Category Archives: Astronomy

Recently here on the blog I wrote about the globular cluster NGC 6397, a collection of a hundreds of thousands of stars in a compact ball, orbiting the Milky Way and currently about 8,000 light years from Earth.

I wrote about it because a pair of astronomers ran statistical models on the way the stars are orbiting in the cluster, and claimed there's a pretty good chance that there's a swarm of stellar-mass black holes in the cluster core, with a total mass of 1,0002,000 times the Sun's, meaning there could be anywhere from many dozens to a couple of hundred black holes there.

However, a new paper was just published by a different group of astronomers, basically saying the first paper is wrong. They say that not only are there unlikely to be any black holes in the cluster core, it's unlikely for there to be many black holes in the cluster at all. This means they are completely contradicting the other paper. They also say that the claims of a black hole swarm in the first paper are contradicted for "reasons that have been understood theoretically for many decades." Oof. Strong words!

The problem has to do with the structure and evolution of the cluster. Massive stars born when the cluster first forms explode as supernovae relatively quickly, leaving behind neutron stars and black holes. There could have been several hundred black holes in NGC 6397 a few million years after it formed.

Because they're more massive than most stars, when a black hole passes a star (which happens pretty often; clusters like this are pretty tightly packed) the black hole will tend to lose orbital energy and sink to the center, while the star gains energy and moves outward (this is called dynamical friction). The next few steps get complicated, but as the black holes settle into the core, they capture each other to become binaries, orbiting each other. If a star passes them that star gets a decent kick from the orbital energy of the two black holes orbiting each other and importantly the black hole binary does as well. This kick sends the black hole binary out of the core and sometimes out of the cluster entirely.

What this winds up doing is inflating the core of the cluster, making it larger as stars get kicked away from the center. However NGC 6397 does not have an inflated core. In fact the core is compact, which can only happen if there are no black holes there at all.

However, the first paper does rather convincingly show that there appears to be a population of dark objects there in the core of the cluster. If they're not black holes, what are they?

The new paper claims they're white dwarfs, the low-mass cores of stars like the Sun after they die and eject their outer layers. White dwarfs have masses around the mass of the Sun, while black holes are much more massive (at least 3-5 times the Sun's mass and generally much more), so you don't get the same percolation problem as you do with black holes. That allows the core to be compact yet still have dark objects in it.

The astronomers used models of cluster star populations to show that a thousand or so white dwarfs do the trick well, and generating that many over the current life of the cluster is expected (it likely started with 400,000 or so stars many billions of years ago, so plenty of time to create lots of white dwarfs).

I'll admit this paper looks pretty tight. It's succinct and shows it's very unlikely any black holes are in the cluster core (their best model shows only one black hole remaining, with a mass of roughly 10 times the Sun's). I'll note that in the first paper they were hoping to find an elusive intermediate black hole, one with 100 to 100,000 times the Sun's mass. But the second paper shows this isn't really possible either, for the same reason there are no black hole swarms there. If there are any black holes in NGC 6397 they're probably in the cluster's suburbs and not downtown.

This doesn't mean other clusters may not have a core-dwelling intermediate mass black hole, or a swarm of smaller ones. But in those cases you need to look at globular clusters with more inflated cores, which means they haven't undergone the process of losing all their black holes, so they still retain them.

Globular clusters may naively seem like they'd be simple structures, with so many stars so close together; over billions of years they'd settle down into stable orbits and what you're left with is a relatively uncomplicated system.

But that's not the case at all! These are complex structures, still evolving and changing even today, ten or more billion years after they first formed. It's clear there's still much to understand about them... which is true for everything in astronomy, really. If we think something is simple it probably means we're missing something important.

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Wait: Do black holes *really* swarm in the core of globular cluster NGC 6397? - SYFY WIRE

Witha recentfocus onspacemissions andspaceexplorationgoing intergalactic,theresa renewedinterestinthe solar system and astronomy.To help families learn about the solar system and inspire the next generation of space explorers,this International Astronomy Day (15thMay 2021), Canon Europe (www.Canon-europe.com) hascollaborated withTV presenter, authorandworld-class astronomerMark Thompson (https://bit.ly/3wj3nWw), to sharehis tipsconnected to Canons Creative Park.

