astronomy

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New fleets of private satellites are clogging the night sky

    From Science News, March 12, 2020: Astronomers searching for dwarf galaxies using the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile were remotely operating the scope from a room at Fermilab, about 8,200 kilometers away, when they saw streaks popping through. A flock of satellites in low Earth orbit had photobombed their image.

    Vera Rubin, giant of astronomy

      The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a flagship astronomy and astrophysics project currently under construction on a mountaintop in Chile, will be named for astronomer Vera Rubin, a key figure in the history of the search for dark matter.

      The instrument that spots killer asteroids and star-eating black holes

        From CNN, Feb. 16, 2019: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln discusses the Zwicky Transient Facility, a massive sky-survey instrument designed to scan the heavens and look for “transients” or things that brighten unexpectedly. When the instrument sees a change, alerts go out to other astronomers subscribed to the service, who can then use even more powerful telescopes to study the transient event in detail. Even the public can get a daily summary of the previous night’s happenings.

        The snowman orbiting the sun

          From CNN, Jan. 3, 2019: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln discusses NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft and Ultima Thule, a frigid, snowman-shaped block of ice located about 4 billion miles from the sun.