THE SKY VLT SURVEY TELESCOPE, 21 DECEMBER 2023 This 1.5-billion-pixel image of the Running Chicken Nebula, which lies 6,500 lightyears from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, is a mosaic compiled from hundreds of frames taken by the OmegaCAM instrument on ESO's VLT Survey Telescope. The area depicted measures 270 lightyears across and within it you can clearly see the disparate elements that make up the Running Chicken: pink, round emission nebula IC 2948 (the ‘body’ of the chicken, lower left), open cluster IC 2944 (the fainter ‘neck’, centre) and Bok globules GUM 39, 40 and 41 (right). Also visible is Lambda Centauri, the bright blue star in the middle – although this is much closer to Earth, at just 470 lightyears’ distance. FREE BONUS CONTENT Explore a…

Astronomers have mapped the cold, dense gas that will one day become stellar nurseries in the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51. This is the first time such an extensive map has been created for a galaxy beyond the Milky Way. “To investigate the early phases of star formation, where gas gradually condenses to eventually produce stars, we must first identify these regions,” says Sophia Stuber from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, who led the study. “We typically measure the radiation emitted by specific molecules that are particularly abundant in these extremely cold and dense zones.” The team spent over 200 hours observing the nitrogenand hydrogen-bearing molecules hydrogen cyanide and diazenylium across the Whirlpool Galaxy, using the Northern Extended Millimetre Array in the French Alps. Though further away than similar clouds in…

It is possible for disappearing islands to float on the methane seas of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, a new study has found. Titan's atmosphere is rich with organic material and its surface is covered in rivers and oceans of methane and ethane. In 2014, NASA's Cassini spacecraft spotted bright, transient dots in the moon's seas, called ‘magic islands’. “I wanted to investigate whether the magic islands could actually be organics floating on the surface, like pumice that can float on water here on Earth, before finally sinking,” says Xinting Yu, from the University of Texas at San Antonio, who led the study. “For us to see the magic islands, they can't just float for a second and then sink. They have to float for some time, but not for forever…

Our experts examine the hottest new research CUTTING EDGE Scientists have long speculated about whether Venus could harbour life. Its thick, carbon dioxide atmosphere creates a powerful greenhouse effect and the surface is searingly hot (over 450°C). Indeed, the planet is often described as ‘Earth's evil twin’. So while the surface clearly doesn't offer any chance of liquid water or organic molecules – the fundamental prerequisites for life – the high atmosphere could offer a habitable environment. Venus is shrouded in thick cloud layers; between altitudes of 48km and 60km the atmospheric pressure and temperature are similar to those on Earth's surface. There's plenty of sunlight to serve as a power source for life too. The problem, however, is that the cloud droplets are made up of concentrated sulphuric acid.…

The Practical Astronomy Show 2024 National Agricultural and Exhibition Centre, Coventry, 23 March The annual gathering of the UK astronomy industry returns, with the free event having proven so popular that this year it's moved to a new, larger venue. Exhibitors at this year's show include the Campaign for Dark Skies, the Society for the History of Astronomy and the UK Radio Astronomy Association, as well as a host of astronomy equipment manufacturers and retailers, many of whom will be offering special discounts for show visitors on the day. Whether you're in the market for a new telescope or just hoping to pick up some astrophotography tips, there's something for everyone – including an on-site cafeteria, full disabled access and free parking. practicalastroshow.com…

Though stars have acted as cosmic factories, gradually enriching the Universe with heavy elements for the last 13.7 billion years, they cannot account for the second-most common element of all: helium. Stars do indeed make helium, but nowhere near enough to explain the fact that helium makes up a quarter of the atoms in the Universe by mass. To understand helium's origin, we must look to the greatest cosmic forge of all: the Big Bang. During its first few minutes, the Universe was filled by a searing plasma with roughly equal numbers of protons and neutrons, ideal conditions, you might think, for the formation of elements beyond hydrogen. However, up until about three minutes after the Big Bang, there were so many highenergy photons (particles of light) zipping about that…

Patches More diffuse than other displays, these blobs of light tend to spread out across the sky. Arcs Many displays begin as a curve of bright light across the sky, known as an arc, before transforming into more complex shapes. Curtains Created from rays of light moving together in bands, viewed from a distance these sweeping forms resemble a set of hanging curtains. Bands Similar to arcs, bands tend to have a more undulating appearance to their lower border, creating a snaking glow across the sky. Rays These shafts of light stretch upwards into the sky and during more active displays can even appear to pulse and move. Coronae Meaning crown, coronae are large starburst formations. They can be difficult to catch, however, as you'll only see such a view…