2021 has already showcased remarkable human achievements,such asthe landing of NASAs Perseverance Rover on Mars and SpaceXscontinued Starlink Mission. With morenews settolift off this year,interest inspace explorationhas spiked, withTwitter citinga 41% increase in conversation around astronomy and the starsi.

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About Canon Central and North Africa:Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA)is a division within Canon Middle East FZ LLC (CME), a subsidiary of Canon Europe. The formation of CCNA in 2015 was a strategic step that aimed to enhance Canons business within the Africa region by strengthening Canons in-country presence and focus. CCNA also demonstrates Canons commitment to operating closer to its customers and meeting their demands in the rapidly evolving African market.

Canon has been represented in the African continent for more than 15 years through distributors and partners that have successfully built a solid customer base in the region. CCNA ensures the provision of high quality, technologically advanced products that meet the requirements of Africas rapidly evolving marketplace. With over 100 employees, CCNA manages sales and marketing activities across 44 countries in Africa.

Canons corporate philosophy isKyosei(https://bit.ly/3ftRshD) living and working together for the common good. CCNA pursues sustainable business growth, focusing on reducing its own environmental impact and supporting customers to reduce theirs using Canons products, solutions and services. At Canon, we are pioneers, constantly redefining the world of imaging for the greater good. Through our technology and our spirit of innovation, we push the bounds of what is possible helping us to see our world in ways we never have before. We help bring creativity to life, one image at a time. Because when we can see our world, we can transform it for the better.

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Celebration of International Astronomy Day with Canon Europe's space-themed craft kits - Africanews English

In the spring of 1749, the billions-strong swarm of cicadas known today as Brood X emerged from the ground in rural Maryland, much to the fascination (and horror) of a 17-year-old Black tobacco farmer named Benjamin Banneker, who believed they were a plague of locusts.

The first great Locust year that I can Remember was 1749, wrote Banneker decades later in his astronomical journal. I was then about Seventeen years of age when thousands of them came and was creeping up the trees and bushes, I then imagined they came to eat and destroy the fruit of the Earth, and would occasion a famine in the land. I therefore began to kill and destroy them, but soon saw that my labor was in vain, therefore gave over my pretension.

Mural of Benjamin Banneker, surveyor, inventor, and astronomer, mural painted by Maxime Seelbinder, at the Recorder of Deeds building, Washington, D.C. built in 1943.

Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Banneker, born a free man in 1731, went on to prominence as a brilliant self-taught mathematician, astronomer, surveyor and naturalist. At 22 years old, he built a clock entirely out of wood after seeing how a pocket watch functioned. The hand-carved wooden clock kept accurate time for 40 years.

Later in life, Banneker assisted his neighbor George Ellicott in the original land survey of the District of Columbia by calibrating Ellicott's field clock using the movement of the stars. In 1791, Banneker sent his almanacone of the first published in Americato Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, along with a letter pleading for freedom and equal rights for all Black Americans.

But for all of Bannekers accomplishments, hes rarely credited with being among the first scientific observers to calculate the 17-year life cycle of the remarkable periodical cicada, the longest-living insect on the planet.

History books talk about the wooden clock and the survey of DC, but theres hardly any information regarding the work that he did with the cicada, says Janet Barber, who along with her husband Asamoah Nkwanta, published a 2014 paper that was the first to document Bannekers handwritten notes on the cicada.

Cicada on a leaf stalk.

Bill Koplitz/Getty Images

After witnessing that first memorable cicada swarm in 1749, Banneker closely observed three more emergences during his lifetime (1766, 1783 and 1800) and summarized his findings in his handwritten astronomical journal, a copy of which Barber and Nkwanta obtained from the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

So that if I may venture So to express it, wrote Banneker in June 1800, their periodical return is Seventeen years, but they, like the Comets, make but a short stay with usThe female has a Sting in her tail as sharp and hard as a thorn, with which she perforates the branches of the trees, and in them holes lays eggs. The branch soon dies and fall, then the egg by some Occult cause immerges a great depth into the earth and there continues for the Space of Seventeen years as aforesaid.

Barber and Nkwanta say it was nothing short of thrilling to read Bannekers discovery in his own immaculate script. Banneker, whose father was formerly enslaved and mother was of mixed heritage, was taught to read and write by his grandmother. He occasionally attended schools run by Quakers, who were ardent abolitionists. Banneker wasnt introduced to astronomy until he was 57 years old and borrowed some astronomical equipment and texts from Ellicott, a prominent Quaker businessman.

