WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE BIG BANG?

TM

COMPLETE GUIDE TO

EXOPLANETS INSIDE THE MOST EXTREME ALIEN WORLDS

WHAT THE JAMES WEBB SPACE
TELESCOPE WILL REVEAL
THE HUNT FOR EARTH 2.0

INSTANT EXPERT ARTEMIS 1 FOCUS ON

WHAT’S DARK NASA’S PLANS TO A LIGHT YEAR
MATTER MADE OF? RETURN TO THE MOON EXPLAINED ISSUE 126

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE: THE GAS GIANT THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST

 5 issue
highlights
Exoplanets
Your complete guide to the
alien worlds of our galaxy
and how we find them 16

Axiom Space
The private company’s
CTO Matt Ondler on life
after the ISS 26

Artemis 1
NASA is continuing its path
to the Moon. Read our
special report on March’s
exciting launch 32

Star profile: Rigel

Everything you need

WELCOME
to know about Orion’s
brightest star 40

The Big Bang

How did the event
© Alamy

that brought our

Issue 126 universe into existence

really happen? 56

As I write this, we’re in the first few days of 2022. The James
Webb Space Telescope has launched and unfolded, NASA is
gearing up for the launch of its next Moon mission, Artemis 1,
46 Subscribe
and Comet Leonard put on a final show before falling out of view to All About
for skywatchers – I hope you managed to catch it in December!
While we’ve reached 2022 here on Earth, we head to some
Space today and
planets where the measure of time is very different: join us as we take a tour of you’ll receive
exoplanets, worlds that are – in most instances – quite different to what we’re used to in 4 Great savings off
the Solar System. From searingly hot Jupiters to beefed-up super-Earths, you’ll discover the cover price
where we’re at in our plans to find Earth 2.0, the weirdest worlds we’ve ever discovered 4 Every issue delivered
and what the James Webb Space Telescope is likely to reveal about the far-flung places straight to your door or
that litter our galaxy. digital device before it
Turn to page 28 and you’ll discover everything there is to know about Artemis 1, the arrives in the shops
first in a series of missions that will land humanity on the surface of the Moon again. 4 Exclusive subscriber-
It’s currently tipped to launch on 12 March, so be sure to follow us on social media for edition covers
the latest information and, of course, we’ll be sure to
keep you updated in the magazine too. I hope you
enjoy the issue, and I look forward to seeing you
next time!
GEMMA LAVENDER
Content Director

Keep in touch /AllAboutSpaceMagazine @spaceanswers [email protected] 3

 INSIDE
16
COMPLETE GUIDE TO

EXOPLANETS INSIDE THE MOST EXTREME ALIEN WORLDS

WHAT THE JAMES WEBB SPACE
TELESCOPE WILL REVEAL
THE HUNT FOR EARTH 2.0

Book of the Space Race

Space.com Collection
Book of Space

4 Issue 126
 INSIDE

Launchpad
50 Geocentric model

06
We explore why the geocentric
News from around
model was accepted for so long
the universe

Future Tech Focus On

24 Moon tourism
Space Adventures is offering
54 General relativity
passes a tough test
a trip to anyone able to afford the
multimillion-dollar price tag
56 The Big Bang theory
It’s our best model of how the
universe works
interview
64
26 Matt Ondler
Axiom Space’s Matt
Focus On
Ondler on life after the ISS
62 New rocky exoplanet
has a year less than
eight hours long
Focus On Stargazer
30 Eruption seen on alien
star for the first time
64 The planet that
shouldn’t exist
78 What’s in
the sky?
This two-star system emits extreme
82 Month’s

32 Back to the Moon

Later this year, NASA will take
the first step in returning astronauts to
radiation, yet somehow a planet has still
managed to form
planets
84 Moon tour
the lunar surface
Focus On 85 Naked eye
& binocular
Focus on 72 NASA orders more
Moon megaboosters
targets

38 Black hole in the

Milky Way’s satellite
defies explanation 74 Ask Space
Your questions answered by
86 Deep sky
challenge
88 The Northern
our panel of experts
Hemisphere
Star profile 90 Astroshots

40 Rigel
Orion’s brightest star is a
powerful blue supergiant
92 Binocular
review
96 In the shops

focus on

44 What is a
light year?

Instant expert
WIN!
A SKY-WATCHER
SKYHAWK 114
32
48 What is dark matter
made of?
TELESCOPE
WORTH over
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27 December 2021
A room with
a view
The appropriately named
VISTA (Visible and Infrared
Survey Telescope for
Astronomy) enjoys a
breathtaking view from
its dome on Cerro Paranal
in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
VISTA is the world’s largest
telescope designed to map
the sky solely in infrared
light. The telescope was
developed by a consortium
of 18 universities in the
UK and spends most of
its time carrying out six
public surveys of the sky.
The primary goal of VISTA
is to shed light on brown
dwarfs, variable stars and
ancient quasars. Observing
the sky in infrared helps
astronomers detect cooler
objects in the universe
that shine brighter at these
longer wavelengths.

6
7
© ESO
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4 January 2022
Interstellar
wildfire
The Flame Nebula burns
bright in this striking
radio image. In the central
rectangle, the Flame Nebula
is on the left; the smaller
feature on the right is
reflection nebula NGC 2023.
If you look closely, to the top
right of NGC 2023 you can
see the Horsehead Nebula
rising from the ‘flames’.
These are all part of the
Orion Cloud, a large gas
structure 1,300 to 1,600
light years from Earth. The
different colours of the
gas indicate the velocity at
which it’s travelling away
from us. The red clouds
in the background are
moving faster than the
yellow clouds. The image
in the rectangle is from
observations conducted
with the SuperCam
instrument on the Atacama
Pathfinder Experiment
(APEX) on Chile’s Chajnantor
Plateau. The background
image was taken in infrared
light using the European
Southern Observatory’s
VISTA at the Paranal
© ESO

Observatory in Chile.

9
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20 December 2021
Ancient
Martian
riverbed
This image of the Martian
surface, captured by the
High-Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment
(HiRISE) aboard the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter
(MRO), shows an ancient
riverbed, marked out by
a dark ridge meandering
across the surface. The river
which once carved its way
across this scene in Mawrth
Vallis flowed billions of
years ago. The old riverbed,
marked by the dark ridge,
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

appears raised due to the

erosion of softer material
around it. These ridges are
known as inverted channels,
and many have been
spotted in this particular
area of Mars.

10
11
 than ten years of science
Words by Meghan Bartels

N
ASA’s newest flagship space officials. “For comparison, the Hubble Space locations where the gravitational tugs of different
observatory should have enough Telescope has lasted more than 30 years. bodies balance out. However, throughout its
fuel to more than double its The agency noted that it can’t provide a stay at L2, Webb will need to conduct occasional
minimum mission life peering into specific estimate for how long the observatory small thruster burns for station keeping and
the history of the universe. The long-awaited will last. “The analysis shows that less propellant momentum management to retain its proper
James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration than originally planned for is needed to correct location and orientation in space. That’s what the
with the Canadian and European space agencies Webb’s trajectory towards its final orbit,” said propellant remaining after the third burn will
led by NASA, launched into space on 25 NASA officials. “Consequently, Webb will be used for. And Webb will have more fuel left
December 2021 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. have much more than the baseline estimate in its tank than NASA had dared to hope. The
Often billed as the successor to the agency’s of propellant – though many factors could initial launch precisely targeted the observatory’s
iconic Hubble Space Telescope, Webb – also ultimately affect Webb’s duration of operation.” desired trajectory, meaning the spacecraft
known as the JWST – is designed to focus on Webb has completed two of the three burns needed to spend less time and fuel on its first
infrared light, giving astronomers a look at required to see it to its destination; the final two correction manoeuvres.
the earliest days of the universe. Despite an burn will take place nearly a month after launch
ambitious science agenda, the mission was and will mark the last step in the observatory’s
designed with just a five-year minimum lifetime. perilous deployment process. Webb is destined
But with the observatory finally in space, NASA to orbit a location known as the second Earth-
is confident that it will have enough fuel to see Sun Lagrange point, or L2, which is nearly 1.5
much more use than that. million kilometres (1 million miles) from Earth
“The Webb team has analysed its initial in the direction opposite the Sun. Here Webb
trajectory and determined the observatory will be less vulnerable to solar radiation that can
should have enough propellant to allow support interfere with its infrared observations.
of science operations in orbit for significantly Lagrange points are sometimes nicknamed
© CERN

more than a ten-year science lifetime,” said NASA ‘parking spots’ for spacecraft, as they mark
© ESA

12
 subscription offer
Comets’ heads may
be green, but never
their tails
FROM
£3.00

© NASA
Words by Samantha Mathewson

Comets, composed of frozen gases, rock and dust, in the 1930s, but has been hard to test until now. Above:

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are the leftover remains from the formation of the Dicarbon is made up of two carbon atoms and is Comet
ISON
Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago. The icy highly reactive and unstable. It’s only found in
exhibiting a
bodies heat up very quickly as they approach the extremely energetic or low-oxygen environments green glow
Sun in their orbits, causing the solid ice to turn like stars, comets and the interstellar medium. on solar
directly into gas via a process called sublimation, However, on a comet, dicarbon can’t exist until approach
which intensifies the bright-green glow. However, the body gets close to the Sun. The Sun heats the
the green glow appears only around the head of comet’s organic matter, causing it to evaporate
some comets, but never in the tails trailing behind and enter the coma, which is the gassy envelope
them. Now scientists from the University of New around the comet. The sunlight then breaks up the
South Wales (UNSW) Sydney in Australia think larger organic molecules, creating dicarbon.
they know why. As a comet gets even closer to the Sun,
Using a vacuum chamber and lasers, the photodissociation breaks up the fresh dicarbon SAVE
researchers were able to recreate the chemical
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diatomic carbon, also known as dicarbon or C2. radiant green coma shrinks as the dicarbon is
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green. This process, called photodissociation, was it to the comet’s tail, which is why that part of the
originally theorised by physicist Gerhard Herzberg comet doesn’t glow green.

‘Cosmic monster’ star spits energy with

the force of a billion Suns Words by Mindy Weisberger SAVE
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of star, known as a magnetar, is a neutron star A neutron star forms when a massive star emit
with an exceptionally strong magnetic field, and collapses at the end of its life. As the star dies in powerful
flares
magnetars often flare spectacularly and without a supernova, protons and electrons in its core are across the
warning. But even though magnetars can be crushed into a compressed mass that combines universe
thousands of times brighter than our Sun, their intense gravity with high-speed rotation and
eruptions are so brief and unpredictable that powerful magnetic forces. The result, a neutron
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Imaginary
numbers
could be
White House directs needed to
NASA to extend describe
International Space reality
Station operations Words by Ben Turner

Imaginary numbers are

through 2030
Words by Robert Z. Pearlman
what you get when you
take the square root of a

© NASA
negative number. When you
add imaginary numbers and
NASA administrator Bill Nelson has been directed appropriations for its Artemis program of Above: real numbers, the two form
to work with NASA’s partners, including the crewed lunar exploration. “The US’ continued NASA will complex numbers, which
continue to
European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space participation will enhance innovation and operate the ISS enable physicists to write
Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency competitiveness, as well as advance the research for longer than out quantum equations
(JAXA) and Russia’s Roscosmos, to enable the and technology necessary to send the first woman previously in simple terms. But
ISS’ use throughout the rest of this decade. “I’m and first person of colour to the Moon under intended whether quantum theory
pleased that the Biden-Harris administration NASA’s Artemis program and pave the way for needs these mathematical
has committed to continuing station operations sending the first humans to Mars,” said Nelson. chimeras or just uses them
through 2030,” said Nelson. “The ISS is a beacon The extension will also provide more time to as convenient shortcuts has
of peaceful international scientific collaboration ensure a seamless handover of low-Earth orbit long been controversial.
and for more than 20 years has returned research and commercial activities from the Even the founders
enormous scientific, educational and technological ISS to new private outposts. NASA has recently of quantum mechanics
developments to benefit humanity.” entered into agreements with companies to thought the implications
NASA has been seeking ways to hand over develop commercial space stations either as free- of having complex
its day-to-day operations of the space station flying platforms or, as in one case, as a temporary numbers in their equations
to commercial entities in order to free up extension to the ISS before separating on its own. was disquieting. Erwin
Schrödinger – the first
person to introduce complex
numbers into quantum

Rocket scientists aren’t any smarter theory – wrote, “What is

unpleasant here, and indeed

than the rest of us, science says directly to be objected

to, is the use of complex
Words by Rebecca Sohn numbers.” Schrödinger
did find ways to express
“It’s not rocket science” is an expression used to Researchers gave the Great British Intelligence Left: The new
study tested his equation with only
describe tasks that aren’t complicated. But are Test to aerospace engineers and neurosurgeons.
the minds of real numbers alongside an
rocket scientists smarter than everyone else? That The test evaluates areas of cognition like planning
almost 20,000 additional set of rules for
was a question researchers sought to answer in a and reasoning, working memory, attention and participants
how to use the equation.
new study in medical journal BMJ; the study also emotional processing. The researchers compared
Right: But now, two studies have
applied the analysis to brain surgeons. The study the results of 300 aerospace engineers to those of
Schrödinger proven him wrong. They
was led by researchers at universities and hospitals 72 neurosurgeons from across the UK, Europe, the wasn’t a fan show if quantum mechanics
in London and Bristol, as well as UK charity US and Canada, as well as to the scores of 18,257 of imaginary
is correct, imaginary
Brainbook, which is dedicated to neurosurgical members of the British public. numbers
numbers are a necessary
communication and engagement. The neurosurgeons scored higher than the
part of the mathematics
aerospace engineers in semantic, or word-based
of our universe.
problem solving, while the aerospace engineers
scored higher in mental manipulation and
attention. There were no other notable differences
between their scores. But how did the saying
hold up? Compared to the general population,
neurosurgeons had faster problem-solving speeds
but slower memory recall. There were no notable
differences between the scores of aerospace
© Getty
© Getty

engineers and the general population.

14
 WIN
SKY-WATCHER
SKYHAWK 114
TELESCOPE
Ideal for the beginner, this reflector
comes fully equipped for superb
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Along with its 2x Barlow lens, two eyepieces,
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Sky-Watcher Skyhawk 114 offers excellent
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With the cold nights of winter providing
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15
 Exoplanets

COMPLETE GUIDE TO

EXOPLANETS
Our knowledge of worlds beyond the Solar System
has exploded in the last three decades
Reported by Robert Lea
© Tobias Roetsch

16
 Exoplanets

E
ver since humans first discovered
that the stars in the night sky were
bodies similar to our Sun, we’ve
dreamed and speculated about the
worlds that could orbit these stars. Would they
be rocky terrestrial planets like Earth? Could
they possess liquid water? Could the presence of

Types of Exoplanet
this vital life-sustaining element on other worlds
mean that we are not alone in the universe?
“For millennia, humans have been asking
the question of whether we are alone. And tied Hot Jupiters Super-Earths
to that question, are other planets anywhere Mass: Up Mass: Up to ten
else?” Nikku Madhusudhan, a professor of to 12 times times Earth’s mass
astrophysics and exoplanetary science at the Jupiter’s mass Size: Between
Institute of Astronomy of the University of Size: 0.3 to 10.0 times 0.8 and 4.0 times
Cambridge, tells All About Space. “It’s very Jupiter’s radius Earth’s radius
fundamental to being human to ask the question Number discovered: 1,458 Number discovered: 604
if there are planets elsewhere.” Gas giants like Jupiter. Rocky terrestrial worlds
The difference is these or gas planets more
With this considered, it’s almost shocking
worlds orbit closer to massive than Earth
to think that before the 1990s astronomers their stars, with short orbits and but smaller than Neptune. One
weren’t even certain that stars outside the Solar blistering surface temperatures. example of a super-Earth is
System possessed their own planets. There was WASP-76b is a planet so close to Gliese 15 A b, a rocky world 11
its host that it completes an orbit light years away which is over
no evidence to suggest that extrasolar planets, in under two days. three times the size of Earth.
or exoplanets for short, didn’t exist, nor were
there hints that the Solar System was in any
way unique in the Milky Way. But until the Sub-Neptunes Terrestrial
very end of the 20th century, astronomers had Mass: Up to 17 Mass: Around that
been frustrated by the lack of direct evidence of times Earth’s mass of Earth
worlds beyond the influence of our star. Size: Over 2.0 times Size: Between 0.5 to
Earth’s Radius 2.0 times Earth’s radius
This is because exoplanets are notoriously
Number discovered: 1,719 Number discovered: 186
difficult to detect. Historically, the most
Planets similar in size These are small, rocky
successful exoplanet detection methods have
to the Solar System’s worlds like the Solar
worked by inferring the tiny effects that planets ice giant Neptune, System’s inner planets
have on their parent stars, like tiny dips in light they’re believed to be the most Mercury, Venus, Earth and
or the near-imperceptible ‘wobble’ they cause in common type of planet in the Mars. TRAPPIST-1e is the fourth
Milky Way. Discovered in 2018, planet from its star, 40 light
their star’s motion. “Until 30 years ago, we didn’t Kepler-1655 b has a radius around years from Earth. Existing in the
know of any planets outside the Solar System; 2.3 times that of Earth, with five habitable zone of its host, it could
all we knew of were the planets in the Solar times our planet’s mass. potentially have liquid water.
System,” Madhusudhan continues. “But as soon

AR SCAN CODES FOR MODELS

as exoplanets were discovered, that opened an
entirely new window into the universe and its
other planetary systems.”

17
 Exoplanets

Tap here
to play
© ESO

NA
SA Since this point, improved technology and The following year, a second planet was
e&
bb
l
detection techniques have resulted in a bulging discovered in the same system – also a terrestrial
Hu
A/
©
ES exoplanet catalogue of over 4,800 distant world. These planets, the two outermost planets
worlds. “The first big milestone in the study of of the system, were given the names Poltergeist
exoplanets was the realisation of just how common and Phobetor and represented the first examples of
they are,” adds Madhusudhan, who developed so-called super-Earths. These planets are defined
a technique of atmospheric retrieval to infer by their masses, which are greater than our planet’s
the compositions of exoplanets. “But also, those but still less than those of the Solar System’s ice
exoplanets are extremely diverse. Exoplanets come giants, Uranus and Neptune. The upper limit for
in all sorts of masses, sizes and temperatures.” the mass of a super-Earth is generally considered
When it comes to the categorisation of these to be about ten times that of our planet. But you
objects, humanity’s Solar System bias is evident. shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that super-Earths

Exoplanet
Above:
Worlds outside the Solar System are labelled as bear any other similarities to our planet. The term
Terrestrial
planets have super-Earths, hot Jupiters and sub-Neptunes, but doesn’t say anything about an exoplanet’s surface

Missions rocky surfaces,

like Earth
these planets can be radically different from those
of our system, coming in a vast array of forms.
conditions or habitability. As a striking example
of this fact, researchers quickly determined that

Past If anything, the discovery of thousands of

exoplanets has shown that our Solar System is
reassuringly, and almost uniquely, mundane. And
neither Poltergeist nor Phobetor could support life,
as they were being blasted by harsh radiation from
the pulsar they orbited.
The Hubble Space the first exoplanet discovered was an example of The search for a planet around a star similar
Telescope an object absent from the Solar System. The first to the Sun hit gold in 1995 when Michel Mayor
Launched in 1990, the Hubble
Space Telescope has been planet detected outside of the Solar System was and his then-doctoral student Didier Queloz
one of the most influential discovered by Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale discovered 51 Pegasi b, or Dimidium, a planet
instruments in the investigation Frail in January 1992. The duo discovered the in orbit around a star that resembled our Sun.
of exoplanets. Hubble was key in
rocky exoplanet orbiting the binary PSR B1620-26, In October 2019, the Nobel Committee awarded
the atmospheric investigation of
HD 209458 b that revealed water consisting of a white dwarf and a pulsar, located the Nobel Prize in Physics to the duo for their
vapour around the gas giant.  over 12,000 light years away.  discovery of the planet. But though the star it

18
 Exoplanets
orbits, 51 Pegasi, is Sun-like, that doesn’t mean mass, or those with a smaller mass than Neptune
its planetary system resembles the Solar System. but a larger radius – seem to dominate the Milky
This discovery marked the first detection of a hot Way.  “The realisation that small planets are
Jupiter – a planet with the size and composition extremely common elsewhere is another major
of the Solar System’s gas giant, but located milestone,” Madhusudhan adds. 

