News
5 June 2021
Sad news - Peta Bosley.
We recently learned of the death of National Astronomy Week Committee member Peta Bosley. Peta was a key member of the team that organised "Mars Encounter" in November 2020, representing BAA. Always supportive and creative, she made a key contribution to the event. There's a more detailed biography on the BAA website at https://britastro.org/observations/user.php?user=1466 - well worth reading. We are very sad to hear this news which to us was completely unexpected. Peta will be very much missed.
Brendan Blake - for the NAW Team.
22 November 2020
Last day of National Astronomy Week is today!
Book to hear all about whether humans can live on Mars and also see our final streamed observing sessions, by clicking here.
20 November 2020
And now for the Moon
Up to now, we've mainly been observing Mars in our evening shows. But from now on the crescent Moon will be putting in an appearance in the evening sky, having taken part in a great threesome with Jupiter and Saturn last night. Here's a photo of the event, taken by Paul Sutherland of the Society for Popular Astronomy from Walmer, Kent.
18 November 2020
Amazing 3D images of rotating Mars
Astronomers using the 1-metre telescope at Pic du Midi in France have recorded extremely detailed images of Mars over the past few weeks and assembled them into a globe which rotates. What's more, they have arranged two globes side by side so you can view them in 3D. Get the full story and see the video here:
NAW observer catches dust storm on Mars
Agapios Elia, who has been livestreaming Mars from Nicosia, Cyprus, has imaged a dust storm developing on Mars while viewers watched. See the pictures here.
14 November 2020
National Astronomy Week is underway!
All the virtual events for each day are listed in the table on the right in the home page (or at the end on a phone). Or you can use event search to find the event you want. Afterwards all the NAW Team events will be available as recordings on YouTube.
8 November 2020
New video: The stars for National Astronomy Week
This video shows what's up in the sky during NAW, including the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, major constellations and deep-sky objects visible with binoculars.
2 November 2020
Our YouTube channel now has its own custom URL. Please see http://www.youtube.com/c/NationalAstronomyWeek
30 October 2020
Amazing new photo of Mars from Chile
British astrophotographer Damian Peach has captured a highly detailed photo of Mars using a 1-metre telescope in Chile by remote access. The photo shows the Solis Lacus area of Mars, and detail in the Valles Marineris is easily visible. The photo is the equal of any taken using the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://www.damianpeach.com/mars2020/m2020_10_27dp.jpg
29 October 2020
Strange landscape on Mars
A new image released from ESA shows an unusual triple crater. Although formed billions of years ago, like the Moon's craters, this feature is uniquely martian in its appearance.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/An_ancient_crater_triplet_on_Mars
16 October 2020
Mole digging into Mars
NASA's Insight lander is trying to dig deep into the surface of Mars
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2020-197
14 October 2020
New Mars video launched for National Astronomy Week
A video presentation about the history of Mars exploration narrated by Heather Couper in 2003 has been brought up to date especially for NAW. Find out what happened to the canals, and about the amazing twists and turns in our expectations of finding life on Mars.
11 October 2020
BBC website covers Mars opposition
BBC Science correspondent Jonathan Amos talks to astrophotographer Damian Peach
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54483853
8 October 2020
NASA's Perseverance Rover Will Peer Beneath Mars' Surface
How Perseverance will search for signs of microbial life on Mars next year
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2020-192
1 October 2020
ESA's Way Forward to Mars
How ESA's ExoMars probe will reach Mars following its launch in 2022
28 September 2020
Mars Express finds more underground water on Mars
Following its 2018 radar discovery of liquid water beneath Mars's south polar cap, the ESA probe has now located more such lakes, leading to speculation that life might exist there. Read the full story:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2020/09/Mars_Express_finds_more_underground_water_on_Mars
23 September 2020
Amazing photo of Mars and Space Station
A photographer in America, Tom Glenn, has captured the moment when the International Space Station passed directly in front of Mars. To take the photo, he needed to position himself in a 90-metre-wide patch of ground near his home where the alignment was due to take place. He used a 9.5-inch Celestron telescope and specialist planetary camera to take the image, which is a single frame from a video sequence. See the result here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/140032790@N06/50347996866/. Tom's picture also featured in the coveted Astronomy Picture of the Day slot: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200923.html
Could life exist underground on Mars?
Research looks at the possibility of finding life in the subsurface region of Mars where life is known to exist.
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2020-25
10 September 2020:
NATIONAL ASTRONOMY WEEK IS GOING AHEAD (despite Covid-19)
NAW will be hosting a programme of exciting “virtual” events with a range of unique and current topics. These events will include distinguished speakers with specialist knowledge as well as live streamed observations.
Partner organisations will also be running traditional observations, virtual observations together with other events, as long as these can take place safely.
NAW will offer advice and ideas for individual observations during the week. All events will be publicised on our website.
Full details will be published shortly – watch this site for details.
28th August 2020:
National Astronomy Week has a YouTube Channel.
We've set up a YouTube channel on which we will post relevant videos for the week. This includes the ability to live-stream. ** UPDATE** The link is now: http://www.youtube.com/c/NationalAstronomyWeek
Thanks to all the subscribers that have enabled us to have our own channel name.