Mercury Best time to see: 25 March, 40 minutes after sunset Altitude: 10° Location: Pisces Direction: West Features: Phase, surface markings Recommended equipment: 150mm scope or larger Mercury is an evening planet, but having passed superior conjunction on 28 February, it's pretty close to the Sun at the start of March and won't be seen. The good news is that the inclination of the ecliptic plane – the projection of Earth's orbital plane in the sky – is steep against the western horizon at this time of year at sunset. The Sun, Moon and main planets stay on or near the ecliptic, and the steep angle helps keep Mercury above the horizon at a better altitude than if the inclination were shallow. On 7 March, Mercury shines at mag. –1.4…

Asteroid 3 Juno reaches opposition on 3 March, when it can be found in southern Leo, near the border with Sextans, shining at mag. +8.6. It starts the month close to mag. +4.8 58 Leonis and shining at mag. +8.8 – a binocular possibility, but best seen using a small telescope at low magnification. It heads northwest, clipping the border between Leo and Sextans. On 16 March, the asteroid crosses into Leo, very close to mag. +6.4 37 Sextantis. Its magnitude will have dimmed to +9.1 and it will continue to dim as it tracks northwest. By the end of March, it will be located less than a degree east-southeast of mag. +5.7 49 Leonis, having faded to mag. +9.5. 3 Juno is the 11th-largest asteroid, with a mean diameter…

As the Moon is well placed in the evening sky during March, this month we're taking a look for lunar domes. Much of the Moon's detail you can view through a telescope has come from meteoric impacts on the lunar surface. Features such as craters and basins are the result of impacts that occurred a long time in the past. However, there is evidence of vulcanism on the Moon's surface too. Some of it is obvious when pointed out, such as the dark patches around the inner edge of the 118km crater Alphonsus, the result of fire-fountain eruptions from cracks in the crater's floor. A less obvious structure which can take a little work to find is that of the lunar dome. These are shallow, rounded features rising to a…

SKA director Phil Diamond admits that ‘Square Kilometre Array’ is a bit of a misnomer. The 197 dish antennas of SKA-Mid in South Africa have a total surface area of 33,000m2 (0.033km2). The effective receiver surface area of the dipole antennas of SKA-Low in Australia can be calculated with a complicated formula that is dependent on the observing frequency; it's in the order or 0.4km2. However, the name – Square Kilometre Array’ was conceived in the late 1990s, with the future second phase of the facility in mind, which will have 10 times the number of dishes and antennas. “If that second phase will indeed be realised in the future, we will easily reach a total surface area of one square kilometre,” says Diamond. Even with 131,072 dipole antennas, SKA…

As the late Douglas Adams wrote in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, “Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is.” And, to be fair, he wasn't wrong. For astronomers – especially those focusing on cosmology – this has one obvious consequence. The more detailed and accurate their studies of such a “really big” cosmos become, the larger the amount of data they are likely to generate – and have to process. Arguably this has been a looming problem ever since astronomers first started sticking cameras onto their telescopes, but the latest digital technologies have pushed the issue to the foreground like nothing else before. Take the Square Kilometre Array, featured earlier in this month's issue. Once it's fully operational, it will…

 STEP 1 Pick your target and make plans for capturing it. A few upcoming events are listed above and we publish predictions in our Sky Guide every month, but there are others out there too. There's an excellent list at the-moon.us/wiki/Clair-obscur; you may have to research the best co-longitudes that the effects become visible. STEP 2 Lunar co-longitude can be determined from a number of sources. Try the ephemeris section of Virtual Lunar Atlas at ap-i.net/avl/en/start or WinJUPOS jupos.org/gh/download.htm (both are freeware). Determine the time and date of an effect, make sure the Moon will be visible and keep an eye on the weather. STEP 3 How will you capture the effect? Large effects may be recorded with certain smartphones, but smaller ones require a DSLR or equivalent with a…

VITAL STATS • Price £1,015 with 1.0x flattened £1,025 with 0.8x flattener • Optics FPL-53 doublet • Aperture 80mm • Focal length 560mm, f/7 • Focuser Dual-speed rack and pinion • Extras Tube rings, Vixen bar, dovetail, guidescope, 1.0x field flattener, illuminated eyepiece • Weight 3.45kg (OTA), 4.75kg (full package) • Supplier Rother Valley Optics • Tel 01909 774521 • WWW.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk Refractors are generally considered an ideal imaging telescope due to their sturdiness and reliability. This makes them attractive for beginners and advanced astrophotographers alike. The RVO Horizon 80 ED doublet joins Rother Valley Optics's Horizon family of imaging refractors, which also includes the 60 ED, 72 ED and 102ED, each instantly recognisable by their distinct orange and turquoise tube rings and accents. We were keen to see how this…