SA
NA
scorchingly close to its parent star. One milestone in exoplanet research that is

©
“These planets are at an orbital distance closer currently ongoing and will develop exponentially
than Mercury is from the Sun. That means hot in the future, the astrophysicist says, is the
Jupiters complete their orbits in only a few days. investigation of these more diminutive planets’
Due to their location close to their host stars, atmospheres and the search for water. An
they’re highly irradiated, with temperatures of
1,725 degrees Celsius (3,140 degrees Fahrenheit)
exoplanet transiting the face of its host doesn’t just
provide a great way for astronomers to spot such Missions
or more,” Romain Allart, a Trottier postdoctoral
fellow at the University of Montréal, Canada, and
a team member at the Institute for Research on
a world via the dip in light output from the star it
causes. The transit method has also proved a good
way of assessing the composition of a planet’s
Present
Exoplanets, tells All About Space.  atmosphere. This is because atoms and molecules
TESS and Kepler
Using the transit method
Not only was 51 Pegasi b an early hint to absorb light at characteristic wavelengths. By
of exoplanet detection, the
astronomers that the universe is a wilder and observing the ‘gaps’ in the light signatures of Transiting Exoplanet Survey
more varied place than they may have previously stars as they shine through planets’ atmospheres, Satellite (TESS) is the current gold
suspected when it comes to planets, but hot astronomers can see what elements make up these standard in the search for alien
worlds. TESS, launched in 2018,
Jupiters would also become mainstays of the gaseous envelopes. 
has identified 4,500 potential
exoplanet catalogue. “Hot Jupiters are actually In 1999, Greg Henry and David Charbonneau exoplanets, of which over 150
not so common in the universe, but due to used the transit method to detect and observe have been confirmed.
instrumental biases they are extremely common in an exoplanet as it passed in front of the star In terms of sheer volume
of confirmed exoplanet
the current exoplanet catalogue,” Allart, who was HD 209458, revealing the planet, HD 209458 b,
detections, the Kepler Space
part of the team that investigated the hot Jupiter had an atmosphere of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon Telescope is going to be hard to
WASP-76b, explains. “Because they are close, and, importantly, water. This atmosphere is being beat. After its launch in 2009,
large and massive, the radial velocity and transit stripped away from the world, leaving a trail Kepler spotted at least 4,763
exoplanets, of which 2,703 have
techniques are efficient to detect hot Jupiters; behind it that is similar to that of a comet. been confirmed.
these two techniques have discovered almost all Madhusudhan points out that since 1999,
exoplanets up until now.” and particularly in the past decade, atmospheric
However, in terms of exoplanet populations, observations of exoplanets have taken off in a
Madhusudhan says that sub-Neptunes – planets big way, with the first robust measurements of
with a smaller radius than Neptune but a larger water vapour in the atmospheres of these planets

“It’s very fundamental to being

human to ask the question if
there are planets elsewhere”

© NASA
Nikku Madhusudhan
Kepler-47 system

Right (inset):
One goal of
exoplanet
Solar system
research is to
find a future Venus Earth
Mercury Mars
base for
Kepler-47B
humanity
Kepler-47c
Right:
Exoplanets
discovered by
Kepler orbiting
a binary pair,
with one in
the Goldilocks
zone around Habitable zones
© NASA

the stars

19
Exoplanets

Finding An Earth-Like Planet

Is there a planet identical to ours somewhere in the Milky Way?
It’s perhaps of little wonder that with our own planetary biases, much of our search for Right: The
exoplanets has hinged on the search for worlds similar to Earth in both composition exoplanet
and location in the habitable zone of their main sequence stars. Another condition that K2-18b, a
would make a world similar to Earth would be a magnetic field, which can prevent an super-Earth
atmosphere from being stripped away and thus sustain life. with water and
Several of the planets in the exoplanet catalogue are similar to Earth in a range of temperatures
ways, be it distance from their star, their mass or their radius. Below are 21 candidates that could
for Earth-analogue worlds. But even if these worlds do fit the description of a ‘planet B’ support life
that could be occupied by humans in the future, crewed travel to worlds outside the Solar
System is thus far unfeasible to say the least, and likely will be for several generations.

© ESA/Hubble
As Institute for Research on Exoplanets scientist Romain Allart points out, that means
despite the wealth of exoplanets discovered, protecting our own world is still of
paramount importance.

295

275
Equilibrium temperature (K)

255

235

215

195
175
Earth

centauri b
Proxima

Star b
teegarden’s

Gliese 1061 c

Gliese 273 b

Gliese 1061 d

tau ceti e

Star c
teegarden’s

wolf 1061 c

Gliese 3323 b

Gliese 667 c f

Gliese 667 c c

Gliese 667 c e

trappist-1d

trappist-1e

trappist-1f

trappist-1g

k2-72 e

kepler-186 f

kepler-1229 b

kepler-442 b

kepler-62 f
earth similarity index
“as soon as exoplanets were
discovered, that opened an
0.50-0.59

0.60-0.69

0.70-0.79

0.80-0.89

0.90-0.99

Y)
2L
( 4.

LY)
ri b

12

entirely new window into the

b(
tau

LY)
tar
en

12
’s S
ac

(
c LY)
im

en

1 12
ox

06 Y)
universe” Nikku Madhusudhan
rd

(
1 2L
Pr

ga

se 3 b 1
tee

(
Gl
ie
e2
7
1d LY)
l ies 106 2 LY) c (12
1
G ese ti e ( tar
Gli ce n’sS LY)
tau r de (14
g a 1 c LY)
tee f 106 b (17
l
wo 323 LY)
e se3 f (22
Gl i
7c )
se 66 2 LY
Gl ie c c (2 )
67 2 LY
se 6 e (2
Glie 67 c
se 6 Y)
Glie 1 d (41 L
t-
ppis LY)
tr a e (41
t-1
pis Y)
tr ap f (41 L
- 1
pist
tr ap g (41
LY)
p is t -1
tr ap
LY)
e (217
k2-72
Y)
-186 f (561 L
kepler

LY)
29 b (866
kepler-12
b (1,115 lY)
kepler-442
LY)
kepler-62 f (1,207
0 200 400

20
 Exoplanets
made. But unfortunately, as was the case with

Methods of Exoplanet Detection HD 209458 b, many of these detections, which

have become commonplace, tell us little about
the possibility of life existing there. “Hot, giant
The Transit Method The Radial Velocity Method planets are where we have detected water, for the
The transit method hinges on tiny dips A technique based on the fact that a planet most part as water vapour. And there’s no scope
in light from a star caused as a planet and a star orbit a point of mutual mass, of life on these planets,” the astrophysicist says. 
crosses its face. Despite only being viable meaning the presence of a planet can be
for planets that pass between their star seen as a ‘wobble’ in the star’s motion. Also Excitingly, however, this is beginning to
and observers, it’s delivered over 3,700 known as the wobble method, this has change. Madhusudhan, who is the editor of a
exoplanet discoveries. delivered around 900 discoveries. forthcoming book called Exofrontiers which
collects pioneering work from the exoplanet
Planet science community, points out that our methods
of examining atmospheres have improved to the
Star
point where we are now able to detect chemical
Brightness

Light curve elements around much smaller planets. This

includes Earth-like worlds in the habitable
Time zones of planets where conditions are just right
to allow for the existence of liquid water. “We
Gravitational Microlensing Direct Imaging are able to detect small Earth-sized planets in
Responsible for the detection of about 130 Occasionally, by blocking the light from the habitable zones of their host stars around
planets, lensing occurs when objects of a parent star astronomers can actually nearby stars. And this is especially true for
tremendous mass warp the fabric of space. directly image an exoplanet. This method
By observing the curvature of light from a has resulted in the discovery of 54 worlds small stars called M dwarfs,” Madhusudhan
distant object, details can be ascertained outside the Solar System. This includes says, referencing the planets in the TRAPPIST-1
about intervening objects, like planets. TYC 8998-760-1 b and c, pictured below. system in particular.
Discovered in 2017 and located just 40 million
light years away, the system contains at least
seven rocky terrestrial worlds, all of which exist
at a suitable distance from their red dwarf to
facilitate the existence of water on their surface.
“These are all small, rocky, Earth-like planets at
© NASA

the right distances for habitability around their

© ESO

host stars,” Madhusudhan says. Observations of

the TRAPPIST-1 planets conducted in February

The Goldilocks Zone

Not too hot. Not too cold, but just right. The habitable zone is defined as the region
2018 revealed that some of them may even be
able to harbour more liquid water and wider
oceans than Earth. This makes the system
around a star at which liquid water can exist. In the Solar System, Earth exists within one of the prime targets for atmospheric
the Goldilocks zone, but so do Mars and Venus. This should suggest that just because investigations by future telescopes, including
a planet exists in a habitable zone doesn’t mean it will be abundant with water. Other
the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
factors are vital to possessing liquid water, such as planet size and temperature.
Exoplanets in the habitable zone could have lost their water as a result of a runaway currently on its way to orbit.
greenhouse effect like Venus, or through the loss of a magnetic field because they were This life-searching, atmosphere-investigating
too small to maintain it, as seems to be the case with Mars. But the term is based on aspect wasn’t part of the JWST’s mission when
our bias. There’s only one planet we are aware of that possesses life, and it sits in this
the plans for a ten-metre (32.8-foot) passively
zone. Too hot and water boils; if water exists on worlds too close to their star it only
does so as vapour. Too cold and liquid water freezes to ice. This may not totally rule cooled near-infrared telescope in a high-Earth
out life, however, as liquid water could exist beneath an icy shell. But just right, and orbit were initially floated in 1989. In the last
liquid water could exist. year of the 1980s, astronomers hadn’t even
discovered planets around other stars, and the
Hubble Space Telescope, which would make an
important contribution to this search, was still a
year from launch. 
Various teams of astronomers are currently
applying for observation time with the new
space telescope so they can investigate planets
outside the Solar System. This includes
Madhusudhan, who will be leading a team
working with the JWST to investigate exoplanet
atmospheres in unprecedented detail.
“We are indeed in the golden age of exoplanet
science, but we are also on the verge of a
major revolution in modern astronomy,” the
600 800 1,000 1,200 astrophysicist says. And while even Webb still

distance from earth (light years) 21

 Exoplanets

“Exoplanet diversity is so
rich that even the best
sci-fi authors couldn’t have
imagined it” Romain Allart

© ESA/Hubble & NASA

© ESO

Above: won’t be able to conclusively tell if a planet is of California, may have detected a Saturn-sized
WASP-76b hosting life, its observing power brings humanity exoplanet 28 million light years from Earth in the
has such a
tantalisingly close to the detection of molecules galaxy Messier 51. This extragalactic exoplanet
blistering
temperature that hint at the presence of living organisms. seems to be orbiting a high-mass compact object
that molten This will lay further groundwork for future such as a neutron star or a black hole.
iron rains missions. “We are the fortunate generation that “Surprisingly, we are only scratching the
down on
the planet’s might witness the discovery of life elsewhere,” surface, as we now think that almost one star in
cooler side Madhusudhan says. “We have been dreaming of every two hosts a planet, and there are hundreds

Missions Above (inset):

Hot Jupiters
that for thousands of years, and we happen to
be that blink-of-an-eye generation in which that
of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and there
are billions of galaxies in the universe,” Allart says.

Future come in a
wide variety
of shapes and
momentous discovery is going to happen. To me
that is huge.”
Not only this, but Madhusudhan is researching
“Exoplanet diversity is already so rich that even
the best sci-fi authors couldn’t have imagined it.
It’s amazing to discover more and more strange
CHEOPS and Webb sizes and are
so-called Hycean worlds: water-rich planets exoplanet systems and worlds.”
Launched in 2019, the easy to detect
CHaracterising ExOPlanets because they with surfaces covered almost entirely in oceans Allart continues by explaining that despite this
Satellite (CHEOPS) is the first transit their and with atmospheres made up of mostly wealth of planets, and our increasing knowledge
mission dedicated solely to stars often molecular hydrogen. These hypothetical worlds about them, protecting our own world is still of
the investigation of exoplanet
atmospheres. CHEOPS will select could potentially redefine the limits of what we paramount importance. “The Solar System, and in
so-called ‘golden targets’ for consider the habitable zone. This gives researchers particular Earth, remains unique in the diversity of
follow-up investigations by the targets outside the traditional habitable zone to exoplanets. Therefore it’s important to understand
James Webb Space Telescope. include in the search for the telltale signatures that there’s no planet B,” he concludes.
One of the primary missions
of Webb, the most powerful of life. 
telescope ever launched into And nothing says ‘casting a wider net’ like
space, will be the investigation of
Robert Lea
the revelation last year that astronomers may Space science writer
the atmospheres of exoplanets. Rob is a science writer with a degree in
have caught a hint of the first exoplanet ever
It’s poised to reveal more about physics and astronomy. He specialises
distant worlds than any mission to be detected outside of the Milky Way. The in physics, astronomy, astrophysics
that came before it.  team, including Nia Imara from the University and quantum physics.

22
Future tech Millionaire Moon tourism

MILLIONAIRE
MOON TOURISM
Fancy a trip around the Moon? That’s what Space
Adventures is offering to anyone able to afford the
multimillion-dollar price tag

M 1
ultimillionaires and billionaires weightlessness of space, along with training in Soyuz orbital module
can book their future flight operating the Soyuz module, collecting data and This carries equipment and
around the Moon using Space conducting experiments. They will blast off from provides basic living quarters. A
Adventures’ imaginative use of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and dock docking mechanism and transfer
hatch enable it to be connected
existing spacecraft and technology. An essential with the ISS, where they will stay for ten days.
to the ISS and lunar module. 
cornerstone of this project are Soyuz rockets – While there, they will become acclimatised to
spacecraft that were originally designed to take living in space, carrying out a few observations
cosmonauts to the Moon. They didn’t achieve
that goal, but in the 1960s and 1970s they
and experiments. Meanwhile, a Proton rocket
will blast off from Earth to deliver a lunar
2 Service module
This carries oxygen
tanks, power, navigation and
were easily adapted to ferry cosmonauts and module into low-Earth orbit. This unmanned propulsion systems. It features
astronauts into Earth orbit and to space stations. craft will consist of a living module and a Blok control thrusters to carry out
In the decades since the demise of the Space DM propulsion stage. docking manoeuvres. 
Shuttle, the Soyuz craft has become the world’s The Proton rocket and Blok DM are other
safest spacecraft, making many trips.
Each trip to the Moon will carry two tourists,
who will spend at least eight months preparing
blasts from the Soviet past. The Proton rocket
was originally designed as an intercontinental
ballistic missile, but the plans changed in the
3 Descent module
The three occupants sit inside
this module during launch and
re-entry. For this mission, the
themselves for the high g-forces of liftoff and the hope that it could be used to send cosmonauts heat shield will be upgraded.

4 Propulsion
This uses the Blok DM space
tug that has been regularly used
as an upper stage on the Proton
1 rocket to launch satellites into
Earth orbit. It fires the two
docked craft towards the Moon.
2

5 Habitation module
The two tourists and
professional cosmonaut
will transfer from the Soyuz
spacecraft to live in here during
their journey to and
from the Moon.

6 Destination Moon
It will take a few days to
reach the Moon from the ISS.
The spacecraft will swing around
the normally hidden far side and
offer a view of Earth rising above
the Moon.

24
 3
6

AR SCAN HERE
4
“The circumlunar flight will take them
within 100 kilometres (62 miles) of the
lunar surface”
around the Moon before the Apollo program. tanks and solar panels. Only the re-entry module a spectacular view of planet Earth rising above
Since then it has been regularly used to launch will return to Earth. the surface of the Moon. This part of their space
satellites into Earth orbit. Once the lunar module is safely in orbit, vacation will last six days, culminating with
The Blok DM was developed as the upper stage the tourists, along with a professional Russian jettisoning the lunar module and returning to
for rockets taking unmanned craft to the Moon. cosmonaut, will re-enter the Soyuz spacecraft. Earth inside the Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz
The 5.5-metre (18-foot) long, four-metre (13-foot) They will then leave the trusty ISS to rendezvous capsule’s communication and navigation systems
diameter space tug has a main engine that can and dock with the lunar module. The module will be upgraded, and it will need a different
be fired several times over a multi-day mission. will provide far better living quarters than the heat shield, as the craft will re-enter the Earth’s
It has been successfully used with the Proton Soyuz, with much more space, and the Blok DM atmosphere at a greater speed than if it was
rocket to send unmanned craft to the Moon, engine will send the two docked craft in a merely returning from Earth orbit. By skipping
Mars and Venus. trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth. the Soyuz through the atmosphere, it will slow
The Soyuz itself consists of three modules: The circumlunar flight will take them within enough for it to make a parachute landing to
© Adrian Mann

a spherical living module at the front, an 100 kilometres (62 miles) of the lunar surface, the ground. If there is sufficient demand, Space
aerodynamically shaped re-entry module and a and they will enjoy the sight of the normally Adventures will launch a series of tourism
service module that carries the main engine, fuel hidden far side of the Moon. They will also get expeditions to the Moon.

25
 BIO
Matt Ondler
Private companies are getting
ready to take the baton from
the International Space Station
(ISS). NASA is awarding $415
million (£306 million) to help
get three commercial outposts
off the ground. Those stations
are being developed by teams
led by Blue Origin, Nanoracks
and Northrop Grumman. In
2020, Houston-based Axiom
Space got a NASA contract to
deliver at least one habitable
private module to the ISS.
Axiom plans to launch its
first element to the orbiting
lab in late 2024, then send
several more up over the next
few years. Eventually, the
connected Axiom modules
will detach from the ISS.
Axiom’s chief technology
officer Matt Ondler discusses
the company’s space station
plans, the outlook for private
industry in low-Earth orbit and
the importance of commercial
missions, such as SpaceX’s
recent Inspiration4 crewed
orbital flight.
© Axiom Space

26
 Matt Ondler

MATT ONDLER

“WE WILL SEE IDEAS

AND PRODUCTS WE
CAN’T IMAGINE TODAY”
Axiom Space’s chief technology officer Matt Ondler on life after the
International Space Station

Interviewed by Mike Wall

How quickly can humanity get another low- presence in LEO. This approach was built from the manufacturing that we believe has the potential to
Earth orbit (LEO) station up and running post- wealth of ISS and human spaceflight experience at radically improve life on Earth. A commercial space
International Space Station? Are we likely to the core of our team. station also offers cost-saving opportunities for
see a gap between the ISS’ retirement and a agencies like NASA to conduct fundamental space
new station coming online? Broadly speaking, what will our post-ISS science research and prepare astronauts for longer
Axiom Space is on schedule to deliver our first LEO presence look like? Will it be mostly missions to the Moon, and on to Mars, without the
privately developed module of the Axiom Station privately run stations, or a mix of public and financial burden of maintaining a LEO station.
to the ISS in September 2024. We will deliver private outposts?
three additional modules by the end of 2027 Most will be privately owned and operated stations Do you see a lot of opportunity for international
to complete our initial space station. With the that support a mixed use of private, commercial cooperation on these stations?
delivery of the fourth module, Axiom Station will and government users. At Axiom, we will provide The Axiom Station is designed and intended to
have the capability to be independent of the ISS capability and infrastructure for commercial be an international destination for a wide range
and can then separate to become an independent customers as well as the opportunity for NASA of customers – a true global user base, both
next-generation space station with upgraded and other government space agencies to continue commercial and governmental, with greater ease
crew quarters, increased payload capacity and a their research, technology development and of access compared to the ISS today. Moreover,
dedicated manufacturing and research lab module. national astronaut missions in LEO. A commercial some of our suppliers are already international.
This timeline supports the current planned space station provides opportunities for new and Thales Alenia Space in Italy is providing the
end of the ISS’ life, so there should be a seamless non-traditional users of microgravity to engage primary structure for the first two Axiom
transition with no gaps in human continuous in research, product development and scaling of modules, for example.

