Sky & Telescope

Nov 8, 2024 | skyandtelescope.org | David Chandler

The Arecibo Observatory’s radar system may have produced currents that weakened the zinc sockets holding the cables in place, new report says. While it was in operation, the radar system at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was the most powerful source of electromagnetic radiation on this planet. It enabled incredibly detailed imaging of  near-Earth asteroids as they passed by.

Nov 7, 2024 | skyandtelescope.org | Govert Schilling

Exotic magnetars make brief, powerful flashes of radio waves — but a new discovery suggests there may be more than one way to make a magnetar. For the first time ever, astronomers have detected a fast radio burst (FRB) in a large elliptical galaxy. The discovery, announced at the FRB2024 conference in Khao Lak, Thailand, supports earlier indications that there are various ways to form the extreme objects that produce these ultra-brief flashes of radio waves.

Nov 6, 2024 | skyandtelescope.org | Jennifer Willis

Sometimes the obstacles in our path — such as clouds and light pollution — steer us not away from our goals but on a more meaningful path toward them. Sometimes the obstacles in our path steer us not away from our goals but on a more meaningful path toward them. It turns out cloudy skies, blocked horizons, and some neighborhood light pollution were precisely what I needed.

Nov 6, 2024 | skyandtelescope.org | Jeff Hecht

Scientists have found possibly the oldest and largest crater on Venus — and it’s like none they’ve ever seen on our sister planet. Detailed mapping of one of the oldest terrains on Venus has revealed a giant impact structure of a type never before seen on any terrestrial planet. Oddly, the keys to understanding it came from studying craters on two icy moons of Jupiter. Venus is the least understood of the rocky planets because its thick atmosphere obscuring its surface.

Nov 4, 2024 | skyandtelescope.org | Camille Carlisle

Sometimes, the best things come in threes. The system V404 Cygni is an old favorite with astronomers. The binary contains a 9-solar-mass black hole that’s slurping gas from a star slightly less massive than the Sun. Astronomically speaking, only a hair’s breath separates the pair: 0.14 astronomical unit, or less than half Mercury’s average distance from the Sun. (This is normal for these kinds of systems.)The hot gas swirling down onto the black hole creates an X-ray beacon.