NEW DELHI: Indian astronomers are poised to play a pivotal role in the global effort of the 16-nation Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), an ambitious venture set to embark on scanning the cosmos in 2027. India, which joined the consortium in January, is among the key contributors to what is hailed as the largest telescope … Read more
The citizen science program Active Asteroids is looking for volunteers from the public to sift through astronomical photographs of asteroids to look for signs of tails which may indicate the presence of water. Active asteroids are rare small bodies in our solar system with an asteroid-like orbit and comet-like tail. Spotting them is a bit … Read more
You may have heard the joke by now: “How do you organize a solar eclipse party? You planet.” But you could also let someone plan it for you. And throughout the Hamilton-Niagara region — home to some of the best areas in Canada to see the total solar eclipse on April 8 — there are plenty of options. That … Read more
The Current10:20The case for a ‘leap minute’ The leap year is the most famous of the leap family, keeping our calendars right every year, while behind the scenes, with little fanfare, the leap second has been doing its part. But global stakeholders believe it’s time for a change — the leap minute. “Ever since we’ve … Read more
The first private spacecraft to softly land on the moon carries a Canadian instrument that will test the possibility of building an observatory at the Lunar south pole. The phone booth-sized lander by Intuitive Machines, named Odysseus, launched on Feb. 15 and touched down on Thursday near a small impact crater about 300 kilometers from the moon’s south … Read more
NEW DELHI: A group of astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to discover the oldest and farthest black hole ever observed. Dating from the dawn of the universe, the researchers found that the oldest black hole is feasting upon its host galaxy to death.According to research published in the journal Nature, the newly discovered … Read more
MAUNA KEA: Shane Palacat-Nelsen’s voice drops to a reverent tone as he tells the story of the snow goddess Poliahu who Native Hawaiians believe inhabits the summit of Mauna Kea, the highest point in Hawaii. The tale, repeated in Hawaiian families over generations, speaks of a chief who yearned to court Poliahu but was stopped … Read more
Thirty years ago, an 11-day space shuttle mission involving seven veteran astronauts performed the first servicing mission to correct the Hubble Space Telescope’s blurred vision. The unprecedented flight involved five spacewalks and would not have been possible without the assistance of the shuttle’s robotic Canadarm. The multi-billion dollar Hubble Space Telescope was a crown jewel … Read more
WASHINGTON: Our Milky Way galaxy‘s most common type of star is called a red dwarf – much smaller and less luminous than our sun. These stars – or so it was thought – simply are not big enough to host planets much larger than Earth. But the discovery of a planet at least 13 times … Read more
Christmas lights might not be the only thing lighting up these dark December nights, as a solar storm is expected to bring bright northern lights to the Prairies this weekend. Aurora borealis is considered among the greatest natural wonders and scientists say it starts with the sun. “The sun is sort of spewing off protons and electrons as a … Read more