27
INTERVIEW

Axiom Station will have

the capability to be

© Axiom Space
independent of the ISS
Many countries don’t participate in the ISS but term big driver will be in-space manufacturing.
have aspirations to be part of the space ecosystem; I believe that 15 to 20 years from now we will be
many of them are already expressing interest in surrounded by objects without which we can’t
Axiom Station, seeing opportunities to participate imagine living, and which were manufactured
in the LEO economy in ways previously not in space.
available to them. We are keen to support that Objects and products that were manufactured
and help grow the community of nations that will in the unique microgravity environment could
conduct and lead the next stages of human space disrupt a number of industries. We already see
Above: Axiom
plans to build exploration beyond LEO. hints at what some of those products might be, but
the world’s having a commercially available LEO destination
first free-flying What are the main industries that you foresee will bring out ideas and possibilities that we
commercial supporting private outposts? Will tourism and can’t imagine now. The ISS and NASA couldn’t
space station
pharmaceutical research be big drivers? provide companies opportunities to manufacture
Left: SpaceX’s Private and national astronauts will certainly be at scale. On the ISS, a company could only fly an
Dragon an early and ongoing market, as well as providing experiment; even if the experiment was successful,
has been a
© NASA/SpaceX

a LEO destination that can support research there wasn’t a place for that company to go to
huge step in
commercial and technology development for further space make the product at scale. A commercial space
spaceflight exploration. But, ultimately, we believe the long- station like Axiom’s will provide that opportunity,

28
 Matt Ondler

Axiom Space news

NASA approves the private company’s second private mission
to the International Space Station
NASA has given the go-ahead to another private crewed mission to the ISS.
The agency will work with Axiom Space to find a window for the company's
second ISS mission. That flight, known as Ax-2, is currently scheduled to launch
from Kennedy Space Center in Florida between autumn 2022 and spring 2023.

© Axiom Space
Axiom has contracted with SpaceX to launch four crewed missions to the ISS
using Crew Dragon capsules and Falcon 9 rockets. The first of those flights,
Ax-1, is scheduled to launch on 21 February 2022. It will be commanded by
Michael López-Alegria, a former NASA astronaut who now works at Axiom. He
and therefore I believe we will see all sorts of ideas Above:
Philippe will be joined by three space tourists, who each reportedly paid $55 million (£41
and products we can’t imagine today.
Starck’s vision million) to be part of the eight-day mission.
of the Axiom’s Ax-2 will last no more than 14 days and will be commanded by Peggy
Is the necessary transportation infrastructure habitation
Whitson, a record-setting former NASA astronaut and current Axiom employee.
already in place – with SpaceX flying people module
One of her three crewmates will be auto racer, pilot and investor John Shoffner.
now and Boeing getting ready to – or do we
The identity of the other two crew members has not yet been disclosed. All
need more crewed vehicles?
names are provisional at the moment, however, because NASA has a say in
Our partners at SpaceX are certainly the current
personnel selections. The proposed Ax-1 crewmates are “still completing final
leaders in enabling the new space era through
evaluations by NASA and its international partners,” said the agency.
making commercial transportation available.
NASA and Axiom agreed to terms for the Ax-1 mission last May. Ax-2 is
However, transportation to space remains
the first of two additional private crewed missions to the ISS that NASA
enormously expensive and time-consuming to
plans to select based on a call for proposals issued in June. “Enabling private
schedule and plan. More transportation capability
astronaut missions to the International Space Station is part of the agency's
can only support the growing space economy and
goal to develop a robust low-Earth orbit economy where NASA is one of many
help manage costs. Among some extant needs
customers and the private sector leads the way,” said NASA officials “This
are low-cost entry vehicles that can return these
strategy will provide services the government needs at a lower cost, enabling
amazing products we will manufacture in space.
the agency to focus on its Artemis missions to the Moon and on to Mars while
continuing to use low-Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those
How important are early private missions like
deep-space missions.”
Inspiration4 in paving the way for commercial
NASA hasn’t yet selected the second of the two planned missions described
space stations?
in the June announcement, which stipulated that flights must be brokered by
All early private human spaceflight missions
American organisations and travel on American spacecraft. “NASA will gather
are important to raise awareness across the
lessons learned from the first private astronaut flight as well as other applicable
stakeholders that can enable or slow the growth
station activities and announce a new flight opportunity in the future,” said
of the space economy. Those stakeholders include
the agency.
investors, companies with ideas, engineers and
government administrators. Early private missions
get investors excited about the market potential,
stimulate ideas for commercial applications, spur
engineers to join new space startups like Axiom
Space and influence government administrators to
invest in helping commercial space to succeed.
When it comes to Axiom’s private missions
to the International Space Station, of which Ax-1
is the first, they are particularly important as a
demonstration of the viability of the microgravity
platform for new and non-traditional users. These
missions are intended to take a mission profile
previously only reserved for governments – on
board the ISS, participating in robust research
programs – and make them available to an
expanded user base. A private focus on serious life
and work in orbit is a first step in expanding the
long-term human presence and capability in space,
© Axiom Space

growing and serving demand for such missions

and clearing the way for the launch and operation
of Axiom Station.

29
 ERUPTION SEEN
ON ALIEN STAR
FOR FIRST TIME
The outburst is about ten times more powerful
than anything similar seen from our Sun
Reported by Charles Q. Choi

30
 Alien flare

A
stronomers may have detected a In a new study, researchers analysed
Sun-like star erupting, spotting a EK Draconis, a star located about 111 light years
giant outburst ten times larger than from Earth. EK Draconis is a yellow dwarf like
anything similar ever seen from the Sun, but is much younger at only 50 million
our Sun. The new results may shed light on the to 125 million years old. “It’s what our Sun looked
effects such powerful outbursts may have had like 4.5 billion years ago,” said Notsu.
on the early Earth when life was born, and could Prior work found that EK Draconis often
have on modern Earth and society. erupted with flares, suggesting that astronomers
Our Sun often unleashes flares that can each monitoring it could get lucky in the hunt for
pack as much energy as millions of hydrogen superflares and giant coronal mass ejections.
bombs exploding at the same time. Solar flares In the new study, the scientists observed
are often accompanied by giant, bright tendrils EK Draconis from January to April 2020 using
of solar plasma known as filaments, which can NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite,
unleash magnetic bubbles of superhot plasma Kyoto University’s Seimei Telescope and the
called coronal mass ejections that hurtle through Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory’s
space at very high speeds. Nayuta Telescope.
When coronal mass ejections hit Earth, they On 5 April 2020, the research team’s hunch
can fry satellites in orbit and trigger major paid off: the scientists detected a superflare that
disturbances, known as geomagnetic storms, was followed about 30 minutes later by what
that can wreak havoc on electrical grids. In appeared to be a coronal mass ejection moving
1989, a coronal mass ejection blacked out the at about 1.8 million kilometres (1.1 million miles)
entire Canadian province of Quebec within per hour. They estimated its mass to be ten
seconds, damaging transformers as far away as times bigger than that of the largest known solar
New Jersey and nearly shutting down US power coronal mass ejection. “This is the first detection
grids from the mid-Atlantic through the Pacific of a possible coronal mass ejection from a solar-
Northwest. “Coronal mass ejections can have a type star,” said Notsu.
serious impact on Earth and human society,” said Notsu noted that the team was only able
Yuta Notsu, an astrophysicist at the University of to catch the initial phase of the coronal mass
Colorado Boulder. ejection, so it remains uncertain whether
Previous research found that distant yellow it fell back onto the star or got ejected into
dwarf stars could erupt with ‘superflares’, space. Future research should employ a range
outbursts packing ten times more energy than of telescopes in order to investigate the later
the largest known solar flares. Superflares phases of coronal mass ejections around other
could theoretically blast out equally super stars, he added.
coronal mass ejections, but until now These findings suggest that the young Sun
astronomers had not seen any evidence that may have also blasted out giant coronal mass
was true. “Coronal mass ejections are the most ejections that could in turn have influenced
important aspect when it comes to considering the early Earth. “In other words, coronal mass
the effects of superflares on planets, especially ejections may be strongly related with the
our Earth,” Notsu said. environment where life was born,” said Notsu.
Notsu noted that superflares on our Sun do
appear rare. Still, data from tree rings and other
sources suggest the Sun may have hit Earth
with superflares multiple times in the past
10,000 years. “Discussions over the possibilities
and effects of superflares and super coronal
mass ejections on our society are important,”
<< ORPHAN
© Getty

he said.

31
Artemis

GOING
This year,
NASA will
take the
first step in
returning
astronauts
to the lunar

BACK
surface
Reported by Colin Stuart

I
t’s been a long
time since a
human voice
bellowed from the
lunar surface. This year marks
half a century since Apollo
astronaut Gene Cernan left the
last footprints on the Moon in
1972, and a lot has changed

TO THE
since then. That year the first
scientific handheld calculator
was released; today we carry
more computing power in our
pocket than that which safely
guided the Apollo astronauts to
the Moon and back.
Now, at long last, humanity
is about to leave low-Earth orbit
(LEO) once again. Only two
dozen astronauts have achieved
that feat so far, all of them white
men. Soon the first female

MOON
astronaut and astronaut of
colour will join the lauded lists
of moonwalkers. It’s all thanks
to the Artemis program – NASA’s
plan to explore more of the lunar
surface than ever before. By 2025
we could see astronauts walk in
the lunar dust once more, with
the upgrade from grainy black-
and-white video footage that
half a century of technological
progress will bring. A whole new
generation could see themselves
as budding space travellers,
inspired to dream big.

32
 Artemis

5 The Space
4 launch
6 system
It takes a lot of power to
send 26 tonnes worth of
cargo to the Moon

3
1 Four RS-25 engines
NASA claims they’re the most
efficient engines ever built.

2 Solid rocket boosters

Each one is the height of a
17-storey building.

3 Core stage
Contains almost 3 million litres
of propellant, enough to power
the engines for eight minutes.

4 Orion stage adapter

Where small satellites are
stored ahead of delivery to
deep space.

5 Orion spacecraft
The living quarters for the
astronauts that will fly on future
Artemis missions.

6 Interim cryogenic
propulsion stage
The juice needed for the final
push towards the Moon once
Artemis 1 leaves Earth orbit.

© NASA

1 33
 Artemis

2 1

The Artemis 1 flight plan

Artemis 1 will take a highly detailed and complex loop around
the Moon and then come back to Earth

1Injection
Trans-
Lunar 2Propulsion
Cryogenic 3 orbit
Interim Lunar
insertion
4 Heading
home 5 trajectory 6 Return
Return
correction
Final
Trajectory Artemis 1 will 4
Burn Stage Artemis 1 will swing back The spacecraft’s Correction
After entering Once this has use the Moon’s down towards course will be Burn
Earth orbit, separated gravity to the lunar tweaked through Final
rockets will fire from the main slingshot out surface to rocket burns to preparations
for 20 minutes spacecraft, to a distant help slingshot aim for Earth. to make sure
to send the there’s no lunar orbit. it home. the spacecraft
© Adrtian Mann

spacecraft turning back. hits the

towards atmosphere at
the Moon. the right angle.

Left: A motor But pulling this off requires an entirely new filled with near 3 million litres of propellant will
that’s part of launch system – and a bit of practice. This March power the rocket through Earth’s atmosphere.
the Launch
will see the launch of Artemis 1, an uncrewed Once in space, the boosters will be jettisoned
Abort System
on Orion test flight. It will be the maiden use of NASA’s and the core stage will separate from the Orion
undergoes Space Launch System (SLS), a powerful rocket spacecraft atop it. Orion will then orbit the planet
hot-fire testing that will send the new Orion Multi-Purpose Crew while it deploys its solar panels. Finally, the
in 2019
Vehicle (MPCV) on a 380,000-kilometre (236,120- Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will fire
mile) journey to the Moon. If all goes to plan then to eject Orion from orbit and send it on its way
it will be followed by a crewed mission, Artemis 2, towards the Moon.
in 2024. It will test everything out in Earth orbit, Once the ICPS has been discarded it has
then it’s full steam ahead for the history-making another job: to deploy a series of tiny satellites
Artemis 3 crew to land on the lunar south pole and that have hitchhiked along for the ride. They
spend a week there in 2025. include BioSentinel, a mission that will carry yeast
Even without a crew, Artemis 1 will be a record samples beyond LEO. The idea is to study radiation
breaker. “Orion will stay in space longer than any levels and their effect on living organisms,
ship for astronauts has done without docking to providing key insights into keeping astronauts safe
a space station and return home faster and hotter when they fly on Artemis 3. After separation from
than ever before,” says NASA. But first it has to the ICPS, Orion will be propelled and powered
© NASA

leave Earth. Two huge boosters and a core stage by the European Service Module, built by the

34
 Artemis
Left: Once European Space Agency (ESA). “The Service Moon, where it will swoop down close to the lunar
completed, Module will also provide consumables for future surface and use the gravitational kick it receives
Gateway will
crew, including water and oxygen,” says Philippe to enter a so-called ‘distant retrograde orbit’.
be like an
International Berthe, the ESA’s project coordination manager Retrograde means that it will orbit the Moon in the
Space Station for the module. opposite direction to that in which the Moon spins.
in orbit around Artemis 1 may not have a human crew on board, It will stay in that orbit for between 6 and 19 days,
the Moon
but the commander’s seat will be occupied by a and then it will swing back down towards the
Right: The mannequin dressed in the Orion Crew Survival Moon for another kick to help power its 9 to 19 day
Artemis 1 System – a special suit designed to help protect journey back to Earth.
Flight against radiation. Two radiation sensors will This project has been a labour of love for
Control Team
monitor radiation levels. The mannequin will be Berthe, who has been involved with it for nearly
© NASA

simulating
mission strapped in, but the weightless environment also two decades and has seen many obstacles come
scenarios at needs testing, so NASA is flying a zero-gravity and go. “One of the biggest challenges has been
Johnson Space indicator in the form of a Snoopy cuddly toy maintaining support across four administrations,”
Center in
Houston dressed in an iconic orange NASA jumpsuit. The he says. Presidents Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden
comic strip character has a long association with have all wanted to put their spin on it and whether
lunar exploration – the crew of Apollo 10 used it as they wanted to go to the Moon or Mars. The
a nickname for their Lunar Module. timeline has also moved around, from a landing in
So how does the new Service Module compare 2028, then 2024 and now 2025. “The mission has
to the Lunar Modules that sent Apollo astronauts changed a lot of times,” Berthe says.
to the Moon? “The propulsion is largely the same; On top of the politics came the coronavirus
it’s very comparable to the Apollo era,” says Berthe. pandemic, although Berthe says it didn’t have as
Yet half a century of technological progress has big an impact as he feared. “It was difficult for
brought other strides forward. “There have been
vast improvements in solar cells,” Berthe explains,
so that’s where the spacecraft will derive most
of its power. “Computing power is another major
improvement,” says Berthe. The Apollo astronauts

“We can famously flew to the Moon with less computing

power than can be found in an iPhone. That
3 program much meant a lot of manual tasks for the crew. This time
around, the spacecraft’s powerful computers can

more complex do most of the heavy lifting. “We can program

much more complex operations now. The crew

operations now” don’t need to intervene directly in every nitty-

gritty detail,” Berthe says.
Philippe Berthe Artemis 1 will be gone for between 26 and 42
© NASA

days. It’ll take one or two weeks to get to the

Stacking the rocket Before it can launch, the parts are joined together

1Solid Rocket
Boosters 2 Core stage
The boosters are added
The rocket’s
huge core stage
3 Launch
stage adapter 4 cryogenic
vehicle Interim
propulsion stage
The LVSA goes on top
5 Orion stage
adapter 6 Orion
spacecraft
This piece is specific to The preassembled Orion
first. Each one has five is then placed of the core stage to This is bolted into the spacecraft being spacecraft, which carries
segments stacked on between the two allow the rest of the the top of the Launch used and is used to mate the crew, is the last
© NASA

top of each other. rocket boosters. bits to be added. Vehicle Stage Adapter. it to the rocket. piece of the puzzle.

35
 Ar mis
people to cross international borders,” he says. the founder of Amazon and CEO of space travel
For a huge multi-agency project like this, that company Blue Origin, has suggested that the
“somewhat slowed us down”. There are also plenty Moon could be a place to put our heavy industry,
of naysayers – those who argue that sending the idea being that it would free up living space
humans back to the Moon is a waste of time, on Earth and move our atmosphere-polluting
money and resources. We’ve already done it, so infrastructure somewhere where there isn’t even

Orion vs why go back? Especially as we’ve already sent

an armada of robotic spacecraft to both scan the
an atmosphere.
The Moon is also an ideal staging post for

Apollo Moon from orbit and drive across its surface. “An deeper Solar System exploration. The size and
© Lockheed Martin; NASA

astronaut will do in six hours what a robot can do scale of the SLS shows just how hard we have to
in six months,” Berthe says. “It’s more expensive, work to escape from Earth’s gravitational clutches.
How does the new but it’s more efficient.” The Moon’s gravity, which is six times weaker
Orion spacecraft We ultimately also want more than just fleeting than ours, is considerably easier to flee from. As
compare to its Apollo visits. “We want to stay permanently and build past missions have discovered, there’s also a huge
predecessors? something sustainable for the long run,” Berthe amount of water on the Moon. As water is H2O,
says. To this end, an orbital outpost called Gateway that means an abundant supply of oxygen. In fact,
is a big part of the Artemis program. Think of it the Moon’s top layer alone has enough oxygen to
like an International Space Station, but in orbit sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years.
around the Moon – a home considerably further Liquid oxygen is also rocket propellant. That’s

5.03 3.9 away from home. It could be ready as soon as

November 2024 and it is intended to last for 15
years. The hope is that it will be ready in time for
why Artemis Base Camp will be at the Moon’s
south pole. We already know that there’s plenty

Crew module diameter

(metres) the crew of Artemis 3 to dock with.
While aboard Gateway, astronauts will stay
in the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO).
There are also additional docking ports for cargo
ships to come and go with supplies. Astronauts
would then transfer to the Starship Human
Landing System (HLS), a lunar lander based on
Power supply SpaceX’s existing Starship. However, if Gateway
Solar panels and batteries vs
fuel cells and batteries isn’t ready then the crew will transfer directly to
the HLS for landing at Artemis Base Camp.
Initially, stays will be short and largely inside
the lander, but ultimately NASA wants astronauts
living on the lunar surface for at least a month
at a time in purpose-built accommodation. In
September 2021 the agency put out a call for
Crew size Below: companies to submit their proposals for the next
The Orion generation of spacesuits that Artemis astronauts
spacecraft will wear during their history-making moonwalks.
being prepared
Eventually, the space between Earth and the
at Kennedy
Space Center Moon could be swarming with spacecraft ferrying
Mass (tonnes) in Florida goods and astronauts back and forth. Jeff Bezos,
20,500
7,500

Thrust (pounds)

Landing
©NASA

36
 Artemis
of water there. Lunar Flashlight, one of the small work and supporting life away from Earth before Right:
spacecraft hitching a ride on Artemis 1, will we can embark on the first multi-year human An Orion
orbit the Moon and shine infrared lasers into mission to Mars”. spacecraft
witnessing
permanently shadowed craters near the lunar It’s all part of returning to where we came from. Earthrise over
poles to further reveal the quantity and quality The iron in your blood and the calcium in your the craggy
of water ice there. The sunlight at the south pole bones was forged inside stars that blasted them lunar surface
is also favourable – it’s illuminated approximately across the universe when they died. Eventually
Below: Artist’s
90 per cent of the time, compared to two weeks those atoms found themselves inside sentient impression
of daylight followed by two weeks of darkness on creatures who dreamed of sailing between the of an ascent
the rest of the Moon. That’s good news for a colony stars and built cathedral-sized rocket ships to take vehicle
beginning the
powered by solar panels. The combination of these them there. The Artemis 1 launch later this year
journey back
two factors may lead to a time when rocket ships may only be a small step, but it’s an important to Earth
routinely fuel up close to Artemis Base Camp and one. Future historians could look back on it as the
blast off for more distant destinations, such as moment humanity took a giant leap in its return to
Mars and the asteroid belt. the Moon, this time for good.
Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine
certainly sees lunar exploration as a key step on
Colin Stuart
our journey towards becoming an interplanetary Science author and speaker
species. He has said that “we need several years Colin holds a degree in astrophysics,
has written over 17 books on space
in orbit and on the surface of the Moon to build

© NASA
and has an asteroid named in his
operational confidence for conducting long-term honour: 15347 Colinstuart.