Banneker immersed himself in the study of astronomy and conceived of writing an astronomical almanac to prove the intellectual capacity of Black people, free or enslaved. With the backing of the Ellicotts and other abolitionists, Banneker published his almanac and sent a copy to Jefferson, who maintained a famously conflicted attitude toward slavery. Jefferson was duly impressed.

No body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, Jefferson wrote to Banneker, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa and America.

American author, astronomer, naturalist and farmer Benjamin Banneker (1731 - 1806).

Stock Montage/Getty Images

Banneker died in 1806 a month shy of his 75th birthday. Tragedy struck during his funeral when someone set his cabin on fire along with most of his personal journals and papers. Luckily, the Ellicotts were in possession of Bannekers handwritten astronomical journal, which the familys descendants gifted to the then Maryland Historical Society in 1987. Barber and Nkwanta began their research into Bannekers cicada writings in 2004, driven by a desire to shine light on the often overlooked contributions of Black scientists.

I want children in school today to know about him and recognize Benjamin Banneker as a scientist, astronomer and mathematician, says Barber, and to know that he, too, was part of the discovery of the emergence of the cicada and how they behave.

In his journal, Banneker concluded his entry on the cicadas by describing the musical cacophony produced by a horde of mating insects:

I like to forgot to inform, that if their lives are Short they are merry, they begin to Sing or make a noise from the first they come out of Earth till they die, the hindermost part rots off, and it does not appear to be any pain to them for they still continue on Singing till they die.

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Cicada Swarms Were First Studied by a Black Naturalist in the 18th Century - History

Manasi Saraf Joshi

Pune, 20th May 2021: In what could be termed a rare feat, 16-year-old Prathmesh Jaju has clicked over 50,000 photos of the moon. And the novelty about these photos is that they neither get blurred nor pixelated when zoomed in. He tried to capture the moon in all its three phases.

A standard 10th student of Vidya Bhavan Highschool, Prathmesh since childhood had a fascination and curiosity about astronomy and astrophysics. Although he says that this liking of his has come partly from his father Ritesh Jaju, a businessman, it was various television serials that attracted and arrested his attention.

Actual imaging

He explains, This image is an HDR Composite of two different images made to give it a 3-dimensional effect. This is my most detailed and clearest shot of the third quarter Mineral Moon. I captured around 50,000+ images over 186 Giga Bytes of Data which almost killed my laptop with the processing.

I captured around 38 panels at 1500 and 3000mm Focal Length with a 1.2-megapixel ZWO ASI120MC-S which made this image almost 50 megapixels huge. (Resolution downscaled for Mobiles)

Celestron 5 Cassegrain OTA.

ZWO ASI120MC-S

SkyWatcher EQ3-2 GO-TO.

GSO 2X BARLOW

(Which allowed me to shot at 3 metres of Focal Length)

It was the night of May 3 when Prathmesh went to his house terrace and started making videos of the most adorable satellite Moon. He started clicking the pictures at 1 am and finished his job by 5 am. It took one and half-day (38 to 40 hours) for him to process these pictures.

He informs, One video means 2,000 photos which eventually after merging gave me one photo. I merged 38 videos which finally gave me 50,000 photos. I processed the photos generally; we see grey and white photos of the moon. But there are many minerals present on it, which gives it colours.

Like titanium makes it blue, oxide or copper makes it red, he mentions. We see white side since it gets illuminated with the Suns light. We can also see the craters and rough surface of the Moon clearly, he stated.

He has not only captured the image of the moon but various galaxies, planets like Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter.

Member of Jyotirvidya Pratishthan

Prathmesh being an amateur astronomer has been a member of Jyotirvidya Pratishthan, an institute that is spreading awareness about astronomy. I had an interest in astronomy so I became a member and volunteer for the institute, he said.

Astrophotography and India

Prathmesh who wishes to make his career in astronomy and astrophysics also has a strong liking and ability as an astrophotographer. Astrophotography is not a very well-developed branch in India, but it is a rage in western countries, he said.

Among the photographers we have in our country only five percent are astrophotographers, he says. It is a difficult job and needs to have a liking plus immense knowledge, he adds.