High near-infrared sensitivity QHYCCD describes the SC2210 sensor as a ‘domestic CMOS’ unit. It isn't entirely obvious what they mean by this, but that doesn't detract from the excellent performance that the diminutive chip is capable of. The 4μm x 4μm pixels are arrayed in a 1,920 x 1,080 grid for this 2MP camera, and exposure times between 15 milliseconds and 15 minutes are possible. Being sensitive to near-infrared wavelengths adds an extra dimension to this camera and opens up the possibility of imaging in less thanideal conditions using the IR850nm filter. It could be a useful camera for capturing images of close double stars and similar objects that need a bit of manipulation to get around any issues with seeing, and to that end we used the high sensitivity…

BULLETIN Japan became the fifth nation to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon, on 19 January at 15:20 UT. Initially it seemed celebrations would be short-lived due to a problem with the spacecraft's solar power system, but the team were able to re-establish contact nine days later. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), launched on 6 September 2023 and entered lunar orbit on 25 December. Its primary goal was to conduct a precision landing near Shioli crater. Soon after the expected touchdown time, NASA's Deep Space Network received telemetry from the spacecraft, confirming it had landed in one piece. Unfortunately, the spacecraft had landed on its nose, angling its solar panels away from the Sun, and was only able to operate…

Stratospheric rainbows Sky-watchers in the last few months of 2023 reported an explosion in the number of polar stratospheric clouds – rainbow-hued clouds formed from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. Temperatures in the stratosphere reached a 40-year low of –85°C, causing more ice to form and create the clouds. How centaurs get tails Centaurs – space rocks the size of asteroids but with the composition of comets – appear to become more active after an encounter with Jupiter or Saturn. A study tracked the history of all known centaurs and found those with comet-like tails had their orbital paths changed following an interaction with one of the gas giants. Furthest FRB found Astronomers have pinned down the furthest-ever fast radio burst (FRB), bright radio flashes that last just a…

Giant cyclones swirl around the distant planet WASP-121b only to vanish, according to a new study using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. The find is an important step in studying exoplanet weather patterns. WASP-121b is a hot Jupiter that orbits its star once every 1.27 days. It's tidally locked, with its day side constantly pointing towards its star, reaching temperatures of 1,870°C. Using observations of the planet taken when it was in different parts of its orbit, planetary scientists were able to measure how the atmosphere's composition and temperature changed across the day and night sides. Astronomers combined this data with computer simulations to reveal a world ravaged by huge storms, which rise only to destroy themselves. Though WASP-121b is a gas giant, similar techniques could one day be…

As a species, the gradual unveiling of the mysteries of the Universe has only been achieved through the results of our own innovation, unaided and unassisted by anyone else. From early cave paintings that captured the heavens, to tracking the motions of stars and planets to form basic calendars, to agricultural usage, with the planting and reaping of crops. Soon, though, instead of just observing the points of light in the night sky, great minds such as Ptolemy, Copernicus and Kepler turned to attempts at explaining them. Landmark timeline events serve as poignant reminders of the parallel relationship between the human mind and the Universe. Galileo's telescopic sketching of Saturn in the early 1600s, and in particular that of the planet's rings, were humankind's ‘first light’ on an object that…

While we've explained the main routes through which the elements are made, the full story of their origin is incredibly intricate. Sometimes a smaller star can create elements much heavier than it normally would through fusion alone. In one rare case, white dwarfs – the end state of low-mass stars like our Sun – actually gain enough mass to go supernova. This happens when they're close enough to a companion star that they gradually steal matter from it. The matter falls onto the surface of the white dwarf until its mass becomes so high that nuclear fusion restarts, violently detonating the white dwarf in a Type 1a supernova. This produces large amounts of elements like sulphur, iron and copper. It's even possible for low-mass stars like the Sun to create…