“An astronaut will

do in six hours what
a robot can do in six
months” Philippe Berthe

© NASA

37
BLACK HOLE IN MILKY
WAY’S SATELLITE
DEFIES EXPLANATION
Dwarf galaxy Leo I’s giant central area seems too
big for such a small host
Reported by Tereza Pultarova

38
 Leo I

A
tiny galaxy orbiting at the outskirts When the team ran data gathered in the
of the Milky Way appears to have “There is no explanation observations through their computer models,
a giant black hole at its centre, they found that Leo I appears to have basically
comparable to that of the much for this kind of black no dark matter, but a black hole at its centre as
larger Milky Way itself, and scientists don’t know heavy as 3 million Suns. The Sagittarius A* black
why. The Leo I dwarf galaxy, some 820,000 hole in dwarf spheroidal hole at the centre of the Milky Way is only 25 per
light years from Earth, is only about 2,000 light cent larger. “You have a very small galaxy that
years across. Until now, astronomers thought galaxies” is falling into the Milky Way, and its black hole
the galaxy’s mass was about 15 to 30 million is about as massive as the Milky Way’s,” Karl
María José Bustamante
times the mass of our Sun. That’s tiny compared Gebhardt, an astrophysicist also at UT Austin,
to the Milky Way, which is estimated to weigh said. “The mass ratio is absolutely huge.”
as much as 1.5 trillion Suns and whose disc is The discovery came by chance. Scientists The results differ from previous calculations
over 100,000 light years wide. Unexpectedly, set out to measure the amount of dark matter of dark matter in Leo I, the astronomers
at the heart of little Leo I sits a black hole that’s in Leo I using the Virus-W instrument on admitted. The astronomers said previous studies
nearly as large as the one at the heart of the the McDonald Observatory’s Harlan J. Smith were based on less precise data and didn’t have
Milky Way. The discovery defies expectations, Telescope, which measures the motion of stars in access to such powerful supercomputers as the
as astronomers believed giant black holes grew small galaxies around the Milky Way and infers Austin team.
from collisions between galaxies and should the amount of dark matter in those galaxies In previous studies, scientists didn’t see the
correspond with the galaxy’s size. from that motion. Dark matter is invisible, but denser inner regions of the galaxy and mostly
“There is no explanation for this kind of black scientists can measure its concentrations in focused on accessible information about a
hole in dwarf spheroidal galaxies,” María José the universe based on its effects on orbits and few individual stars. These datasets, however,
Bustamante, an astronomy doctoral graduate at velocities of nearby stars. The more dark matter seemed to contain a disproportionate number of
the University of Texas at Austin, said. in the star’s orbit, the faster it travels. slow stars. Calculations based on these biased
datasets then failed to reveal the dark matter
in the inner regions. In the case of Leo I, the
amount of dark matter in the previously unseen
central regions appears much higher than that at
the fringes.

© ESA
© Getty

39
 Star Profile
Rigel
Orion’s brightest star is a powerful
blue supergiant

R
igel – also known as Beta Orionis Hemisphere or the northwestern sky if you are
– is a rare blue supergiant and the in the Southern Hemisphere. It is best seen
brightest star in the constellation of between latitudes of 85 and -75 degrees. Once
Orion (the Hunter). Rigel is nearing you have located Orion in the sky, Rigel can be
the end of its life; having exhausted most of the found in the lower corner of the constellation
hydrogen fuel in its core, the blazing-blue, hot and is easy to distinguish from nearby stars due
star will one day end in a spectacular supernova, to its blue-white colour.
though this won’t be for another few million Rigel is actually the largest star in a multi-star
years. The dazzling beauty is part of a multi-star system. It has three companion stars, though
system with several companion stars. two are so close together they are often treated
Rigel is a variable star that lies about 870 light as the same star. Companion stars Rigel B and
years away from the Sun and is about 120,000 Rigel C are so close together – separated by less
times as luminous. Rigel’s name is popular in than 0.3 arcseconds – that they are only visible to
science fiction. It’s in the name of a number of telescopes that have a high resolving power. The
planets in the Star Trek universe, is mentioned pair have apparent magnitudes of +7.5 and +7.6
in  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and and orbit each other every 63 years. Even harder
is also featured in a number of other novels, to distinguish are the two stars that form Rigel B.
computer games and comic books. The name Both Rigel Ba and Rigel Bb are so close to one
comes from an Arabic phrase, ‘Rijl Jauzah al another they can only be detected through
Yusra’, which means ‘the left leg of the Jauzah’. spectroscopic observations.
The phrase is sometimes translated as ‘the left
leg of the giant’, referring to the constellation of
Orion, which Rigel is a part of.
Rigel is easy to spot in the winter sky, How does rigel compare
shining at a magnitude of +0.12, making it the
seventh-brightest star in the sky. Though as
to other stars in the
Rigel’s brightness varies, it occasionally climbs Milky Way? Betelgeuse
the charts and outshines Auriga’s brightest star
Capella, briefly becoming the sixth-brightest
star in the sky. To locate Rigel you need to first
Antares
identify the constellation of Orion. Orion is
located on the celestial equator and can be seen
throughout the entire world. Finding Orion’s
Belt is the easiest way to locate the constellation.
Orion’s Belt is formed by three bright stars:
Alnilam, Mintaka and Alnitak. Orion is in the
© Getty

southwestern sky if you are in the Northern

Rigel
The Sun
Aldebaran

40
 Rigel

© NASA
Above: Light
from Rigel
reflects off
the dust
composing
the Witch
Head Nebula,
illuminating it

Rigel’s
location
Right ascension:
05H 14M 32.3S

Declination:
-8° 12’ 0.6”

“Rigel is actually the largest star

in a multi-star system – It has
three companion stars”
41
Star profile Rigel

News from Rigel ’s neighbourhood

geuse
Mysterious dimming of Betel
of the huge
The strange dimming seen in 2020
sunspots and
star Betelgeuse may be from giant
y suggests
temperature fluctuations. A new stud
’s surface
a ‘large dark spot’ led to Betelgeuse
turn contributed to
temperature dropping, which in
t’s luminosity or
a temporary dimming in the red gian
ked at molecules in
inherent brightness. The study loo
Betelgeuse to try
the spectra – or light signature – of
to figure out what was going on.
st on 31
When Betelgeuse was at its dimme
ature, meaning
January 2020, its effective temper
emitted
the temperature calculated from its
6 deg rees Kelvin.
radiation, was measured at 3,47
mal luminosity,
But once the star was back to a nor
five per cent
measurements indicated an almost
Given that
temperature rise to 3,646 Kelvin.
y hun dreds of years
Betelgeuse could still be man
rs concluded it
from going supernova, astronome

© ALMA
temporarily by
is unlikely the entire surface cooled
st have been
that amount. They posited that it mu
use’s radiation
a sunspot blocking some of Betelge
from escaping.
A three-sun planet in Orion’s nose star
t a bizarre
There’s now even more evidence tha
n of Orion’s nose may
system perched on the constellatio
the known universe:
contain the rarest type of planet in
ultaneously. A
a single world orbiting three suns sim
the rare planet’s
2021 study offers fresh evidence for
3D simulations to
existence. Researchers conducted
the star system’s
model how the mysterious gaps in
observations of
rings could have formed, based on
discs, elsewhere in
other dust rings, or protoplanetary
hypotheses: either
the universe. The team tested two
ed from the torque
the break in GW Orionis’ rings form
at the system’s centre,
applied by the three twirling stars
et formed within one
or the break appeared when a plan
ed that there’s not
of the rings. The researchers conclud
the stellar torque
enough turbulence in the rings for
t that the presence
theory to work. The models sugges
– or perhaps several
of an enormous, Jupiter-size planet
for the rings’ strange
planets – is the likelier explanation
shape and behaviour.
© ALMA

Brown dwarfs in the Orion Nebulaof brown

population
In 2018, Hubble uncovered a large
a deep survey of
dwarfs in the Orion Nebula during
like any other star
the region. Brown dwarfs start out
h gravity pulling in
– from a cloud of gas and dust, wit
young protostar at
the components tightly, forming a
s, the gravity pushes
the centre. For main sequence star
ins in the core. Brown
inwards until hydrogen fusion beg
crucial stage. Instead
dwarfs, however, fail to reach this
rfs give off very little
they reach a stable state. Brown dwa
tricky to locate – they
light and heat and can therefore be
il the late 1980s.
were merely theoretical objects unt
s is to look for
One way of finding brown dwarf star
es. But due to the
hot water vapour in their atmospher
in our own atmosphere,
absorbing effects of water vapour
However, the Hubble
this is challenging to do from Earth.
ve the atmosphere, is
Space Telescope, residing high abo
ant worlds with its
well positioned to spot water on dist
© NASA/ESA

vey, researchers were

near-infrared vision. During this sur
dwarf companions
able to identify 16 candidate brown
rf pair and one brown
to red dwarf stars, one brown dwa
.
dwarf with a planetary companion

42
 Rigel

Life cycle of a star Nebula

The mass of a stellar object will determine its evolution

Red supergiant Small star

Massive star
Protostar

Neutron star
or pulsar
Red giant
Planetary
nebula

Supernova
Black hole White dwarf

Rigel by numbers 120,000

4
times more luminous

8
than the Sun

million years
Approximate age
of Rigel

79times the diameter

of the Sun
Number of stars in the
Rigel star system
“Rigel is easy
to spot in the
winter sky,

870 11,600
shining at a

21
°C
magnitude
light years
Approximate distance
Approximate surface
temperature
of +0.12”
to Rigel times more massive than
the Sun

43
 WHAT IS A
LIGHT YEAR?
How we measure vast distances
across the universe
Reported by Tim Childers and Jon Gordon

A
light year is a measurement of Unlike the speed of your car when travelling cumbersome and impractical. Starting in
distance and not time, as the name on different roads or in traffic, the speed of our cosmic neighbourhood, the closest star-
might suggest. A light year is the light is constant throughout the universe and forming region to us, the Orion Nebula, is
distance a beam of light travels is known to high precision. In a vacuum, light a short 12,651,053,184,000,000 kilometres
in a single Earth year, or around 9.7 trillion travels at 1,079,252,849 kilometres (670,616,629 (7,861,000,000,000,000 miles) away. Or, more
kilometres (6 trillion miles). On the scale of the miles) per hour. To find the distance of a light simply, 1,300 light years away. The centre of our
universe, measuring distances in kilometres year, you multiply this speed by the number of galaxy is about 27,000 light years away. The
or miles just doesn’t cut it. In the same way hours in a year – 8,766. Therefore one light year nearest spiral galaxy to ours, the Andromeda
that you may measure the distance to the equals 9.5 trillion kilometres (5.88 trillion miles). Galaxy, is 2.5 million light years away. Some of
supermarket in the time it takes to drive there, At first glance this may seem like an extreme the most distant galaxies we can see are billions
astronomers measure the distances of stars in distance, but the enormous scale of the universe of light years from us.
the time it takes for their light to travel to us. For dwarfs this length. Measuring in light years also allows
example, the nearest star to our Sun, Proxima Measuring distances in kilometres or miles astronomers to determine how far back in time
© Getty

Centauri, is 4.2 light years away. at an astronomical scale would be extremely they are viewing. Because light takes time to

44
 What is a light year?

travel to our eyes, everything we view in the

“When you night sky has already happened. In other words,

when you observe something a light year away,

observe you see it as it appeared exactly one year ago.

We see the Andromeda Galaxy as it appeared 2.5

something a million years ago. The most distant object we can

detect, the cosmic microwave background, is also

light year away, our oldest view of the universe, occurring just
after the Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago.

you see it as Astronomers also use parsecs as an alternative

to light years. Short for parallax second, a parsec

it appeared comes from the use of triangulation to determine

the distances of stars. To be more specific, it’s the

exactly one distance to a star whose apparent position shifts

by one arcsecond in the sky after Earth orbits

year ago” halfway around the Sun. One parsec is equal to

3.26 light years.
The light year can also be broken down into
smaller units of light hours, light minutes or
light seconds. For instance, the Sun is just over
eight light minutes from Earth, while the Moon
is just over a light second away. Scientists use
these terms when talking about communications
with deep-space satellites or rovers. Because of
the finite speed of light, it can take more than
20 minutes to send a signal to the Perseverance
rover on Mars, and another 20 to get one back.
Whether it’s light years or parsecs, astronomers
will continue to use both to measure distances in
our expansive and grand universe.

Astronomical distances
A light year is 63,241 times the Earth-Sun
distance, called an astronomical unit

lunar distance

One Astronomical unit

45
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 Instant expert
WHAT IS DARK
MATTER MADE OF?
The phenomena may have come from quantum bags
that got squished together in the early universe

D
ark matter – the mysterious, Astronomers and physicists cannot explain
invisible substance that exerts dark matter, the mysterious substance that
gravity but doesn’t interact with makes up more than 80 per cent of the mass BIO
light – might be made of tiny black of every large structure in the universe, from
holes permeating the universe. And according galaxies to the cosmic web itself. One intriguing
Paul M. Sutter
Paul Sutter
to a new theory, those black holes might have possibility is that dark matter originated from
is a research
been made from Fermi balls, quantum ‘bags’ of black holes. After all, black holes, like dark
professor in
subatomic particles known as fermions that got matter, emit no light. “As a kind of non-luminous
astrophysics at
smooshed together in dense pockets during the and compact object, black holes are a natural
the Institute for Advanced
universe’s infancy. explanation for dark matter,” Xie said.
Computational Science at
This theory could explain why dark matter Astronomers have known for a long time that
Stony Brook University and
came to dominate the universe. Scientists normal stellar-mass black holes can’t explain the
a guest researcher at the
Ke-Pan Xie and collaborator Kiyoharu Kawana, universe’s dark matter. That’s because not nearly
Flatiron Institute in New
from the Center for Theoretical Physics at Seoul enough stars have formed in the history of the
York City. He is also the
National University in South Korea have devised universe to create enough black holes to account
author of two books: Your
a new scenario to explain how dark matter came for the known dark matter. But the earliest
Place in the Universe and
to dominate the universe: in the midst of an moments of the universe featured some pretty
How to Die in Space.
incredible transformation when the cosmos was mind-boggling physics. Perhaps whatever was
less than a second old, a new kind of particle got going on back then spawned trillions of smaller
trapped, collapsing to such a small point that black holes. Those black holes could persist to
they transformed into black holes. Those black the present day, potentially solving the dark
holes then flooded the universe, providing the matter riddle. But to explain dark matter, the
© Alamy

heft required to explain dark matter. theory would have to make enough black holes.

48
 Dark matter

“A new kind of particle got trapped,

collapsing to such a small point that
they transformed into black holes”

Below:
Primordial
black holes
could make up
dark matter,
according to
some theories

© Getty
The first A Frothy The second Bubble
ingredient universe ingredient trouble
Xie and Kawana added several That phase transition didn’t happen To make primordial black holes that As the bubbles grew, fermions
ingredients to their model. They all at once throughout the entire seed dark matter, Xie and Kawana crowded into the remaining pockets,
started with a very young, very universe. Instead there were a needed another ingredient, so they becoming Fermi balls. But there
hot, very dense universe. These few points where the transition added a new kind of fermion to their was an additional force, known
extreme conditions allow some began from and then spread – model. Fermions are a category of as a Yukawa interaction, between
physical processes that do not just as a few bubbles in a pot of particles that make up the building the fermions, caused by that very
happen in the normal conditions of boiling water merge to form bigger blocks of the universe. For instance, same scalar field, Xie and Kawana
the present-day universe. The first bubbles. “This process is called a the electrons, protons and neutrons propose. Fermions don’t like to
ingredient is something called a first-order phase transition: water that make up the atoms in your be crammed into small volumes
scalar field, a quantum mechanical transfers from liquid phase into gas body are all fermions. In the very together, but the scalar field added
entity that encompasses all of phase, and the latter first exists early universe, these fermions an attractive force that could
space. The well-known Higgs field, as growing bubbles,” Xie said. The moved freely within the scalar field. overwhelm that repulsion. Once
which gives matter its mass, is an new scalar field state, called the But according to the recipe that Xie the Yukawa attraction took hold, it
example of one. As the universe ‘ground state’, spreads out from and Kawana have cooked up, these was game over for the little Fermi
expanded and cooled, that scalar these points like a bunch of fizzing fermions couldn’t penetrate the balls. Wedged into little pockets
field underwent a phase transition, bubbles. Eventually, the bubbles little foaming bubbles of the new of a rapidly changing universe, the
transforming from one quantum merge completely, and the scalar ground state of the cosmos as the clumps of fermions catastrophically
state to another. field finishes its transition. phase transition proceeded. collapsed, forming black holes.

49
Geocentric model

GEOCENTRIC
MODEL

THE EARTH-CENTRED
VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE
We explore why the geocentric
model was accepted for so long
Reported by Daisy Dobrijevic

50
 Geocentric model

O
nce widely accepted, the geocentric sky, or ‘heavens’, rotating around it in a series of
model is now the debunked theory layered spheres.
that the Earth is the centre of the Ptolemy’s complicated geocentric model stated
universe, with the Sun and planets that a planet moves in a small circle, known as an
revolving around it – though nevertheless, some epicycle. The epicycle then moves around Earth
people still believe the universe revolves around in a larger circle, known as a deferent. The order
them. In a 2012 survey conducted by the National of the Solar System with regards to the geocentric
Science Foundation of 2,200 people in the United model is Earth – stationary and at the centre – the
States, when asked “does the Earth go around the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter
Sun, or does the Sun go around Earth?”, a quarter and Saturn. As stars appeared to move much
answered incorrectly. slower than the planets, they were placed in the
This antiquated view was once our only outermost sphere, furthest away from Earth.
perspective of the cosmos. The ancient Greeks Despite the complexity of the model, this view
were the first to suggest a geocentric view of the was widely accepted for many years. And most
universe. Eudoxus was the first to create a model of the time the model worked. It could explain
of the geocentric universe in around 380 BCE. why stars appear to rotate around Earth once per
Aristotle then came up with a more detailed day and why planets move differently to stars.
geocentric model, which was later refined by The geocentric model also conformed to religious
Claudius Ptolemaeus, also known as Ptolemy, beliefs at the time, as many Greek philosophers
in his treatise Almagest, released in the 2nd and astronomers believed that the gods created
century CE. NASA states that “Ptolemy represents humans and the heavens are divine, so of course
the epitome of knowledge of Grecian astronomy”. we must lie at the centre of it all.
This is reflected in the fact that the geocentric Scientific models are used to test our
model stood the test of time and was accepted for understanding of the laws of science by predicting
nearly 1,500 years. the behaviour of a system. If observations of a
For thousands of years humans have tried real event match predictions made by a model
to make sense of the skies above, and our
understanding of the universe has evolved
alongside technological advances and scientific “The ancient Greeks
knowledge. When gazing up at the sky from what
feels like a fixed reference point and witnessing were the first to
the stars and planets dance across the sky, we can
understand why the ancient Greeks adopted the suggest a geocentric
geocentric view of the universe. They believed that
the Earth they stood on was at the centre, with the view of the universe”

Right: Galileo
Galilei made
numerous
observations
supporting the
heliocentric
view of the
universe

Tap here
to play
© Getty

51
Geocentric model

geocentrism 1 Round and Round

The concept of orbits was
well understood, but theories
differed. Geocentrism plotted the
course of the planets from Earth’s
1 perspective over a number of
years, resulting in curly orbits.