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Pune Boy Clicks Clearest Photos Of The Moon - Punekar News

The Milky Way as we know it today was shaped by a collision with a dwarf galaxy about 10 billion years ago. But most of the modern galaxy was already in place even at that early date, new research shows.

Ages of stars left behind by the galactic interloper are a bit younger or on par with stars in the Milky Ways main disk, researchers report May 17 in Nature Astronomy. And that could mean that the Milky Way grew up faster than astronomers expected, says study author Ted Mackereth, an astrophysicist at the University of Toronto.

The Milky Way had already built up a lot of itself before this big merger happened, he says.

Our galaxys history is one of violent conquest. Like other giant spiral galaxies in the universe, the Milky Way probably built up its bulk by colliding and merging with smaller galaxies over time. Stars from the unfortunate devoured galaxies got mixed into the Milky Way like cream into coffee, making it difficult to figure out what the galaxies were like before they merged.

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In 2018, astronomers realized that they could identify stars from the last major merger using detailed maps of several million stars from the European Space Agencys Gaia spacecraft (SN: 5/9/18). Streams of stars orbit the galactic center at an angle to the main disk of stars. Those stars motions and chemistries suggest they once belonged to a separate galaxy that plunged into the Milky Way about 10 billion years ago (SN: 11/1/2018).

Those stars are left there like fossil remnants of the galaxy, Mackereth says.

Two groups discovered evidence of the ancient galaxy at around the same time. One called the galaxy Gaia-Enceladus; the other group called it the Sausage. The name that stuck was Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage.

Mackereth and his colleagues wondered if they could figure out how well developed the Milky Way was when Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage came crashing in. If the oldest stars in the Milky Ways disk formed after this merger, then they probably formed as a result of this collision, suggesting that Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage met a protoMilky Way that still had a lot of growing up to do. On the other hand, if the oldest stars are about the same age or older than the stars from the galactic interloper, then our galaxy was probably pretty well developed at the time of the run-in.

Previous researchers had made estimates. But Mackereth and his colleagues used a precise tool called asteroseismology to figure out the ages of individual stars from both the Milky Way and from Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage (SN: 8/2/19). Just like seismologists on Earth use earthquakes to probe the interior of our planet, asteroseismologists use variations in brightness caused by starquakes and other oscillations to probe the innards of stars.

Asteroseismology is the only way we have to access the internal part of the stars, says physicist and study coauthor Josefina Montalbn of the University of Birmingham in England. From intel on the stars interior structures, researchers can deduce the stars ages.

The team selected about 95 stars that had been observed by NASAs exoplanet-hunting Kepler space telescope, which ended its mission in 2018 (SN: 10/30/18). Six of those stars were from Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage, and the rest were from the Milky Ways thick disk. By measuring how the brightnesses of those stars fluttered over time, Mackereth and colleagues deduced ages with about 11 percent precision.

The Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage stars are slightly younger than the Milky Way stars, but all were pretty close to 10 billion years old, the team found. That suggests that a large chunk of the Milky Ways disk was already in place when Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage came crashing through. Its still possible that the incoming galaxy sparked the formation of some new stars, though, Mackereth says. To tell how much, theyll need to get ages of a lot more stars.

Measuring ages for individual stars represents a step forward for galactic astronomy, says astrophysicist Toms Ruiz-Lara of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, who studies galactic evolution but was not involved in the new work.

If you cannot tell the difference between a kid and a teenager and an adult, then we cannot say anything about a population of people, Ruiz-Lara says. But if I can distinguish between someone in his 40s or her 50s, you have a better graph of society. With the stars, its the same. If we are able to distinguish the age properly, then we can distinguish individual events in the history of the galaxy. In the end, thats the goal.

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The Milky Way may have grown up faster than astronomers suspected - Science News Magazine

There are three main themes in 21st-century astronomy: the search for extra-terrestrial life; understanding the beginning of the Universe; and understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Countries around the world are racing to construct large observing facilities to tackle these subjects. In this era of international cooperation and competition, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) actively conducts scientific research in astronomy.

Modern Japanese astronomy began when Harumi Shibukawa completed an original calendar, the Yamato-reki, in 1684. The earliest forerunner of NAOJ was the Astronomical Observatory of the Tenmonkata (Shogunate Astronomer) established in Asakusa during 1782, in the late Edo Era. Japans modernisation over three centuries is etched into NAOJs long heritage, which can be seen if you walk around our Headquarters campus in Mitaka, Tokyo and view the number of beautifully preserved Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.

