Venus and crescent Moon stun stargazers
Stargazers around the globe were treated to a stunning celestial scene on Friday as Venus appeared shining brightly above a crescent Moon.The planet was visible to the naked eye in cities across the world, from the UK to the US, Turkey and China.Venus is often called the Evening Star or Morning Star because, when it is prominent, it appears like the brightest "star" in the sky.More astronomical delights are expected this new year, as January 2025 is going to be a good month to spot both Venus and Saturn. Make sure to take a look up into the sky on 18 January, as those planets will be appear just 2.2° apart.
Stargazers may also be able to spot shooting stars blazing across the skies, as the Quadrantid meteor shower continues.This shower, which is expected to peak on Saturday, has been visible since 26 December and will continue until 12 January.Dr Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK, said observers hoping to catch a glimpse of the celestial fireworks after sunset will need to get "as far away from light pollution as possible"."If you have the time to look out and the weather is good, then do take a look because it's a perfect new year treat."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
Distant moon could have aliens on it – and experts just spotted a ‘mysterious motion' in its atmosphere
A DISTANT moon in our solar system might mirror Earth's seasons, according to scientists, who also believe it could be a candidate for finding nearby alien life. And scientists just spotted a mysterious motion in its atmosphere. 6 Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is home to sprawling rivers and lakes of liquid methane, icy boulders and dunes of grains that resemble coffee grounds. It even has an ocean hiding beneath its surface. Some 746million miles (1.2billion kilometers) away from Earth, the distant moon is thought to have rain clouds just like Earth. Unlike seasons on Earth, Titan has a much longer seasonal cycle, with each year on the moon lasting nearly three decades on our planet. Despite its brutally cold temperatures, which average around -179C (-290F), this strange, alien world appears to have the organic ingredients for life. Titan is the only moon in our solar system with a significant atmosphere, making it a top candidate for exploration. Nasa's $3.35billion (£2.48billion) Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon is set to explore the possibility of past or present water-based life, particularly in subsurface oceans and liquid reservoirs. The mission just passed its critical design review - meaning engineers can begin building the helicopter-like robot ahead of its scheduled launch in July 2028. Dragonfly, which was officially selected as a viable mission in 2019, is expected to reach Titan sometime in 2034. 6 6 'Strange' motion In late May, researchers found that Titan's hazy atmosphere wobbles like a gyroscope in line with its seasons, as opposed to spinning in line with its surface. The "strange" motion was detected following analysis of archival infrared data gathered by Cassini probe. "The behavior of Titan's atmospheric tilt is very strange," Dr. Lucy Wright, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bristol, said at the time. "Titan's atmosphere appears to be acting like a gyroscope, stabilising itself in space. "We think some event in the past may have knocked the atmosphere off its spin axis, causing it to wobble. "Even more intriguingly, we've found that the size of this tilt changes with Titan's seasons." 6 But understanding how the atmosphere wobbles with the seasons is crucial for calculating the landing trajectory of Dragonfly. The rotorcraft will be carried by Titan's fast-moving winds as it descends through the atmosphere. Winds on Titan's upper atmosphere can be tempestuous, with speeds reaching up to 270mph (430kmph). Near the surface, however, the winds are much weaker. The tilt of the planet affects how Dragonfly's payload - a suite of scientific instruments designed to search for alien life - will be carried through the air. So research into the atmospheric motion can help engineers better predict where Dragonfly will touch down on the lunar surface. 6 6 Food for thought There appears to be plenty of organic material on Titan to support alien lifeforms, according to a study published in The Planetary Science Journal last month. Its lakes and its subsurface ocean believed to be 300miles deep, is thought to be filled with cold, oily methane and ethane - which is organic material. "There has been this sense that because Titan has such abundant organics, there is no shortage of food sources that could sustain life," Antonin Affholder, of the University of Arizona and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. The world exceeds even Earth's oil reserves. However, scientists remain skeptical, and while Titan could harbour life, it's likely only to be a small amount. "We point out that not all of these organic molecules may constitute food sources, the ocean is really big," added Affholder. "And there's limited exchange between the ocean and the surface, where all those organics are, so we argue for a more nuanced approach."
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
The city-killing asteroid swarm hiding near Earth's neighbouring planet
A new study warns that a swarm of large, undiscovered asteroids near Venus could pose a future threat to Earth. These co-orbital asteroids, likely originating from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, are estimated to be over 140 metres in size, capable of causing city-sized damage upon impact. Scientists have discovered around 20 asteroids orbiting Venus, but suspect many more remain hidden due to the Sun's glare. Computer simulations suggest that these hidden asteroids could change trajectories, potentially leading to a collision course with Earth over millennia. Researchers hope the Rubin Observatory and future Venus-based space missions will help detect these obscured asteroids and better assess the risk they pose.
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Giant asteroid swarm near Venus could pose ‘invisible threat' to Earth, scientists warn
A swarm of giant city-killer asteroids hiding near Venus poses an 'invisible threat' to life on Earth, astronomers have warned in a new study. These space rocks, known as co-orbital asteroids, tag along with Venus as it circles the Sun and likely originated from debris in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. There are around 20 such asteroids so far discovered around Venus, and each of them is likely larger than about 140 metres (460 ft) in size – large enough that they could potentially wipe out an area the size of a city if they impacted the Earth. All but one of the known asteroids tag along with Venus on very elongated trajectories, hinting there's likely an observational bias in how scientists have found them. Scientists suspect there could be many more such undiscovered asteroids around Venus with lower 'eccentricities' – or deviations from a perfect circle – that are obscured from our view due to the Sun's glare. 'This is most likely caused by observational biases since asteroids with larger eccentricities may approach the Earth and are easier to detect,' they wrote. These hidden asteroids may also change their trajectories relative to Venus, bringing them closer to the Earth. While they do not pose any immediate risk, a close approach to Earth could pull them onto a collision course with our planet and threaten life over the coming millennia, according to a yet-to-be peer-reviewed study. In the study, researchers conducted computer simulations to determine whether any potential hidden asteroid circling Venus and obscured from our view may threaten Earth in the future. Scientists made replica computer models of the already known co-orbital rocks around Venus, but with different orbits relative to Venus and observed how they behaved over 36,000 years. 'There is a range of orbits with eccentricities lower than 0.38 for which Venus' co-orbitals can pose a collisional hazard to Earth,' scientists wrote. However, it is hard to estimate exactly what risk they pose in colliding with Earth since the exact number of co-orbitals with Venus is unknown, they say. Researchers hope the Rubin Observatory may play a role in detecting some of these asteroids in the future 'during favourable configurations'. 'Space missions based on Venus' orbits may be instrumental in detecting Venus' co-orbitals at low eccentricities,' they concluded.