2 Centre of Attention

© NASA/JPL-Caltech
People assumed Earth was
at the centre of the universe
because of the Catholic Church’s
interpretation of scriptures.
2 Supporters of Copernicus tried to
prove this theory was incorrect.

“Though more accurate,

3 Moon Gazing
By observing the moons of
other planets, astronomers found Copernicus’ heliocentric
evidence for the heliocentric
theory, finding that Earth could
both move and keep the Moon in
model still had flaws”
its orbit at the same time.
Copernicus suggested that Mars’ retrograde motion

heliocentrism 4 Here Comes the Sun

We now know that planets
circle the Sun, not Earth. By
across the sky was merely an illusion caused by
Earth ‘overtaking’ the Red Planet as they orbit
the Sun. Copernicus’ heliocentric model failed to
placing the Sun at the centre of
fully explain the motion of the planets as it was
6 the Solar System, we’re able to
observe that the planets move in based on the planets moving in perfect circles.
an elliptical path around it. Johannes Kepler later refined the model by
stating that the planets moved in elliptical orbits
3
5 Moons of Jupiter
Telescopes allowed scientists
to observe the sky in great detail.
rather than circular. Kepler’s updated model then
matched observations perfectly, so the model no
As Galileo observed moons longer needed reworking. Despite the evidence
4 orbiting Jupiter, it disproved supporting the simplified heliocentric model, the
the idea that all celestial bodies scientific community was slow to accept a shift
revolved around Earth.
from an Earth-centred view to a Sun-centred one.

6
The theory had been accepted by most for over
Written in the Stars 1,500 years after all.
Geocentrism dictated that
The main turning point for heliocentric
stars moved around the Earth.
5 However, the stars are fixed. It’s acceptance was when Galileo Galilei gazed up at
the rotation of Earth on its axis the sky with a telescope in 1610. Galileo made
that makes it appear as if the countless discoveries, but two in particular proved
stars move around us.
key in confirming the heliocentric view of the
Solar System. First, Galileo discovered moons
orbiting around Jupiter, proving objects could orbit
bodies other than Earth. Secondly, he discovered
that, like the Moon, Venus had phases, which
further confirmed the theory that Venus – and the
then we know the model is a good fit; however, if model and proposed that Earth and the other other planets in the Solar System – orbit the Sun.
the observations don’t match predictions made, planets revolve around the Sun. This Sun-centred It took almost a century for the new heliocentric
then the model needs to be reworked. Though the heliocentric model simplified the motion of the model to be accepted after it was first proposed by
geocentric model stood the test of time for nearly planets by removing the more complicated ideas of Copernicus. Eventually, scientists couldn’t reject it
1,500 years and could explain some observations epicycles and deferents. Aware of his controversial anymore due to the mounting scientific evidence
of the cosmos, as well as conforming to religious views that we, ‘creations of God’, were no longer in support of heliocentrism. The new Sun-centred
beliefs, it was by no means ‘simple’. at the centre of the universe, Copernicus waited model fundamentally changed our view of the
Occam’s razor is a term used by scientists to help to publish his theory, De revolutionibus orbium universe and continues to aid our understanding of
guide the creation of theoretical models. It doesn’t coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly solar systems beyond our own.
necessarily mean to go with the simplest theory Spheres), until 1543, the year of his death.
whether it’s right or wrong, but instead tries to cut Copernicus stated his heliocentric model could
Daisy Dobrijevic
through the clutter to find the best theory based explain the apparent changes in the motion of the Staff Writer
on the best scientific principles and knowledge planets, and the Copernican Revolution began. Daisy is All About Space’s Staff Writer.
She previously worked for BBC Factual
at the time. At the beginning of the 16th century, Though more accurate than the geocentric model, as a researcher and BBC Sky at Night
Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the geocentric Copernicus’ heliocentric model still had its flaws. magazine as an editorial assistant.

52
 Geocentric model

5
2

6
4
1

The centre of it all AR SCAN HERE

Each planet was thought to reside in its own ‘heavenly sphere’

1 Middle Earth
According to the
geocentric model,
2 in orbit
Stars and planets
all revolved around
3 Far stars
Since the planets
appeared to move
4 circling back
All objects in the
sky were attached to
5 Seeing red
Mars’ retrograde
motion was particularly
6 speed limit
The geocentric
model assumed that
Earth was stationary the Earth. faster than the stars, spherical shells, and problematic for all objects obeyed
and at the centre of the Greeks placed them therefore followed Ptolemy, and his the rules of ‘natural
the universe. closer to Earth, with circular paths around geocentric model motion’, meaning they
© Nicholas Forder

the stars located in the the Earth. failed to accurately orbited around Earth at
outermost sphere. predict the Red the same speed.
Planet’s position.

53
 © Getty

54
 General relativity

GENERAL RELATIVITY
PASSES ITS TOUGHEST
TEST YET
The theory, which Albert Einstein published
in 1915, remains undefeated
Reported by Mike Wall

G
eneral relativity has withstood minutes, each of them moving through space at
perhaps its toughest challenge around 1 million kilometres (620,000 miles) per
to date. The theory, which Albert hour, team members said.
Einstein published in 1915, “Such fast orbital motion of compact
revolutionised our understanding of physics objects like these – they are about 30 per cent
and the cosmos. It explains gravity as a more massive than the Sun but only about
consequence of space-time’s flexibility: massive 24 kilometres [15 miles] across – allows us
objects warp space-time, creating depressions to test many different predictions of general
around which other bodies orbit. Scientists relativity – seven in total!” Dick Manchester of
have put general relativity to the test repeatedly the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
over the past 106 years, trying to find situations Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s
or circumstances in which it comes up short. national science agency, said. And the quality Right: We
only spot
They haven’t yet found one. matched the quantity. The study achieved pulsars when
© Tobias Roetsch

In a new study, researchers report the results levels of precision unprecedented for a general their light is
of one of the most ambitious and involved relativity test. directed at
challenges to general relativity ever undertaken. “Apart from gravitational waves and light Earth
They analysed observations of a double-pulsar propagation, our precision allows us to also
system made by seven different radio telescopes measure the effect of the time dilation that
around the world from 2003 to 2019. Pulsars makes clocks run slower in gravitational
are a type of neutron star, superdense stellar fields,” Manchester said. “We even need to mechanics. It’s therefore important to continue
corpses that emit powerful beams of radiation take Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2 into to place the most stringent tests upon general
and particles from their magnetic poles. These account when considering the effect of the relativity as possible to discover how and when
beams are continuous, but they appear to pulse electromagnetic radiation emitted by the fast- the theory breaks down,” Robert Ferdman, a
because pulsars are rotating and this light can be spinning pulsar on the orbital motion.” All physicist at the University of East Anglia, said.
seen only when a pole is pointed at Earth. seven of the tested predictions were borne out, “Finding any deviation from general relativity
The pulsar pair that the research team the study found. General relativity remains would constitute a major discovery that would
investigated lies about 2,400 light years from undefeated, but that doesn’t mean that open a window on new physics beyond our
Earth. One of the pulsars spins 44 times per researchers should stop trying to find current theoretical understanding of the
second, whereas the other completes one cracks in it. universe,” Ferdman added. “And it may help us
rotation every 2.8 seconds. The two objects “General relativity isn’t compatible with the towards eventually discovering a unified theory
orbit a common centre of mass once every 147 other fundamental forces described by quantum of the fundamental forces of nature.”

55
Big Bang

THE BIG
BANG
THEORY
56
 Big Bang

It’s our best model

of how the universe
works, but where
did it come from?
Reported by Andrew May

P
eople have always sought out ‘big-picture’ theories
that explain how the universe began, what it looks
like on the largest scales and how it evolves over
time. In the past, such theories were often based
more on human imagination than anything else. But our present
best contender, the Big Bang theory, is much better than that. It’s
based on a mixture of observational evidence and a mathematical
understanding of how space and matter behave on very large
scales, and most astronomers believe it probably comes quite
close to the truth.
There are two reasons we no longer need to rely on pure
imagination to visualise the evolution of the universe. First
there’s the fact that we can actually see into the distant past.
That’s because light travels at a finite speed, so when a telescope
shows us a galaxy a billion light years away, we’re seeing it as
it was a billion years ago. The second important factor is the
universality of the laws of physics. This means we can study
physics in laboratories here on Earth and know that exactly the
same principles must apply to the rest of the universe as well.
Putting state-of-the-art observations and some very
sophisticated physics together is what’s given us the Big Bang
theory. According to this, the universe began approximately 13.8
billion years ago as an infinitesimally tiny point, smaller than the
smallest subatomic particle, with an unimaginably high density
and temperature. From this minuscule beginning the universe
rapidly expanded in size, eventually forming all the stars and
© Getty

galaxies we see today.

57
 Big Bang

Observing the cosmic microwave background

We can’t see the Big Bang itself, but the CMB is the next best thing
COBE WMAP Planck
The first space mission designed to study the A second NASA spacecraft, the Wilkinson Planck was the European Space Agency’s follow
CMB was NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer, Microwave Anisotropy Probe, mapped the on to WMAP. Operating from 2009 to 2013, it
launched in 1989. It found the CMB is much more CMB between 2001 and 2010, confirming the remapped the CMB with higher sensitivity and
uniform across the sky than expected. astonishing uniformity. resolution than its predecessor.

A
ES
©

© NASA
© NASA

© ESA
“The notion of For many, there’s something very appealing about the Big Bang
theory, quite apart from its scientific veracity. With its image
data for a number of galaxies beyond our own:
their distances, based on the observed brightness

a beginning is of a single, dramatic moment of creation, it conforms to earlier

mythological and religious accounts, which gives it an air of
of individual stars in them, and the speed at
which they’re moving away from us, based on

repugnant to familiarity for non-scientists. On the other hand, in its early days the
theory met with opposition from some members of the scientific
spectroscopic measurements. To his astonishment,
he found that the further away a galaxy is, the

me… I simply community, who felt instinctively that the universe should be
constant and unchanging. The eminent British astronomer Arthur
higher its recession speed. That could mean only
one thing – that the whole of space is in a state of

do not believe Eddington, for example, wrote that “the notion of a beginning is
repugnant to me… I simply do not believe that the present order of
expansion. You can think of it like a fruit cake in
the oven. As the dough rises, all the raisins move

that the things started off with a bang.” It was another British scientist, Fred
Hoyle, who actually coined the term ‘Big Bang’ to describe a theory
further apart from each other – but in this case
these raisins are galaxies.

present order he disagreed with. Both Eddington and Hoyle were familiar with
Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which describes how space
While an expanding universe is consistent
with the Big Bang theory, it doesn’t necessarily

of things and matter behave on large scales. In its earliest form, the Big Bang
theory originated in the 1920s as a solution of Einstein’s equations
require it. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, you
can have a universe that’s in a constant state of

started off – but it wasn’t the only solution. The same equations also permit
a perfectly static universe, so observational evidence was needed
expansion and yet eternal and unchanging at the
same time. It just needs a small amount of new

with a bang” before scientists could choose between the options.

The first step in establishing the reality of the Big Bang was the
matter – a few hundred atoms per year per galaxy
– to be continuously created in order to maintain a
Arthur Eddington discovery that the universe is expanding. This key breakthrough constant average density as the universe expands.
was made in 1929 by Edwin Hubble, who compared two sets of This ‘steady-state theory’, championed by Hoyle

58
 Big Bang
and others, became a serious competitor to the Big
Bang in the mid-20th century.
Yet the Big Bang prevailed in the end, and the
steady-state picture fell by the wayside. Thanks
to further observational evidence, we now know
that Hoyle was wrong in assuming the universe
has always looked the way it does today. Instead
it’s evolved over time, just as the Big Bang theory
predicts. For example, Hubble images of the most
distant galaxies, which we see not long after they
were formed, look distinctly different than the
mature galaxies we see closer to home – they’re
smaller and more irregular. However, that’s a
relatively recent discovery, and the real clincher
came back in the 1960s with the discovery of the
cosmic microwave background (CMB). This proved
to be the kiss of death for the steady-state theory.
The CMB is sometimes described as the ‘echo of

© NASA/ESA
the Big Bang’, and if that were true then it would
clearly be a great way to prove the theory correct.
But the reality isn’t that simple. For one thing,
when Fred Hoyle put the ‘bang’ in Big Bang, he
wasn’t thinking of a literal sound, but a metaphor
for the sudden onset of the universe’s expansion

Expansion
from an initial, highly compressed state. There’s no prior to the surface of last scattering, astronomers
question of ‘hearing’ the bang, or an echo of it, but were able to compare the CMB observations with

vs explosion
could a sufficiently powerful telescope see all the physics theories and computer models and make
way back to that point, 13.8 billion years ago? a best guess. And when they did, the result wasn’t
Unfortunately, even that isn’t possible. When anywhere near as simple as theoreticians expected.
the universe was younger and smaller, it was The universe didn’t start The problem is that the CMB is simply too
also hotter, and in its earliest stages it was filled with a giant explosion – uniform across different parts of the sky. Scientists
with a glowing, super-hot plasma like the Sun. the reality is much subtler found it impossible to reconcile this with the idea
That’s something a telescope can never penetrate, Although the Big Bang is often that the universe has always been expanding at
Above: Hubble
because the plasma scatters light in the same described as an explosion, the relatively slow rate we observe today. Instead
images show
way that clouds scatter sunlight. Just as we can’t that’s a misleading image. In an the distant they had to assume a very brief period of cosmic
see above the cloud base, a telescope can’t peer explosion, fragments are flung galaxy GN-z11 inflation, during which the universe grew at a
out from a central point into a as it was soon
further back in time than the so-called ‘surface of pre-existing space. If you were truly enormous rate.
after the
last scattering’, around 380,000 years after the Big at the central point, you’d see all Cosmologists have worked out the exact figures
Big Bang
Bang. It’s radiation from this surface – coming at the fragments moving away from for this inflation, but they’re almost impossible
you with roughly the same speed.
us more or less uniformly from all directions – that to express in everyday terms. NASA makes a
But the Big Bang wasn’t like that.
forms the cosmic microwave background. It was an expansion of space brave attempt, describing the inflationary phase
The CMB is an example of a phenomenon that itself – a concept that comes out as lasting “less than a trillionth of a trillionth of
was predicted theoretically before it was observed of Einstein’s equations of general a second”, in which time the universe expanded
relativity but has no counterpart
experimentally. Robert Dicke of Princeton “from a subatomic size to a golf-ball size” at a
in the classical physics of
University realised it would be the perfect way to everyday life. It means that all rate “far faster than the speed of light”. Einstein
verify the Big Bang theory and kill off its steady- the distances in the universe are supporters might be taken aback by that last
state rival. He was busy devising an experiment to stretching out at the same rate. statement, but in fact his prohibition against faster-
Any two galaxies separated by
detect it when, in 1965, he heard about a problem than-light speeds only applies to the measured
distance X are receding from each
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were having other at the same speed, while a velocity of one object relative to another. In this
in an unrelated experiment at the nearby Bell galaxy at distance 2X recedes at case it’s the fabric of space itself that’s expanding
Telephone Laboratories. Dicke realised that Penzias twice that speed. faster than light, and that’s perfectly legal within
and Wilson had inadvertently detected the CMB, the framework of relativity.
providing astronomers with the best evidence yet It was only after the end of the inflationary
for the Big Bang. period, when the universe had settled down to
Combining Hubble’s imagery of distant galaxies a more sedate expansion rate, that conditions
with satellite measurements of the CMB, we now became ‘normal’ enough for matter – in the
have pretty good observational data covering form of subatomic particles – to appear. As the
the entire history of the universe back to expansion continued, the initially super-hot
within 380,000 years or so of the Big universe gradually cooled to temperatures where
Bang. But what happened before then? these particles could combine into atoms, which
Although nothing can be observed directly eventually began to form stars and galaxies.

59
 This brings us to the end of the ‘Big Bang’, that’s been used so far isn’t quite right. Ironically,
insofar as the term refers to the birth of the Einstein himself may have pointed the way to
universe, but the Big Bang theory goes beyond the correct solution, way back before Edwin
this, describing the whole evolutionary history of Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding.
the universe to the present day and beyond. In this Einstein’s own solution was a non-expanding
broader context, it turned out that observational static universe, but to achieve this he had to insert
astronomers had another surprise in store for another factor – called the cosmological constant
the theoreticians. – into the equations. It was an idea that was
In the original version of the Big Bang theory abandoned after Hubble’s discovery, with Einstein
– the one that came from a solution of Einstein’s describing it as his biggest blunder. But a judicious
general relativity equations back in the 1920s choice of non-zero cosmological constant can
– the rate at which the universe expands isn’t produce an effect that, to all intents and purposes,
constant. It gradually slows down over time, is identical to dark energy – so Einstein may have
pulled back by the combined gravity of all the been right after all.
Hubble’s successor will matter in the universe. Turning this the other
look back to the birth way around, it should be possible to calculate the
Andrew May
of galaxies total mass of the universe simply by measuring Space science writer
how quickly the expansion rate is slowing down. Andrew holds a PhD in
A telescope is almost like a computational astrophysics and has
In the 1990s, a research team attempted to do

© NASA
time machine, allowing us to written several books on space and
peer back into the distant past. exactly this by graphing expansion speed versus related subjects.
With the aid of Hubble, NASA distance for a special class of astronomical object –
has shown us galaxies as they Type 1a supernovae.
were many billions of years ago.
Hubble’s successor, the James The result wasn’t what they, or anyone else,
Webb Space Telescope, has the Right: Artist’s expected. It turned out that the expansion of the
ability to look even deeper into impression of universe isn’t slowing down at all – it’s speeding
the past. NASA hopes it will see the universe
up. It was one of the most important cosmological
all the way back to when the coming into
first galaxies formed, nearly 13.6 existence discoveries of recent times, and it won them the
billion years ago. And unlike Nobel Prize. It means that, on the largest scales,
Hubble, which sees mainly in Below: The something is counteracting the effect of gravity,
the visible waveband, Webb grand design
pushing galaxies apart faster and faster. As yet, no
is an infrared telescope – a big of nearby
advantage when looking at very
distant galaxies. The expansion
galaxies
developed over
one knows what this mysterious ‘something’ is,
but it’s been given the spooky-sounding name of Before the
of the universe means that waves
emitted from them are stretched
out, so light that was emitted
time; closer
to the Big
Bang they’re
scrappier
dark energy.
As weird as it sounds, though, dark energy
doesn’t contradict Einstein’s theory of general
Big Bang
at visible wavelengths actually
reaches us in the infrared. looking relativity. It just means the particular solution
Our Big Bang may
have been just one of
countless similar events
Everything in our universe
originated after the Big Bang,
so there are no conceivable
observations we can make that
would tell us anything about
what happened before then.
For some scientists this makes
the question of what happened
before the Big Bang meaningless,
but for others it’s no obstacle
to theoretical speculation.
One of the most intriguing
suggestions is the concept of
eternal inflation. The current
Big Bang theory requires the
universe to go through an initial
period of very rapid inflation,
which then transitioned abruptly
to the more sedate expansion
we see today. But what if when
our own universe dropped out
of this inflationary phase it was
just a tiny bubble in a vast sea of
inflating space? This is the idea
behind eternal inflation, which
© NASA/JPL-Caltech

would see a whole host of other

bubble universes popping up at
different times in other parts of
the inflationary sea.

60
 Big Bang

Dark energy: is it real?

“It turned Science writer Brian Clegg has doubts, as he explains

out that the The discovery of dark energy has changed our

© Charter Photography
whole understanding of how the universe expands
and evolves over time – but does it really exist? One
expansion of person who isn’t so sure is Brian Clegg, author of
Dark Matter and Dark Energy

the universe What’s the problem with dark energy?

isn’t slowing I have a lot of sympathy with the idea that it doesn’t exist at all. The
original measurement was based on a correction of the data to handle
the fact that both the Milky Way and supernovae are moving, but
down at there are huge assumptions required to do this. Some recent work,
using a much larger dataset, eliminated some of these assumptions

all – it’s and produced no dark energy effect.

speeding up” What research could be done to resolve things?