As an inter-university research institute, NAOJ mediates different opinions within research communities as well as developing large observational facilities that cannot be supported by individual universities and promotes their open use. Astronomy is rapidly becoming interdisciplinary; expanding into fundamental physics, chemistry, and life sciences, and NAOJ serves as a hub for such expanding research. Perusing an advanced science like astronomy needs a significant budget for construction and operation. On the other hand, given Japans severe financial situation, NAOJ continuously reviews the merits of existing research facilities. NAOJ also leverages its technological assets to address issues facing industry and to contribute to national endeavours.

Our three great observatories are the Subaru Telescope, ALMA, and TMT (to be constructed). We are also involved in several other collaborations such as the Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA). Also, NAOJ has been involved in the development and operation of space-borne instruments such as the JAXA-NASA-UK-ESA Hinode satellite and NASAs CLASP sounding rocket experiments. NAOJ would like to be involved in more space missions based on our heritage in advanced technologies on the ground. We can only proceed to cutting-edge space instrumentation after we have proven the technology on the ground.

In 1999, after nine years of construction and more than a century after the dawn of modern Japanese astronomy, NAOJ completed the Subaru Telescope, an 8.2-m optical-infrared telescope embodying Japanese technology, near the 4,200-m summit of Maunakea in Hawai`i. Its success has served as a catalyst for the international collaborations that have followed. The Subaru Telescope can detect hundreds of thousands of distant galaxies in one observation. Within our Solar System, the Subaru Telescope has helped find and characterise new targets for the extended journeys of JAXAs asteroid sample-return mission Hayabusa2 and NASAs New Horizons. The Subaru Telescope is expected to achieve significant results throughout the 2020s with its ultra-wide-field-of-view unattainable on other large telescopes. An ever-evolving suite of instruments has kept it at the forefront of astronomy. These continuing and planned upgrades have now been authorised as the Subaru Telescope 2.0 plan in the competitively chosen ROADMAP2020 for large science-infrastructures by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)s Council for Science and Technology.

The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) composed of 66 antenna elements, on a 5000-m plateau in Chile, a global partnership between East Asia (led by Japan), Europe, and North America (led by the United States) in cooperation with the Republic of Chile, has achieved unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity. NAOJ developed and produced some key instrumentation, including super-conducting receivers with noise levels as close to the quantum limit as possible and at the highest radio frequencies ever, to detect the faintest radio signals from the distant Universe. The ALMA Development Roadmap defines the technological developments needed to significantly increase its observational capabilities. NAOJ together with other East Asian institutions will play a crucial role in this effort, and the ALMA 2.0 plan proposed for that purpose was also selected in the ROADMAP2020.

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), an optical-infrared telescope with a 30-metre aperture to be constructed in collaboration with the United States, Canada, China, and India, will be able to observe close to stars and examine fully developed planets. TMT will use its higher resolution and larger light-gathering power to investigate targets from the farthest reaches of the Universe to potentially habitable planets around nearby stars.

During the development from the Subaru Telescope to ALMA, significant scientific discoveries have seamlessly continued to be made, such as the discovery of the most distant galaxies in the Universe; amazing images of protoplanetary disks in which exoplanets are forming; and the worlds first extensive 3D map of dark matter. Soon, we expect that the true nature of dark matter and dark energy will come to light, a detailed model of planet formation will be established, and valuable insights into exoplanet environments that could harbour life will be obtained. These achievements will enhance Japans international presence, stimulate an interest in science among the people, especially the younger generation, and instil pride and confidence in them.

Researchers and citizens are working together to achieve astronomical results. NAOJ is promoting a citizen astronomy project called GALAXY CRUISE. General citizens classify the shapes of colliding galaxies out of the vast amount of data obtained by the Subaru Telescope. As of April 15, 2021, there have been 6,508 people from 81 countries and regions who have participated, and the total number of galaxies classified has exceeded 1.4 million. Combining these results with machine learning will produce a new leap in galaxy research.

There is concern about the decline of Japanese science. Among 18 STEM research fields, space science is the only field in Japan that is experiencing growth (relative change of 54.4%) in scientific articles exceeding the rest of the world (29.5%) between 2009 and 2019. Space science also has the highest share (9.2%) of papers published worldwide in 2019 among the 18 STEM fields in Japan.

