BBC Sky at Night

6 days ago | skyatnightmagazine.com | Iain Todd

Samples of rock and dust from the Moon have arrived in the UK, where they will be studied by scientists seeking to learn more about the Moon's history. BBC News has reported that the lunar samples – the first returned to Earth in five decades – have been secured at a facility in Milton Keynes, ready for analysis. The samples were gathered by a Chinese space mission, Chang’e 5, which returned them in December 2020.

6 days ago | skyatnightmagazine.com | Iain Todd

The field of exoplanet study is one of the most rapidly advancing fields in astronomy, going from first confirmed discovery to the first direct images of exoplanets within less than 10 years. Exoplanets – meaning 'extrasolar planets' – are planets that orbit stars beyond our Sun. Up until the mid 1990s, astronomers could only hypothesise that, if there are planets around our own star, the Sun, then surely there must be planets around other stars.

1 week ago | skyatnightmagazine.com | Iain Todd

An old Soviet spacecraft that was originally destined for Venus could fall to Earth this weekend, according to NASA. The probe, named Kosmos 482, was launched on 31 March 1972 and was intended to enter Venus's atmosphere, to enable scientists to learn more about the mysterious planet. But its lander, weighing about 500kg, got stuck in orbit around Earth, where it has remained until now.

1 week ago | skyatnightmagazine.com | Russell Deeks

In theory, a Dyson sphere is a hypothetical, spherical megastructure built around a star to harvest its energy. In very rough terms, think of it as an absolutely enormous, curved solar panel. The problem with stars is that while they provide heat and light energy to the planets that orbit them – something we should obviously be grateful for, as the Sun’s energy enabled life to emerge on Earth – the vast majority of their energy simply dissipates outward into space.

1 week ago | skyatnightmagazine.com | Iain Todd

For obvious reasons, it's impossible to imagine life on Earth without oxygen. But will it ever run out? And if so, how long will our planet continue to have oxygen? There are a few scenarios in which we could imagine the end of life on Earth: Climate change, rising CO2, an asteroid impact, the steady brightening of the Sun. Or what about in about 6 billion years, when our Sun begins to expand and will likely swallow the inner planets of the Solar System, including our own?