The study I mentioned looked at 740 supernovae, compared with
about 110 in the original study. We need to get more data still, and
more accuracy as equipment is upgraded, to get a clearer picture.

© Alamy

61
Reported by Mike Wall

NEW ROCKY EXOPLANET

HAS A YEAR LESS THAN
EIGHT HOURS LONG
The iron-rich planet orbits very close to its host and exhibits
scorching temperatures

62
 GJ 367b

A
newfound alien world could shed
some light on one of the darkest and “By measuring the precise fundamental properties
strangest corners of the exoplanet
family tree. The planet, known as of the planet, we can get a glimpse of the system’s
GJ 367b, circles a small, dim red dwarf star just
31 light years from the Sun. For perspective, formation and evolution history” Kristine Wei Fun Lam
our Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 light
years wide. GJ 367b is a rocky world about 70 orbital period, as well as its size relative to its It’s unclear how GJ 367b formed, but a few
per cent as large as Earth and 55 per cent as host star. The researchers characterised the different scenarios could explain its structure
massive, making it one of the lightest known planet further with the aid of the High Accuracy and composition. For example, it’s possible that
exoplanets. It completes one orbit every 7.7 hours Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), an the planet formed from oddly iron-rich building
and is therefore an ultra-short period planet – a instrument installed on the European Southern blocks. Or GJ 367b may be the remnant of a
mysterious and little-studied class of world. Observatory’s 3.6-metre Telescope in Chile. larger planet, much of whose mass was stripped
“We already know a few of these, but their The HARPS measurements showed how much away by stellar radiation or a giant impact.
origins are currently unknown,” Kristine Wei GJ 367b was tugging on its host star, allowing GJ 367b’s weirdness is very intriguing
Fun Lam of the Institute of Planetary Research the scientists to calculate the exoplanet’s mass. to planetary scientists and astrophysicists.
at the German Aerospace Center, which is Combining the various observations enabled “Understanding how these planets get so close to
known by its German acronym DLR, said. “By the astronomers to determine GJ 367b’s density, their host stars is a bit of a detective story,” TESS
measuring the precise fundamental properties of which is higher than Earth’s. “The high density team member Natalia Guerrero, an astrophysics
the planet, we can get a glimpse of the system’s indicates the planet is dominated by an iron PhD student at the University of Florida, said.
formation and evolution history.” core,” DLR’s Szilárd Csizmadia said. “These “How did it move close in? Was this process
The scientists discovered GJ 367b using data properties are similar to those of Mercury, with peaceful or violent? Hopefully this system will
gathered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey its disproportionately large iron and nickel core give us a little more insight.” That insight may
Satellite (TESS), which launched to Earth orbit that differentiates it from other terrestrial bodies indeed come in the not-too-distant future. Given
in April 2018. TESS hunts for planets using the in the Solar System.” GJ 367’s relative proximity to Earth, astronomers
transit method, noting the tiny brightness dips GJ 367b is not a good candidate to harbour life should be able to study it using a variety of
caused when a world crosses its star’s face from as we know it. Because of its extreme proximity instruments going forward.
the spacecraft’s perspective. The discovery to its host star, the planet is blasted by stellar
team spotted such a dip in TESS observations radiation, absorbing about 500 times the amount
of the red dwarf GJ 367, which is about half as that Earth receives from the Sun. If GJ 367b ever
wide as our Sun, then confirmed that the signal had a substantial atmosphere, it was almost
was caused by a transiting planet. The TESS certainly lost to space long ago. And the planet
observations also revealed GJ 367b’s super-short is likely tidally locked, always showing the same
face to its host star, with temperatures reaching
up to 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,700 degrees
Fahrenheit) on its scorching dayside.

© SPP 1992 (Patricia Klein)

63
 MYSTERIES OF
THE

UNIVERSE

THE PLANET THAT

SHOULDN’T EXIST
This two-star system with a mass six times
that of our Sun emits extreme radiation, yet
somehow a planet has still managed to form
Reported by David Crookes

Y
ou would think that a planet which is 11 times as
massive as Jupiter – itself the largest planet in the Solar
System – would be very easy to spot. But that’s not
always the case. If the method of discovery isn’t quite
good enough, then it’s always going to be much more difficult to find
something, even if it’s hiding in plain sight. This can lead to theories
that turn out to be incorrect, and that’s what recently came to light
when an exoplanet suddenly popped into view during a wide-
ranging sky survey. Before this happened, some scientists firmly
believed that planets couldn’t form around stars that were more
than three times as big as the Sun. But that was primarily because
no one had ever found any that did. They have now.
Late in 2021, astronomers simply couldn’t believe their eyes.
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT)
had captured an image of a planet orbiting the two-star system b
© Alamy

Centauri. It looked huge, and indeed it was, for this exoplanet has

64
b Centauri b

65
 b Centauri b
Sun, which has burned for more than 4.5 million orbit around the Sun, and it’s relatively circular, Right: The
years. Still, it’s easily seen in the night sky. “Unless which is opposed to being highly elliptical,” b Centauri
system, circled
you live quite far north on Earth, you can see affirms Janson of a planetary orbit that’s among
in red, is in the
the constellation of Centaurus in the night sky the widest ever known. constellation
during spring and summer,” Janson says. “The star Yet the planet is intriguing astronomers for of Centaurus;
system b Centauri can also be easily seen with reasons other than it simply being found. It’s the stars are
visible to the
the unaided eye in that constellation, if the sky is already throwing up a host of mysteries about how
naked eye
reasonably dark.” it formed, primarily because it’s in an environment
So why was the system’s planet, called that’s completely different to anything experienced
b Centauri b, missed by previous methods. One in our Solar System. Not only is it the hottest
of the biggest reasons is that this exoplanet is and largest planet-hosting system known to date
325 light years away in an orbit that’s so far out, – its main star is three times as hot as the Sun,
it’s equivalent to 100 times the distance Jupiter and combined the two stars are six to ten times
orbits the Sun. There was no chance of the Doppler heftier than the Sun – it’s emitting large amounts
method finding an exoplanet this far from a star. of ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray radiation. Such heat

© ESO
“The orbit is about 100 times wider than Jupiter’s and the large mass of the star would have a strong

“The main idea of the study was to Tap here

check whether or not very massive to play
stars can form and host planets
around them” Markus Janson

67
MYSTERIES OF
THE

UNIVERSE

“Intense emissions would

have had a huge impact
back when the planet
formed because it creates a
hostile environment”
Markus Janson

Left: The
VLT is an
array of four
telescopes,
each with a
main mirror
8.2 metres
(26.9 feet) in
diameter. They
can observe
individually
or collectively

Tap here
to play
© ESO

68
 b Centauri b
impact on the surrounding
gas, and that means planets
environment implies that planet
formation is a very robust process
Three potential
shouldn’t be able to form.
“We know b Centauri b is a
which can operate in more
diverse environments than we had
explanations
gas giant about 11 times heavier A/
ES
A
imagined,” Janson says. But what’s key How did it form in such
challenging conditions?
S
than Jupiter – a class sometimes NA to the planet’s survival? It may be due to
©

referred to as super-Jupiters,” Janson its trajectory around the two-star system.

explains. “But the intense UV and X-ray emissions As noted, b Centauri b is a wide-orbit giant Planet formation
would have had a huge impact back when planet. You’d have to travel from Earth to the Sun is robust
the planet formed because it creates a hostile 560 times before you’ve covered the distance These theories look to account
for the intense amounts of
environment. Newly formed stars have discs of between the exoplanet and its star. But that could
radiation emitted by the huge
ice and dust and gas around them, and it’s from have worked in its favour. “Most likely, the wide main star in the system, since
this material that planets form. But UV and X-ray orbit of the planet was a key aspect that allowed this creates an environment in
radiation have a detrimental effect on such discs, it to form,” says Janson. “At such a large distance which planets shouldn’t really be
able to form. But maybe planets
destroying molecules and forcing them out of the from the star, the impact of the high-energy can form and flourish in such
system.” radiation would be somewhat diminished and the environments. Perhaps, as Janson
The theory is that such high-energy radiation disc could survive for longer.” says, planet formation is possible
evaporates material. Yet here we have b Centauri b, Quite how it formed is still unknown, though. in “more diverse environments
than we had imagined”.
a particularly large planet. “The fact we are One possibility is that the planet didn’t form in its
seeing a planet in such a seemingly hostile present location. It may have formed elsewhere

© Getty
Above: Just
like Jupiter,

Imaging a previously b Centauri b is

a gas giant
Formed close and
booted out
unseen giant planet A standard theory for the
formation of gas giants is core
accretion. An icy core forms from
How b Centauri b was directly observed by the European collisions between planetesimals,
then gas in the protoplanetary
Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope disc is attracted. This could have
happened with b Centauri b,

1planet
The newly
discovered 2 background
star 3 The
star system 4 clear image
binary Getting a
It’s not easy spotting Just as the Sun is The SPHERE
forming close to the binary
star before being forced by
gravitational interactions to move
planets, especially 11 times wider than instrument on the to its present location.
The planet can
be seen here as a when there are Jupiter, the b Centauri VLT was used to
bright dot. While it’s background stars two-star system is take the image. A
pictured small, it’s to filter out. Here more prominent in specialised telegraphic
actually 11 times as the background star this image than its attachment called a
massive as Jupiter, looks similar to the orbiting planet. With coronagraph blocked
which is itself 2.5 planet, but when a mass six times that out the direct light
astronomers take of the Sun, you’d from the star so that

© Getty
times more massive
than all the other multiple images at expect it to be. the objects around it
planets in the Solar different times, the wouldn’t be obscured
System combined. planet’s movement by the glare. Gravitational instability
makes it stand out.
Another theory suggests the core
accretion happened close to its
present location. This supposes
2 that the planet hasn’t moved.
The mass of the protoplanetary
disc will have been so great that
part of it collapsed in on itself,
4 creating a planet that orbits the
star. It’s an unusual way to form
3 a gas giant, but it’s possible this
could happen.
© ESO/SPHERE Project

1
© Alamy
© ESO

69
MYSTERIES OF
THE

UNIVERSE
and found its way to the b Centauri system. “We have a lot of evidence to suggest that most gas The next step is going to be making use of
cannot exclude that the planet formed somewhere giant planets don’t form like that, but instead form the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which is
else than where we see it today,” Janson says. “It’s when solids in the disc gradually build up bigger still under construction but will have 256 times
possible for planets to shift across large distances and bigger systems, which eventually become so the light-gathering area of the Hubble Space
in the discs they form in, and it’s even possible for massive that they pull in a thick gas atmosphere Telescope. It’s based on top of Cerro Armazones
planets to ‘jump’ from one star to another if two around them. But that doesn’t mean that formation in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, and first
stellar systems happen to pass very close by each through gravitational instability couldn’t happen in light is being planned for 2027. “We hope to find
other. However, in most cases where such events some instances. Perhaps that could be the case in more planets around massive stars so we can say
take place, the orbit becomes highly elliptical, and the b Centauri system.” something about their statistical properties,” says
usually not near-circular as with b Centauri b. It certainly adds to the intrigue, and the task Janson. “We also hope to characterise them with
“There’s also no indication that the b Centauri now is for astronomers to continue observing spectroscopy to figure out what they’re made of,
system would have passed particularly near to any the exoplanet and the two-star system. In this which would also give us clues about the details of
other stellar systems in the past. The most likely instance, most of the insights were gained from how they formed.
scenario is that the planet formed relatively close the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet “With the ELT we could detect much smaller
to where we see it.” If this is the case, though, REsearch (SPHERE) instrument mounted on the planets, and in an even wider range of systems.
it still begs the question of how it could have VLT, which is situated in Chile. It was capable of This will hopefully help us solve how planets
survived the environment created by the hot two- taking a direct image of b Centauri b, but it wasn’t form, and also to examine aspects such as in
star system. actually the first time it had been captured. which kinds of systems life could arise and
According to Janson, the more likely explanation When the team looked back over survive,” he concludes.
is that it formed via gravitational instability. supplementary data from the archives, they saw
“Sometimes a cloud of gas in space can become the exoplanet had been imaged more than 20
gravitationally unstable,” he says. “This means years ago by the ESO 3.6-metre Telescope, also in
David Crookes
that it collapses under its own weight and falls Chile. This telescope hosts the exoplanet hunter Science and technology journalist
together into a compact object. “It has long been HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet David has been reporting on space,
science and technology for many
hypothesised that if such a gas collapse happened Searcher), yet no one had figured out what had years, has contributed to many books
in a disc around a star, it could form a planet. We been captured back then. and is a producer for BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Most likely, the wide orbit of the

planet was a key aspect that allowed
it to form”
Markus Janson

Right: Artist’s
concept
of nearby
Proxima
Centauri b
depicted as
a massive
© ESO

rocky world

70
 CELEBRATE THE YEAR
IN SPACE SCIENCE
Explore the most exciting discoveries, research and missions from the past
year in space science. Walk on Mars with the Perseverance rover, meet the
exoplanet probes seeking out new worlds, challenge Einstein’s law, and more!

ON SALE
NOW

Ordering is easy. Go online at:

Or get it from selected supermarkets & newsagents

 “more design changes
to the program are
already underway,
to start flying during
the ninth mission of
the SLS”

72
 SLS boosters

NASA ORDERS MORE

MEGABOOSTERS FOR
MOON MISSIONS
The new contract will support Space Launch
System (SLS) missions through Artemis 9
Reported by Elizabeth Howell

N
ASA just awarded a contract worth mergers in the last decade. The SLS boosters are authorises production and operation for boosters
$3.19 billion (£2.36 billion) to designed to be one-time use – not reusable, as the supporting the missions Artemis 4 through 8,
build rocket boosters for Artemis Space Shuttle program asked for – and include a along with evaluation of a new booster design to
missions through 2031. The new fifth segment over the shuttle’s four. Northrop fly on Artemis 9.
award builds on a previous 2020 contract Grumman’s statement about the new contract As of December 2021, Northrop Grumman says
authorising Northrop Grumman to prepare for indicates more design changes to the program it has finished booster production on Artemis 2
production and building of twin boosters for are already underway, to start flying during the and that all segments for the Artemis 3 boosters
the next six SLS megarocket flights following ninth mission of the SLS. have been cast with propellant. Artemis 4
Artemis 3, which will bring the program through “The new boosters will replace the steel segments started casting in November. Northrop
Artemis 9. The SLS – which will make its first cases used for the Space Shuttle with a weight- Grumman is also executing other NASA contracts
uncrewed flight in 2022 – is tasked with sending saving composite case and upgraded structures, in support of Moon missions. This includes
crews across the Solar System, starting with electronic thrust vector control systems and building the abort motor and attitude control
missions to lunar orbit, the lunar surface or the propellant materials to address obsolescence,” motor for the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort
planned Lunar Gateway space station. The first the company stated. “This improved design system and building a habitat and logistics
crewed orbital flight is expected in 2024 and the additionally provides process simplification, outpost module for Gateway.
first landing mission in 2025. NASA’s contract improved interface and streamlined ground
indicates the award will be beneficial in helping processing, leading to greater productivity
the agency plan and grow the Artemis program and efficiency.”
to meet future needs. Orbital ATK, a predecessor entity to Northrop
Right: The
“The contract allows NASA to work with Grumman, began test firings of the booster powerful
Northrop Grumman to not only build the system in 2009, following years of development. boosters will
boosters for upcoming missions, but also to The SLS booster was originally slated to be the take humans
back to our
evolve and improve the boosters for future first stage of the Ares rocket under a cancelled natural
flights,” said Bruce Tiller, SLS booster manager at Moon-to-Mars program known as Constellation, satellite
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. but the technology was eventually repurposed
The SLS booster technology is based for the SLS. Northrop Grumman has been the
upon the solid rocket boosters used to assist lead manufacturer for SLS booster development
NASA’s Space Shuttle during launches. Solid since acquiring Orbital ATK under an agreement
rocket boosters were used during 135 Space announced in 2017.
Shuttle missions between 1981 and 2011. The This new announcement arises from a nearly
x2 images © NASA

manufacturer was initially Thiokol, later called $50 million (£37 million) NASA letter contract in
Orbital ATK, and Northrop Grumman now has June 2020 to provide funding and authorisation
the technology thanks to a series of company for future Northrop Grumman booster orders. It

73
ASK
Our experts answer your questions

GALAXIES

Can galaxies die?

It very much depends on how you define a both cases: no new stars. On the other hand, Above:
Galactic
galaxy being alive! A common definition is that you could choose a more lenient definition: if it
mergers can
a galaxy is alive if it’s forming new stars, and by exists, it’s alive. To die would thus be to have the give rise to
that definition, galaxies can – and often do – die. galaxy disappear entirely. new galaxies
Any galaxy we see that is very red in colour has The closest we get is if the galaxy were to
mostly stopped forming stars – the blue stars that merge with another galaxy. It would then build
formed with the red ones die off the quickest, a new galaxy with its companion, marking the
leaving the red ones behind. end of its previous existence – though it hasn’t
There are many reasons a galaxy might stop disappeared; it’s had all of its pieces folded, like
forming stars – maybe it’s out of gas, needed clay, into a new form.
© Jennifer Manna

to form new stars. Maybe the gas is there, but Dr Jillian M. Scudder, department
simply too hot to be able to cool and collapse of physics and astronomy, Oberlin
© NASA

down into a star. The end result is the same in College and Conservatory

74
 Ask Space

STARS

What’s the difference between a

globular cluster and open cluster?
Globular clusters are much more massive, and they are usually
much older. Open clusters have comparatively fewer stars
and are comparatively young. Well, young in astronomical
Right: terms that is… There is pretty much nothing in between these
Globular two extremes, and the reason for this is as interesting as the
cluster question itself. Globular clusters are relics of an ancient time
NGC 6380 lies
when the universe had more gas to fuel intense star formation.
approximately
35,000 light These conditions no longer exist (or are very rare) in the
years from present universe. Forming a new globular cluster would be
Earth in the a feat, and thus new star clusters are comparatively smaller.
constellation
of Scorpius There are no old open clusters simply because they have
not survived billions of years of interactions with their host
Below: galaxies and environment; instead they have been split apart
Concorde by gravitational interactions, and their stars now populate their
planes would

© ESA/Hubble & NASA

have been able host galaxies. Globular clusters survived their cosmic journey
to keep up because they were massive enough to hold onto their
with sunsets,
even at
stars for billions of years.
Dr Caroline Foster, University of Sydney
Did you
the equator
know?
Omega Centauri is the largest
known globular cluster in the
Milky Way at around 150
light years across.
EARTH

How many sunsets could you see on Earth in one day?

Hypothetically, if you started at a location on Earth where the Sun most commercial aeroplanes fly at a cruising speed of 740 to 925
was setting and travelled westward at the speed Earth turned to the kilometres (460 to 575 miles) per hour, whereas the US Navy’s Blue
east, then you could remain in a state of constant sunset. In 2014, an Angels air display team flies at a maximum speed of 1,126 kilometres
ex-NATO pilot, a photographer and a filmmaker attempted to follow (700 miles) per hour during air shows.
the sunset around the globe, through all 24 time zones, as a publicity Concorde jets, which could reach a speed of 2,179 kilometres (1,354
campaign. They didn’t quite make it, but their effort provides a look miles) per hour, could have kept up with Earth’s rotation – even at
into the science of sunset chasing. the equator – but the jets stopped flying in 2003. They may not have
If you wanted to follow the sunrise or sunset you would need chased the sunset, but Concorde’s flights from London to Dulles
to stay in the same position relative to the Sun as the Earth turns International Airport in Virginia let passengers catch two sunsets –
underneath you. To do that at the equator, where the planet is at its one as the plane took off in London and another after it
maximum circumference around its axis of rotation, you’d have to landed near DC.
fly at 1,609 kilometres (1,000 miles) per hour. That’s extremely fast; Ashley P. Taylor, writer for Popular Mechanics

“If you wanted to follow

the sunset you would
need to stay in the same
position relative to the
Sun as the Earth turns
underneath you” Ashley Taylor
© Gertty

75
ASK
Our experts answer your questions

GALAXIES

What is Hoag’s Object?