This is an exciting time to be an astronomer. In the not-so-distant future, environments harbouring life will be discovered on planets beyond the Solar System. Then, finding alien civilisations will become the next frontier for astronomy. We can expect the field of astronomy, which has been nurtured for more than three centuries in Japan and NAOJ in particular, to be vigorous in the future.

Please note: This is a commercial profile

2019. This work is licensed under aCC BY 4.0 license.

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Astronomy: Discovering the Universe with cutting-edge technology - Open Access Government

A 16-year-old boy from Pune, anamateur astronomer as per his Instagram bio,has captured astunning imageof the moon and left the internet mesmerized. Fond of planetary photography,the Indian boy has a massive collectionof over 55,000 images, approximately 186 gigabytes. One of his moon images,with distinct features and details,is now appealing to the viewersfor its extraordinary photographic perfection. Prathamesh Jajutook to Instagramto share the iconic imagery that he called his "most detailed and clearest shot and the best work of the third quarter Mineral Moon". He, in fact, shared severalimages of the moon clicked by him on his Instagram handle. Heinformed, that the recent image that he captured is an HDR Composite of two different images which are made to give it a 3-dimensional effect to the moon.

I captured around 38 panels at 1500 and 3000mm Focal Length with a 1.2-megapixel ZWO ASI120MC-S which made this image almost 50 megapixels huge, resolution downscaled for mobiles, he wrote alongside the breathtaking image of the celestial body.

The teenage boy, who has flair for astronomy, has also captured Uranus with JVP's C11 Edge HD with a ZWO ASI120MCs planetary imaging camera. His audience admired his photographic skills calling the images flawless, and an amazing achievement. In one of the posts, the boy explains, We sharpen each one of them [planetary images] manually and then stitch them together in Photoshop like a big mosaic. Once the mosaic is done, some more adjustments are made and some final touch-ups, and boom!

For the detailed moon image that has amazed the astrophile, Jaju explained the photographic techniques saying that he used a SkyWatcher 8 Collapsible Reflector Dobsonian with a Canon EOS 90D (with an APS-C CMOS sensor) to bring out the shades. He continued that he refined the image on software like PIPP, Autostakkert, IMPPG, Registax 6, Adobe Photoshop, and Lightroom for detailed post-processing. My laptop worked like a fine beast continuously working for a day and a half with the processing of this image, he told his followers. he further explained that the image is anHDR Composite of two different images to bring out the perfect clarity in the image and do away thedigital noise.

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Pune: 16-year-old astronomy lover clicks stunning pic of moon with 55,000 images - Republic World

Being able to look up at a clear, dark sky is becoming more and more rare in the rich world. Authors, artists, and even scientists have started to express concern about what our lack of daily exposure to a dark night time sky might mean for our psyche and our sense of place in the universe. Now a team has collected photometric data at 44 sites around the world in an attempt to quantify how dark the night sky actually is at different places on the globe. So where was the darkest place surveyed? The Canary Islands.

It just so happens that the lead researcher on the project, Dr. Miguel Alarcn is from that set of islands off the west coast of Africa. The paper he and his colleagues wrote, soon to be published in The Astronomical Journal, used a series of photometers, confusing called TESS (not to be confused with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) to try to get a baseline of how dark the night sky is throughout the world.

The team collected 11 million points of data from places as far apart as Namibia, Australia, and the US. While this did not include some more popular astronomy spots, such as the highlands of Antarctica, it was a good sample of different conditions. As mentioned above, the Canary Islands had the lowest levels of background light of anywhere studied. Only about 2% of the light in the sky at night comes from artificial light at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Garafia.

However, there are other, natural sources of light pollution that affect different geographies differently. The moon and the milky way are standard features of the night sky and certainly contribute to the natural brightness of it. However, there are other, more variable sources that this study monitored. These include a glow in the upper atmosphere that is caused by a combination of factors, such as the solar cycle, geographical location, and the time of year.

Another source is known as the gegenschein or the anti-solar point, directly opposite from the sun in the night sky. This can only be seen in extremely dark places, and the astronomy institute on the Canary Islands (IAC) is one of them.