Aurora displays can show up at any time after dark, but there are definitely times when an aurora sighting is more likely, whether it's near solar maximum or not. As aurorae are most visible against dark skies, it's best to hunt for them in spring, autumn and winter, when the nights are longer. For an even better chance, stick to the months around the equinoxes: March and April, September and October. During this time, Earth's magnetic field is best orientated to the solar wind, and more likely to create the interactions needed to produce the lights. The best place to see the Northern Lights is in the auroral oval. In the Northern Hemisphere, the oval sits at a latitude around 65°N to 70°N, covering the northern regions of Finland, Sweden,…

Cancer the Crab is represented by a faint, inverted Y shape. The base of the Y, which marks the north point of the pattern, is mag. +4.0 Iota (ι) Cancri. Located 1.3° further to the east-southeast is mag. +5.9 Rho1 (ρ1) Cancri, with mag. +5.2 Rho2 (ρ2) Cancri 0.8° further to the east-southeast. Rho1 or, as we'll call it from now on, 55 Cancri, is an interesting star that can ignite the imagination. Before we get on to that, there's an easy way to confirm you have the right star: mag. +6.3 53 Cancri lies 4.5 arcminutes south and slightly west of 55 Cancri, forming a distinctive and easily recognised pair. 55 Cancri is located 41 lightyears from the Sun. It's a K0 IV–V type star; a cool, main sequence…

FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope) A huge radio dish, built in a natural bowl-shaped valley in Pingtang County, Guizhou, southwest China. With a surface area of 0.2km2, FAST is currently the most sensitive radio telescope in the world. (The 300-metre Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed in late 2020; the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the German Effelsberg Telescope have diameters of approximately 100 metres.) ngVLA (Next Generation Very Large Array) This future facility will be more than 10 times as sensitive as the current VLA observatory in New Mexico. The plan is for 244 radio dishes with diameters of 18 metres, supplemented with 19 smaller 6 metre dishes, distributed across large parts of the USA, ngVLA will fill the gap between observations by SKA (at relatively…

Can machine learning and AI help detect the unexpected in astronomical datasets? Alex Andersson, a researcher at the University of Oxford, believes it might. “You can look at certain models of physics, like how stars work or galaxies behave, and so have things that you can predict but haven't seen yet – the sort of ‘known unknowns’,” he says. “And then there's the ‘unknown unknowns’. I spend a lot of time working on anomalydetection algorithms, where I try not to assume much about the physics or what I'm expecting, and just see what the data says and what comes out that looks ‘weird’.” All Andersson's work involves MeerKAT in South Africa, the radio telescope that will form the core of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Alongside this, he runs a…

CAUTION When observing atmospheric optics, always block the Sun with your hand, a roof or a tree. NEVER look through a camera viewfinder pointed towards the Sun Almost everybody has seen a rainbow, but far fewer people have seen any kind of atmospheric optics display, despite how frequently they occur. These haloes and arcs form when sunlight (or moonlight) is refracted through tiny hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus clouds, which are found at an altitude of around 5–10km. The light gets refracted on the way in and again on the way out of the ice crystals, and this causes the light rays to deviate and disperse to form the haloes and arcs. Some arcs exhibit colour separation, while some are white. Atmospheric optics are beautiful and fascinating to observe. Although…

VITAL STATS • Price £319 • Sensor SC2210 CMOS • Sensor size 1,920x1,080 • Frame rate Full resolution 96.5fps at 8 bit; 60fps at 16 bit • Exposure range 15ms-15 minutes • Memory 512MB DDRS RAM • Connectivity USB 3.2, ST4 • Size 77mm x 40mm • Weight 90g • Extras IR850nm filter, storage tin, USB cable, ST4 guiding cable, spacer rings • Supplier Modern Astronomy. Tel 020 8763 9953 • www.modernastronomy.com QHYCCD cameras have a great reputation, but the latest QHY5 version, known as the QHY5III200M, features some useful refinements. A dualpurpose, monochrome camera, it gives high performance for planetary images and acts as a sensitive and reliable autoguiding camera. The camera is small and light, with a 1.25-inch barrel and four round fins that split the camera into…

What capabilities will the Giant Magellan Telescope offer astronomers? The Giant Magellan Telescope – due to see first light in 2031 – will be optimal for looking at light from Earth-like planets. It will be able to decompose this light and detect whether there are molecular signs of life as we know it, from diatomic oxygen to methane to ozone to carbon dioxide. Astronomers are also excited about the lightcollecting area of the telescope, because it means that we can detect small signals, looking far back into how the cosmos formed: how the lights turned on, how ionisation started, how galaxies were formed. What exciting developments are coming up for the Giant Magellan in 2024? There's a lot to look forward to. The telescope's primary mirror is composed of seven…