Hoag’s Object is one of the most spectacular ‘ring
galaxies’ in the night sky. Unlike normal spiral
galaxies, gas and star formation are not distributed
in spiral arms throughout its disc, but instead
concentrated in a ring. Ring galaxies can be formed
Left: Earth’s in several ways. If one galaxy collides head on with

© NASA
© Getty

rotation
SOLAR SYSTEM affects global another, shock waves can propagate out through
weather the galaxy disc – just like those seen when you Gas can be pulled out of the lower mass galaxy as
What would drop a pebble into a pond. This can trigger star it passes, which eventually settles into a ring. This
Right: Hoag’s
happen if Earth Object spans
formation in a ring as the shock wave passes.
Alternatively, rings can be formed by a stellar
fly-by scenario is currently the one preferred to
explain Hoag’s Object. The elliptical galaxy at the
around
began rotating 100,000 light bar, an elongated stellar component many galaxies core of the system interacted with another galaxy

in the opposite years and lies

about 600
have in their centres. As these rotate, they can
create ‘bar deserts’ devoid of gas and rings where
billions of years ago, accreting the gas forming the
beautiful ring we see today.
direction? million light
years away the expelled material congregates. Finally, rings Dr Timothy Davis, senior lecturer,
from Earth can be formed as two galaxies fly by each other. Cardiff University

Prevailing winds would switch

direction, with profound
consequences on the climate –
SOLAR SYSTEM
especially in the midlatitudes.
Earth’s rotation has a
significant effect on weather
Why do comets orbit the Sun in an elliptical path?
patterns because it results in
All objects orbiting the Sun travel on there is a twist. In 2019, a potentially comet-like
the Coriolis force. Wind flows
approximately elliptical paths because of the laws object named Borisov from outside of our Solar
from high pressure to low
of gravitational motion. For example, Earth’s orbit System passed through and close to the Sun, and is
pressure, but the Coriolis force
is elliptical, but not as elliptical as cometary orbits. now on its way out on a hyperbolic path.
deflects this wind to the right
Many objects in the outer reaches of the Solar This interloper never orbited the Sun on
in the Northern Hemisphere
System – beyond Jupiter’s orbit – are icy and small. an elliptical path, but appears to be icy like
and to the left in the Southern
Below: Some, which travel on paths which are mildly typical comets. As a result, Borisov might force
Hemisphere. This is why wind
The laws of elliptical, remain cold and water-rich. Others, us to rethink our naming of and assumptions
flow around low and high-
gravitational which are on highly elliptical paths and pass close about comets.
pressure systems circulates motion
to the Sun, produce tails of gas and dust. These Dr Dimitri Veras, associate professor
in opposing directions in determine
a comet’s tails define comets. Comets must travel on highly and STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow
each hemisphere. If Earth
elliptical orbit elliptical orbits just to reach close to the Sun. But at the University of Warwick
began rotating in the opposite
direction, the Coriolis force
would deflect the wind the
other way around.
The jet stream, which helps
develop and steer low pressure
from the North Atlantic to
northern Europe, would change
direction. Northern Europe’s
prevailing winds would become
easterly. The UK would have
a more continental climate,
similar to Newfoundland, which
is at the same latitude. With
less of an Atlantic influence,
it would be drier and sunnier.
Summers would be pleasant;
winters would be brutal, with
average temperatures below -10
© Crown copyright

degrees Celsius.
Aidan McGivern, Met
© Getty

Office meteorologist

76
 Ask Space

Did you
know?
Our Solar System resides in
the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the
Milky Way. Our galaxy has
four major arms.

ASTRONOMY

How do we know
the Milky Way is a
spiral galaxy?
Above: We
We don’t know exactly how the Milky Way would look to an outside
can learn a
observer because we are within the galaxy itself. However, by lot about the
mapping the location, distances and velocities of the stars, we can Milky Way
determine a lot about the Milky Way and its structure, including any by mapping
its stars
spiral arms – regions with large amounts of dust and gas which can
fuel the formation of new stars. We can then reconstruct what the
Milky Way would look like to an outside observer.
Even without telescopes we are given clues about the Milky Way.
Looking up into the night sky, you will see a thin ribbon of stars
stretching across, implying that the galaxy is a thin, disc-like shape.
With telescopes we can go much further by accurately mapping the
positions and velocities of these stars. From this we see that stars
are orbiting about the galactic centre in a similar way to the planets
in our Solar System orbiting the Sun. Mapping the stars in this way,
we can also identify the location of any spiral arms. In the case of the
Milky Way, current data shows the presence of four main
spiral arms.
© ESO

Stephen Molyneux, European Southern Observatory

© ESO

77
STARGAZER
What’s in the sky?
In this issue…
78 What’s in the sky? 82 Month's planets 84 Moon tour 85 Naked eye and 86 Deep sky challenge
It's cold outside, so make Observe before dawn and As 2022 begins, we pay our binocular targets Cepheus offers keen-eyed
sure you're well prepared for you’ll be able to catch dazzling respects to ‘the Monarch of February’s sky is a treasure observers some fascinating
observing and wrap up warm Venus, Mercury and Mars the Moon’ trove of stars and clusters and beautiful sights

88 The Northern 90 Astroshots of 92 Binocular review 96 In the shops

Hemisphere the month We test Celestron's UpClose Our pick of the best gifts for
Plenty of objects are available The best of our readers’ G2 10x50 binocular astronomy and space fans
to observers this month astrophotography

“The Moon will pass in front

of Uranus, creating a lunar
occultation in Aries”
29 29 31
t JAN JAN JAN
l igh
Red- ndly
The Moon and Mars Conjunction between Open star cluster
make a close approach, the Moon and Mars Messier 44 is well placed

frie ur passing within 2°24’ of in Sagittarius for observation in Cancer

e r ve yo each other in Sagittarius
res uld
e r to p you sho ide
rd , u
In o t vision rving g

6
h
nig ur ob s e
ght
ea d o
e r r ed li
r und

FEB
Venus reaches its
greatest brightness of
-4.6 in the dawn sky

7
Source: Wikipedia Commons ©Stuart Heggie

FEB
The Moon will pass
in front of Uranus,
creating a lunar
occultation in Aries

13 16 16
FEB FEB FEB
Conjunction between Mercury reaches Venus reaches its
Venus and Mars greatest elongation highest point in the
in Sagittarius west in the dawn sky, dawn sky, dazzling at
shining at -0.0 magnitude -4.4

78
 What’s in the sky?

Jargon buster
Conjunction Declination (Dec) Opposition
A conjunction is an alignment of objects at the same This tells you how high an object will rise in the sky. When a celestial body is in line with the Earth and
celestial longitude. The conjunction of the Moon and Like Earth’s latitude, Dec measures north and south. Sun. During opposition, an object is visible for the
the planets is determined with reference to the Sun. It’s measured in degrees, arcminutes and arcseconds. whole night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise. At
A planet is in conjunction with the Sun when it and There are 60 arcseconds in an arcminute and there this point in its orbit, the celestial object is closest to
Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Sun. are 60 arcminutes in a degree. Earth, making it appear bigger and brighter.

Right Ascension (RA) Magnitude Greatest elongation

Right Ascension is to the sky what longitude is to An object’s magnitude tells you how bright it When the inner planets, Mercury and Venus, are at
the surface of the Earth, corresponding to east and appears from Earth. In astronomy, magnitudes are their maximum distance from the Sun. During greatest
west directions. It is measured in hours, minutes and represented on a numbered scale. The lower the elongation, the inner planets can be observed as
seconds since, as the Earth rotates on its axis, we see number, the brighter the object. So, a magnitude of evening stars at greatest eastern elongations and as
different parts of the sky throughout the night. -1 is brighter than an object with a magnitude of +2. morning stars during western elongations.

2 5 6
FEB FEB FEB
Source: Wikipedia Commons ©Astronomical Institute of the Charles University

Comet 19P/Borrelly will Asteroid 20 Massalia Mercury reaches

make its close approach reaches opposition, its highest point in
to the Sun, predicted to glowing at magnitude the sky, dazzling at
reach magnitude +9.0 +8.5 in Cancer magnitude -0.0

7 Naked eye
Binoculars
FEB Small telescope
The Moon and Uranus
make a close approach, Medium telescope
passing within 1°04’ of
each other in Aries Large telescope

11
FEB
Mercury reaches its
half phase in the dawn
sky, shining brightly at
magnitude 0.0

19
©NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team

FEB
Bode’s Galaxy
(Messier 81) is well
placed in Ursa Major

79
 STARGAZER
Moon

Uranus

Neptune
Jupiter Saturn

Sun

PLANETARIUM
10 february 2022
M

EVENING SKY Daylight

Moon calendar 27
JAN
28
JAN
29
JAN
30
JAN
30.9% 20.3% 11.4% 4.7%
* The Moon does not pass the meridian on 16 February
03:01 11:38 04:27 12:12 05:49 13:01 06:57 14:08

31 1 2 3 4 5 6
JAN FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB
NM
1.0% 0.3% 2.6% 7.5% 14.4% 22.8% 32.1%
07:48 15:29 08:24 16:57 08:50 18:24 09:09 19:47 09:25 21:06 09:39 22:22 09:53 23:36

7 8 9 10 11 12 13
FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB
FQ
41.9% 51.8% 61.5% 70.7% 79.0% 86.4% 92.4%
10:07 --:-- 00:48 10:23 02:00 10:43 03:10 11:08 04:17 11:41 05:17 12:25 06:07 13:20

14 15 16 17 18 19 20
FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB
FM
96.8% 99.3% --:--%* 99.7% 97.9% 93.8% 87.5%
06:48 14:25 07:19 15:37 07:42 16:52 08:01 18:09 08:17 19:26 08:32 20:44 08:46 22:03

21 22 23 24 % Illumination FM Full Moon

FEB FEB FEB FEB Moonrise time NM New Moon
TQ Moonset time FQ First quarter
79.2% 69.3% 58.2% 46.5% TQ Third quarter
09:01 23:24 09:18 --:-- 00:48 09:40 02:13 10:10 All figures are given for 00h at midnight (local times for London, UK)

80
 What’s in the sky?

Venus

Mars

Mercury

Morning SKY OPPOSITION

Illumination percentage Planet positions All rise and set times are given in GMT

3 FEB 10 FEB 17 FEB 24 FEB DATE RA DEC CONSTELLATION MAG RISE SET
27 JAN 20h 00m 14s -16° 55' 30" Sagittarius + 3.3 07:03 16:11
MERCURY

3 FEB 19h 42m 06s -18° 27' 19" Sagittarius +0.7 06:24 15:14
30% 50% 60% 70% 10 FEB 19h 50m 29s -19° 26' 23" Sagittarius +0.1 06:11 14:48
17 FEB 20h 15m 33s -19° 31' 19" Capricornus 0.0 06:09 14:46
24 FEB 20h 49m 31s -18° 35' 03" Capricornus -0.1 06:11 15:00

27 JAN 18h 45m 02s -16° 11' 16" Sagittarius -4.5 05:40 14:57
3 FEB 18h 46m 22s -16° 20' 10" Sagittarius -4.6 05:16 14:31
VENUS

20% 20% 30% 40% 10 FEB 18h 53m 30s -16° 34' 56" Sagittarius -4.6 05:03 14:16
17 FEB 19h 10m 01s -16° 53' 48" Sagittarius -4.6 04:50 13:59
24 FEB 19h 29m 34s -17° 00' 33" Sagittarius -4.6 04:42 13:49

27 JAN 18h 06m 29s -23° 51' 30" Sagittarius + 1.4 05:52 13:31
3 FEB 18h 28m 48s -23° 47' 11" Sagittarius + 1.4 05:48 13:28
100% 100% 100% 90% 10 FEB 18h 51m 10s -23° 31' 03" Sagittarius + 1.4 05:39 13:23
17 FEB 19h 13m 31s -23° 03' 08" Sagittarius + 1.3 05:32 13:23
24 FEB 19h 35m 49s -22° 23' 40" Sagittarius + 1.3 05:20 13:20

27 JAN 22h 31m 41s -10° 18' 10" Aquarius -2.1 08:57 19:19
3 FEB 22h 37m 44s -09° 42' 21" Aquarius -2.0 08:30 18:58
10 FEB 22h 43m 53s -09° 05' 31" Aquarius -2.0 08:07 18:42
100% 100% 100% 100%
17 FEB 22h 50m 07s -08° 27' 51" Aquarius -2.0 07:40 18:21
24 FEB 22h 56m 24s -07° 49' 33" Aquarius -2.0 07:17 18:05

27 JAN 21h 09m 12s -17° 15' 41" Capricornus +0.7 08:11 17:15
3 FEB 21h 12m 34s -17° 01' 19" Capricornus +0.7 07:48 16:55
10 FEB 21h 15m 55s -16° 46' 46" Capricornus +0.7 07:21 16:31
100% 100% 100% 100% 17 FEB 21h 19m 15s -16° 32' 10" Capricornus +0.7 06:55 16:07
24 FEB 21h 22m 32s -16° 17' 39" Capricornus +0.8 06:28 15:43

81
STARGAZER
This month’s planets
Observe before dawn and you’ll be able to catch dazzling Venus,
Mercury and Mars in all their glory
Planet of the month

OPHIUCHUS

DELPHINUS

SERPENS
AQUILA
SCUTUM

Venus
Constellation: Sagittarius
SAGITTARIUS
Venus

Magnitude: -4.6 MArs

AM/PM: AM
Mercury SCORPIUS

ESE SE SSE

07:00 GMT on 3 February

Venus is our planet of the month, not just because would be like walking in a furnace; the same By 3 February Venus will form a predawn
it will be so strikingly bright – and therefore easy thick, curdled atmosphere of poisonous carbon triangle with two other worlds, both much fainter,
to see – in the sky before dawn, but because it dioxide gas which makes Venus shine so brightly but easy to spot because of their proximity to
will have lots of company in the sky during our in our sky, reflecting the Sun’s light like a mirror, dazzling Venus. To Venus’ lower left you’ll see
observing period. Having played ‘second fiddle’ to traps the Sun’s heat so efficiently that the planet’s Mercury, looking like a fainter, more copper-hued
Mars for many years, Venus is now well and truly surface temperature is close to 400 degrees star, and to Venus’ lower right you’ll spot orange-
in the scientific spotlight. Various space agencies Celsius (752 degrees Fahrenheit). Its thickness coloured Mars. If you have a DSLR camera – or
and private companies are planning on sending also gives Venus a surface pressure so lethally a good camera on your phone – this planetary
missions there to study and map its surface and high anyone landing on it would need a special pyramid will be a great target if you’re up early
even look for signs of life in its atmosphere. pressure suit, like a deep-sea diver, to stay alive. enough to see it. By 10 February Venus will be at
We already know, thanks to previous missions, At the end of January Venus will be a brilliant its best – a dazzling silvery lantern dominating
that Venus is roughly the same size as Earth, so ‘morning star’, blazing in the southeast before the sky before dawn, close to Mars and rising
much so that it is often called ‘Earth’s twin’, but dawn, brighter by far than anything else in that more than two hours before the Sun – but after
that is where the family similarity ends. Venus is part of the sky and rising almost two hours before that it will start to move back towards the Sun
a hellish planet, and walking on its rocky surface the Sun floods the sky with light. and its visibility will decrease.

82
 Planets

Mercury 07:00 GMT on 3 February Mars 07:00 GMT on 14 February

DELPHINUS

SERPENS AQUILA SCUTUM

SERPENS
AQUILA SCUTUM
SAGITTARIUS Venus
Venus
EQUULEUS SAGITTARIUS Mars Mercury
Mars
Mercury SCORPIUS

ESE SE SSE ESE SE SSE

Constellation: Sagittarius Magnitude: +0.8 AM/PM: AM Constellation: Sagittarius Magnitude: +1.4 AM/PM: AM
At the start of our observing period Mercury, closest planet to the Sun, will Mars will be visible in the morning sky, looking like an orange-hued star
be a faint ‘morning star’ shining low in the southeast before sunrise, to the shining to the lower right of Venus, rising around 90 minutes before the
lower left of much brighter Venus. As the days pass it will brighten, and its Sun. At the start of February the Red Planet will be shining at a respectable
visibility will improve. It will be furthest from the Sun on the morning of +1.4, but won’t be as strikingly obvious to the naked eye as that figure
3 February, when it will be rising around an hour before the Sun. suggests because it will be low in the sky and in the predawn twilight.

Jupiter 17:30 GMT on 19 February Saturn 16:00 GMT on 15 February

Neptune
EQUULEUS

Jupiter
PEGASUS AQUARIUS DELPHINUS
Neptune
Sun
EQUULEUS
jupiter Saturn

SW WSW W SW WSW W

Constellation: Aquarius Magnitude: -2.9 AM/PM: PM Constellation: Capricornus Magnitude: +0.7 AM/PM: PM
Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, will be a naked eye planet At the start of our observing period Saturn will be so close to the Sun in the
during the month ahead. It will be visible in the evening sky all through sky it will be difficult to see. Soon after it will move too close to the Sun to
February, looking like a bright, blue-white star low in the southwest straight be seen at all, and we’ll then lose sight of it for a while as it passes behind
after sunset and not setting until two hours after the Sun. As the month the Sun. In mid-February Saturn will move into the morning sky, but it will
progresses Jupiter’s visibility will decrease as it moves towards the Sun. remain extremely hard to see for a while until it has cleared the Sun’s glare.

Uranus 20:00 GMT on 15 February Neptune 18:00 GMT on 17 February

Uranus Eris

CETUS
PISCES
ERIDANUS
Eris PEGASUS
Neptune
CETUS
AQUARIUS
Jupiter

SW WSW W SW WSW W

Constellation: Aries Magnitude: +5.7 AM/PM: PM Constellation: Aquarius Magnitude: +8.0 AM/PM: PM
During our observing period Uranus will be visible through the night and Neptune will be an evening object this month, visible after sunset in the
into the early hours. As the Sun sets it will already be high in the east, and southwest to the upper left of Jupiter. Because it’s so far from the Sun, the
it will slowly arc eastwards through the night, reaching its highest in the distant planet is much too faint to be visible to the naked eye, so you’ll
south around midnight. Shining at magnitude +5.7, Uranus will technically need binoculars or a telescope. By the end of our observing period Neptune
be visible to the naked eye, but you’ll need to know where to find it. will be lost in the twilight, setting just over an hour after the Sun.

83
STARGAZER
Moon tour

COPERNICUS
Early 2022 allows us to pay our
respects to ‘the Monarch of
the Moon’
If you’ve ever seen a documentary about the Moon,
you’ll have seen a scientist enthusiastically hurling
a stone into a tray full of flour to demonstrate how
impact craters are formed. Of all the hundreds of
thousands of craters on the Moon, one looks exactly
like the feature these dramatic demonstrations
produce: a deep, sharp-edged pit, like a skull’s eye
socket, surrounded by rays of debris.
Copernicus looks exactly like a lunar crater
should: a great hole in the Moon with a dark,
shadowed floor; a high-reaching rim and lots of
bright rays of dust and pulverised rock splashing
away from it. Its nickname, the Monarch of the
Moon, is entirely justified – no other crater comes
close to it for sheer ‘wow’ factor when seen through
a telescope’s eyepiece. That’s why Moon observers go
back to it again and again and again, staring down
into it every chance they get.
Copernicus is young in lunar terms. It was formed
Top tip!
between 800 million and 1 billion years ago when the
Copernicus
most advanced forms of life on Earth were essentially
looks most
clumps of scum floating about in the oceans. One
impressive
day the Moon was struck by a large asteroid, and the just after
enormous explosion caused by the impact blasted a first quarter
huge hole out of the area of the Moon we now know or just after
© NASA

as Oceanus Procellarum, or the Ocean of Storms. last quarter.