Just because it has some of the darkest skies does not mean its the best place for all observations though. Other factors, such as atmospheric seeing and temperature fluctuations can cause problems with observations. The real take away from this research is that if you truly want to see the night sky as our ancestors did, it might be worth a trip to some islands off the coast of Africa.

Learn More:IAC The natural brightness of the night skyUT Most light pollution isnt coming from streetlightsUT See Light Pollution in Action

Lead Image:Image of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary Islands (upper part) and the La Silla Observatory in Chile in the lower part. The composition makes the Milky Way appear circular.Credit: Juan Carlos Casado & Petr Horlek

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Astronomers Measure the Background Brightness of the Night sky Across the World. Canary Islands are the Darkest in the Survey - Universe Today

Ready your picnic blankets and grab a pair of binoculars. Astronomy events, 2021's highly-anticipated happenings, are about to light up the summer sky, and you wont want to miss a single one. From meteor showers to blue moons, our solar systems free entertainment is certainly going to be a crowd-pleaser.

Although the fun kicks off in May with a Blood Moon, we've rounded up what you can expect during the dog days of summer. Make sure to mark your calendars!

On July 12, after sunset, people can turn their direction towards the western horizon for more astronomy events to catch a glimpse of this planetary meet-cute, where Venus and Mars will touch and be joined by a crescent moon. This will most easily be seen through a backyard telescope, per National Geographic.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Exactly one month after the Venus-Mars Conjunction, astronomy enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks on August 12 and 13. Up to 60 shooting stars per hour are expected, and this years sky will be especially clear and dark, making the happening all the more visible.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

The seasonal blue moon on August 22 means that there is an extra full moon; typically, there are three, but this year weve been gifted with four. While we might not necessarily witness a blue tint, the moon will look stunningly bright.

Before marking your summer calendars, be sure to circle May 26, the date of the highly-anticipated Blood Moon. This celestial phenomenon is technically a total lunar eclipse, and we see the red hue due to the way the planets align. (Its super spooky and eye-catching!) From an astrological standpoint, the significance of a Blood Moon symbolizes new beginnings and a clean slate, so you might feel as if certain elements are heightened. (Be sure to consult your weekly horoscope with any Qs!)

Although the summer 2021 forecast might be a bit dismalFarmers Almanac is anticipating a lot of rain, heat, and humiditywe can at least look forward to a few nighttime spectaculars!

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Astronomy events 2021: These happenings will make you starry-eyed this summer - Woman & Home

May 14, 2021, 11:14 AM HST * Updated May 17, 5:53 AM

University of Hawaiiastronomer J.D. Armstrong and three Maui teens he mentors will be featured on an episode of the award-winning science program Xploration Awesome Planet. The episode airs May 15 at 2:30 pm on KHON.

The Earth science series, which airs on FOX channels nationwide, will showcase Maui students Wilson Chau, Holden Suzuki and Jed Teagarden, who are part of UH Institute for Astronomys mentorship program,HI STAR(Hawaii Student/Teacher Astronomy Research).

Xploration Awesome Planet is hosted by legendary explorer Jacques Cousteaus grandson, Philippe Cousteau.

Armstrong, and education and outreach specialist who is based on Maui, mentors intermediate and high school students. They are given access to observational data from telescopes on Haleakal, such as theLas Cumbres Observatory Faulkes Telescope North,Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert Systemand UHsPAN-STARRS, the worlds leading Near Earth Object (NEO) discovery telescope.

The students Im working with do some pretty amazing work, Armstrong said. Take this situation as an example. An object was detected that was going to impact the earth, and I called these guys. It might bother some people to think that the safety of the world might end up in the hands of some teenagers, but it shouldnt. They know what they are doing.

Observational data has led HI STAR students to make cutting-edge discoveries including apotentially hazardous NEO. Chau and Suzuki netted national headlines in 2020 after they helped scientists determinea 1,070-pound space satellite would break upover the South Pacific. Teagarden, 15, who earned top honors for his research on a comet-like asteroid, and co-authored more than a dozenMinor Planet Centercirculars.

HI STAR has mentored more than 100 students in Hawaii. Many have gone on to pursue careers in astronomy and physics. Armstrongs students are regular winners in the Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair and have competed in events at the international level.

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Maui Teens and UH Astronomer Featured in Xploration Awesome Planet TV Show - Maui Now