The gaping pit left behind was almost four
kilometres (2.5 miles) deep and more than 93
kilometres (58 miles) wide. But the impact didn’t just
blast out a hole; it sent enormous amounts of debris
spraying out across the lunar landscape. Some of it with many smaller, much younger craterlets. In the Copernicus is hidden from view, deep in lunar night.
fell back down to the Moon, leaving bright rays of centre of the crater a trio of mountains protrude from You’ll have to wait until the evening of 11 February
ejecta on the landscape. The longest of these debris the lava plain; the tallest one, close to the western for your first sighting of it as it emerges from the
rays stretches for over 800 kilometres (50 miles) and wall, has a peak which rises above the crater’s floor. darkness with the approach of the terminator, the
can even be seen with the naked eye when the Moon In November 1969 the Apollo 12 Lunar Module line between night and day. As lunar dawn breaks
is full, looking like white chalk lines drawn on the Intrepid set down at a landing site around 350 over Copernicus’ eastern horizon it will come fully
Moon’s darker face. kilometres (217 miles) south of the huge crater. So into view the next evening, the 12th, and from then
Seen through a telescope – or from an orbiting precise was Intrepid’s landing that its crew, Pete until the 27th will be available for your attention
probe – Copernicus is roughly hexagonal in shape. Its Conrad and Alan Bean, were able to walk to the with binoculars or a telescope. When the Moon is
walls are steep and terraced on all sides, giving the Surveyor 3 probe. After carefully removing pieces of full on 16 February the crater’s system of rays will
strong impression of a flight of stairs descending to its the probe to be studied back on Earth, they collected appear at their most dramatic and obvious. By the
floor. High magnification shows where a wide shelf of samples of rock, some of which might have showered 26th Copernicus will be hard to see as the terminator
rock has dropped down on the western side and also from the sky after the formation of Copernicus sweeps towards it, and it will vanish from our view
hints at landslides in several places. The northern almost a billion years earlier. on the 27th, swallowed up by the bitter lunar night
part of the crater’s floor is quite flat, but the southern So how and when can you see this celebrity crater once more when the Moon will be a waning crescent
half is hummocky and hilly, pocked here and there this month? At the start of our observing period glowing in the east before dawn.

84
 Naked eye & binocular targets

NAKED EYE & BINOCULAR TARGETS

February’s sky is a treasure trove of bright
stars and glittering star clusters

1 Mizar and Alcor

Look closely at the star Mizar in the
2 Beehive Cluster
(Messier 44)
Messier 44, also dubbed the
centre of the Big Dipper’s curved handle Beehive Cluster or Praesepe, is
and you’ll see it is actually a pair of stars. an open star cluster in the middle
Mizar’s much fainter companion is Alcor. of the constellation of Cancer, the
This famous double star is known by Crab. A smudge to the naked eye,
some as ‘the Horse and Rider’. binoculars and telescopes reveal
it's a group of almost 1,000 stars,
one-and-a-half times as wide as
the Moon. The easiest way to
find Messier 44 is by drawing
a line from Pollux in Gemini to
Regulus in Leo.

1
3
3 Sickle of Leo
‘The Sickle’ is the name given to
the stars representing the head of
Leo, the Lion. It looks like a back-to- Ursa Major
front question mark in the sky, or the
hook of a coat hanger. Since it's close
5
to the ecliptic, bright planets can
often be seen in or near the Sickle.

Leo

4 Arcturus (Alpha Boötis)
Shining at magnitude -0.05, red giant
Arcturus is the fourth-brightest star in the sky
and the brightest in the Northern Celestial
Hemisphere. It is just over 36 light years away
and is found by following the curve of the Big
Dipper’s handle.

4 5 Regulus (Alpha Leonis)

Blue-white Regulus is 79 light years away and is
the 21st-brightest star in the sky, with a magnitude of
Boötes +1.35. In Latin its name means ‘Little King’. Although
the naked eye sees Regulus as a single star, it's
actually two stellar pairs orbiting each other, which
can be split into two by amateur telescopes.

85
 STARGAZER
The Bubble Nebula
(NGC 7635)

Deep sky challenge

The King’s jewels
One of the least famous constellations offers keen-eyed
observers some fascinating and beautiful sights
It’s an unspoken truth that while some constellations are
gorgeous and are blessed with spectacular telescopic treats,
others can be just a little boring. With no bright stars, they are
dull to the naked eye, and they have no big, bright deep-sky
objects that cry out to admired through a low-power eyepiece.
One such constellation is Cepheus, the King. To the naked eye
its faint stars make the shape of a child’s crude drawing of a
house, and that’s it. However, if you swing a medium or large-
aperture telescope towards it, you’ll be rewarded with views of
some genuinely fascinating and attractive objects.
The spectacular spiral galaxy NGC 6946, known as the
Source: Wikipedia Commons © Hewholooks

Fireworks Galaxy – actually in Cygnus but right on the

border with Cepheus – is a popular photographic target for
© NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team

astrophotographers, and seeing it through a large telescope will

show you why. This March, as the galaxies of Virgo call out to
you from the east and the whirls and swirls of the Orion Nebula
whisper from the west, put your hands over your ears, tilt your
telescope up and take a tour of Cepheus and the sky around it Iris Nebula (NGC 7023)
instead. You’ll be glad you did.

86
 Deep sky challenge

1 Bow Tie Nebula

(NGC 40)
At magnitude +10.6, this dim
planetary nebula needs an eight-
Ursa Minor inch or larger telescope to show
its subtle oval shape. Its bright
4 central star is more obvious.

3 2 Iris Nebula (NGC 7023)

Despite being seventh
magnitude, you’ll need a large
2 telescope to see this nebula due
to its low surface brightness.
Averted vision and high
magnification will help highlight
Camelopardalis its dark dust lanes.

1
Cepheus
3 Fireworks Galaxy
(NGC 6946)
This ninth-magnitude spiral
galaxy is 10 million light years
away. Oriented face on to us,
under a dark sky a large telescope
will reveal its beautifully curved
spiral arms and mottled detail
within them.

Cassiopeia 5
6 4 NGC 188
Very close to Polaris, this
open cluster is 9 billion years
old, one of the oldest known. It
is an eighth-magnitude dusting
of faint stars best seen through a
large telescope.

5 Bubble Nebula
(NGC 7635)
You’ll only see the ghostly
glowing shell of this very
faint 12th-magnitude nebula
in Cassiopeia through a large
telescope under a very dark sky.
A 14-inch telescope will show
subtle details.

6 Messier 52
Just over Cepheus’ border
in Cassiopeia, this seventh-
magnitude open cluster can
be seen as a smudge through
small telescopes, but larger
instruments will resolve it into
200 or so faint stars.

“To the naked eye its

faint stars make the
shape of a child’s crude
drawing of a house”
© NASA/ESA

Bow Tie Nebula (NGC 40)

87
STARGAZER

THE NORTHERN
LYRA
Vega

HER

HEMISPHERE
CUL
ES

NE
M92
M1
3

Plenty of objects are available to observers using the DRAC

unaided eye, binoculars or a telescope
O

BO ORO
C
R N
Throughout February and into the early days of March, observers using

EAL A
IS
the unaided eye, binoculars or a telescope will be treated to a variety of
targets. The Orion Nebula (Messier 42), which glows at a magnitude of
+4.0 in the constellation of Orion, the Hunter, makes an excellent target
M
for those using a pair of binoculars or a telescope, while the Andromeda 10
1
Galaxy (Messier 31) is just about visible to the naked eye from areas le
untouched by light pollution and through telescopes and binoculars from
urban regions. For those keen to observe in the early hours of the evening,

Arctu

M5
BOO

1
the circumpolar galaxies of Ursa Major, including the Pinwheel Galaxy

TES
rus

VENANES
(Messier 101), are choice objects for deep-sky enthusiasts.

CA
M3

M10
TICI
1

6
Using the sky chart

MAJ SA
UR
BERENICES

OR
COMA
This chart is for use at 22:00 mid-
EAST

month and is set for 52° latitude.

Hold the chart above your

1 head with the bottom of the

MINO
LEO
page in front of you.
VIRGO

R
Face south and notice
2 that north on the chart
is behind you. Fe
b 16
LEO

The constellations on the M4

3 chart should now match what
ECLIPTIC
you see in the sky. Re
gu CAN
lus CER
Magnitudes Spectral types
SE
X
CR

Sirius (-1.4) O-B G TA

NS
AT
ER

-0.5 to 0.0
A K
0.0 to 0.5 M4

0.5 to 1.0 F M HYD

RA
1.0 to 1.5
1.5 to 2.0
2.0 to 2.5 Deep-sky objects AN
SE

T LIA
2.5 to 3.0
Open star clusters
3.0 to 3.5 PYXI
S
Globular star clusters
3.5 to 4.0
Bright diffuse nebulae
4.0 to 4.5
Observer’s note
Fainter Planetary nebulae
The night sky as it appears
Variable star Galaxies on 17 February 2022 at
approximately 22:00 (GMT)

88
 The Northern Hemisphere
NORTH

S
CYGNU

Deneb

M39

NW
TA
C ER
LA
EUS
CEPH

S
ASU
G
PE
E DA
OM

MINOR
31

DR

URSA
M

AN

P EIA
SIO
Orion Nebula (Messier 42)

© Getty
S
North P CA
Polaris
ub ter

S
ALI
le
D lus

D
PAR
C
o

LO
M33

ME
CA
ULUM
M34

M
AN G
TR I

ARIES
Algol
PERSEUS
la
Capel

PISCES

WEST
AURIGA

URANUS
Pleiade

LYNX
M3 6

1
Feb 1

Casto NI
37

r MI
M

E
Mira

Pollux G
M1

S
CETU
RUS
ran

44
TAU
a
eb
Ald

Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31)

© Getty
se
e eu
Procyon Rosett a te lg
l Be
N

Nebu
IO
OR

CANIS 8
M7
US

MINOR
N

2
IDA

M4
el
ER

Rig
48 EROS
MONOC
s
Siriu
M47

M 41 US
LEP
SW

MA JOR
CANIS

Adhara MBA
PUPPIS OLU
C
© Getty

Ursa Major (the Great Bear)

SOUTH

89
STARGAZER
Astroshots of the month
Get featured in All About Space by
sending your astrophotography images to
[email protected]

“I enjoy imaging
the Sun, and have
been doing so for a
little over a year”
Soumyadeep Mukherjee
Location: Kolkata, India
“After 13 days during October
2021, from 4 to 16 October, the
Sun’s active region came to an
end. The resulting sunspot –
known as AR 2882 – generated
some solar flares, ejections of
electromagnetic radiation from
the solar atmosphere. I enjoy
imaging the Sun, and have been Above:
doing so for a little over a year. AR 2882 on
The image on the right might look the surface of
like there’s a solar prominence the Sun
erupting from our nearest star,
but it’s in fact an optical illusion Right: Optical
caused by hot fumes coming illusion caused
from the airliner’s exhaust.” by an airliner’s
hot fumes

90
 Astroshots

Jaspal Chadha
Location: London, UK
Telescope: Takahashi TOA-130
“I’ve been imaging for around
two-and-a-half years now after
spending years looking through
various telescopes and eyepieces,
where I enjoyed learning all about
the objects in the night sky. After
months of research and trial and
error, I finally invested in a set-up
that I thought would work for me.
My biggest challenge has been
to fend off the myths around
imaging in light-polluted areas, as
I live in London. I started out with
DSLR astrophotography but now
use a CCD to capture a wide range
of night-sky targets.”

Right: The
Andromeda
Galaxy
(Messier 31)

Jeff Johnson
Location: Las Cruces,
New Mexico
Telescope: Takahashi FS-60C
“I have a long love of
astronomy, which began
when I was ten years old,
and I have observed the
night sky for many years
with binoculars and a
telescope. I did my first ‘real’
astrophotography in 1996,
when I used a 35mm SLR
camera to take photographs
of Comet Hyakutake. I took
a tripod out into the desert,
here in Las Cruces, and just
experimented with different
exposures. Later, I bought a Above:
ten-inch Dobsonian telescope Dumbbell
for observing the night sky, Nebula
and within a week I was (Messier 27)
taking pictures through the
eyepiece for fun. Within a Right:
few more weeks, I knew Pinwheel
I wanted to get serious Galaxy
with astroimaging.” (Messier 101)

91
STARGAZER
REVIEW

CELESTRON UPCLOSE G2
10x50 BINOCULAR
Large objective lenses and 10x magnification help this affordable piece of kit appeal
to anyone wanting to start stargazing
Reviewed by Jamie Carter

Binocular advice How much should you pay for a binocular? Though which are H-shaped with narrow barrels. Porro Right: The
Cost: £44.99 (approx. $59.54) some of the best binoculars go for low prices, you prisms are generally favoured for astronomy binocular is
quite basic
From: Amazon would do well to find many astronomy-centric because they’re simpler optical systems and are
in design,
Optical design: Porro prism binoculars as affordable as the Celestron UpClose more affordable. That’s the case with the UpClose but is good
Objective diameter: 50mm G2 10x50. The pandemic has sparked an interest G2, which boasts such a low price that it could be for those just
in home-bound activities like stargazing, and there an option for astronomy groups and star parties starting out in
Magnification: 10x astronomy
are plenty of reasons why binoculars with the as an affordable and dependable binocular for
Exit pupil: 5mm
exact specifications of the UpClose G2 10x50 are long-term use. However, since the build quality is The lenses use
Eye relief: 12mm
just what the budding amateur astronomer needs. best described as basic, we’re not convinced the BK7 glass
Weight: 1,575 grams
All binoculars are a balance between Celestron UpClose G2 10x50 will last as long as
Actual field of view:
magnification, or power, and aperture – the pricier options.
6.8 degrees
amount of light they collect. The Celestron If you do decide to buy the UpClose G2 10x50,
Apparent field of view:
UpClose G2 10x50 boasts 10x magnification, which be careful when choosing because Celestron sells a
0 degrees
is just about perfect for a wide field of view of the dizzying array of different products in the UpClose
Close focus: Seven metres
night sky, while the 50mm diameter objective G2 range. There are various magnifications,
Construction: Centre focus,
nitrogen-filled lenses let in enough light at night. Whether they objective lens sizes and prism types, with even a
Coatings: Fully multi-coated actually deliver on those theoretical advantages is monocular and zoom lens offered.
down to the optical design, which in the Celestron The UpClose G2 10x50’s design and build quality
UpClose G2 10x50 consists of a Porro prism – wide are best described as simple. Fashioned from
Best for… with tapered barrels – as opposed to a roof prism, aluminium with a matte rubber covering, they’re

£ low budgets water-resistant rather than waterproof. They’re not

nitrogen-purged, so it’s possible they could get
fogged up on occasion. Such niceties are for higher
Planets
end products. We also noticed a slight looseness to
the eyecups that could easily prove a weak point if
Bright Deep sky
this binocular were to be dropped.
Lunar Optically speaking the Celestron UpClose G2
10x50 is a compromise, with the Porro prisms
dovetailing with BK7 glass, which plays second
fiddle to BaK-4 for light transmission in the world
of binoculars. That’s also standard at this very
low price.
In practice, there are a few downsides to
the Celestron UpClose G2 10x50’s design.
The model isn’t as light to hold as some roof
Left: There
prism binoculars, and despite the presence of isn’t much
some useful thumb indents and finger ridges, it is eye relief,
noticeably wider, too. so glasses
wearers might
However, in use what the UpClose G2 10x50
not find the
mostly lacks is eye relief. The distance from your binocular
eye to the glass of the eyepiece is important to suitable

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 Celestron UpClose G2 10x50

“Optically speaking,
there’s much to like
about the Celestron
UpClose G2 10x50”

Pleiades star cluster, Jupiter and its giant moons

and the intensely bright red star Aldebaran in
Taurus. With the Celestron UpClose G2 10x50
on a tripod we even managed to pick out the
tiny asteroid Ceres close by, and even Uranus on
the night of its annual opposition. On the bridge
between the objective lenses there’s a standard
binocular tripod thread, though an L-shaped tripod
adapter bracket is also required.
What we didn’t notice – and had expected to –
was chromatic aberration, which often shows up
in affordable binoculars as a purplish line around
high-contrast objects like the Moon. Kudos to
Celestron and the multi-coated lenses in use here.
However, we did notice that a bright Moon – and
any artificial lights – do tend to cause some glare
within the prisms.
Although the rubber-armoured aluminium
be able to see everything in the field of view, speaking, there’s much to like about the Celestron housing is water-resistant, the Celestron UpClose
especially if you wear spectacles. That distance is UpClose G2 10x50. G2 10x50 isn’t waterproof, and the model hasn’t
called eye relief, and it’s typically between 10 and Is the Celestron UpClose G2 10x50 the perfect been nitrogen-purged. As a consequence, the
20mm – and often adjustable within that range – affordable choice of binocular for observing the lenses could fog up slightly in the cold, though
in pricier binoculars. Here it’s fixed at just 12mm, night sky? The 10x50 specification is the sweet they were fine during our two-hour session in
while the static eyecups also feel a little narrow. If spot for astronomy, but a few design and image near-freezing conditions.
you wear spectacles, avoid the UpClose G2 10x50. foibles at night make the binocular less than ideal. The 10x magnification gives a very wide field of
However, if you don’t you’ll see enough of its The poor lens caps are to be expected at this low view that’s ideal for looking within constellations
6.8-degree field of view, though the eyecups aren’t price, while the static eyecups’ lack of eye relief and scanning the Milky Way without going too
particularly comfortable over long periods of time. should bother only glasses wearers. deep, but it’s hardly surprising that the UpClose G2
The affordable price also means low-quality The chief issue with the UpClose G2 10x50 is 10x50 does feature a few imperfections.
accessories, which here comprise very simple consistent sharpness, which is easy to achieve in Stargazers just starting out too often overlook
detachable lens caps for both the eyecups and the centre of the field of view, but less so at the binoculars, instead purchasing a telescope as soon
the objective lenses, and a basic carry case that edges. A slight blur is detectable, although it’s not as they possibly can. That’s a huge mistake. All
includes a shoulder strap but lacks padding. Overall a huge issue when stargazing at celestial objects. experienced amateur astronomers sing the praises
it’s a very budget-conscious package, but optically In our tests, the G2 gave us excellent views of the of a good pair of binoculars, and though the

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STARGAZER
“the G2 gave us excellent
views of the Pleiades
star cluster and Jupiter
and its giant moons”
Celestron UpClose G2 10x50 does little more than
meet the minimum requirements, the model will
suit beginners well.
In theory it’s perfect, with the UpClose G2
10x50’s exact optical specifications favoured by
amateur astronomers. The UpClose G2 10x50
is best thought of as a great-value entry-level
binocular for all-round use and for occasional
night-sky views. If you’ve never looked at the
night sky through a pair of reasonably powerful
binoculars then the UpClose G2 10x50 will give There’s no doubt that 10x50 binoculars are
you that ‘wow’ moment as you scan the star fields the ideal specification for stargazing, being both
of the Milky Way. It’s also really easy to set up, portable and able to let in enough light in the dark,
adjust and use. As such, it’s a reasonably good but you can – and perhaps should – spend a bit
choice for astronomy groups on a budget, though
For more than Celestron is asking for its UpClose G2
Ideally sized for astronomy Above: The
we do worry about the longevity. However, if you 10x50 if the night sky is your primary target.
Reasonably lightweight binocular does
know the night sky well and you’ve used many come with The Opticron Adventurer II WP 10x50 is a roof
Very affordable
different binoculars, the Celestron UpClose G2 a carry case, prism binocular with higher quality optics, as is
Easy to adjust
10x50 is unlikely to impress you. Slight foibles but it isn’t the Celestron TrailSeeker 8x42, which offers a
include some poor lens caps, a lack of eye relief padded and is slightly wider field of view. For a real treat head
and some glare from bright light. Against quite basic straight for the Canon 10x42L IS WP, which comes
If you can live with these slight issues then the Minor image distortion complete with image stabilisation, or the Celestron
Below: The
Celestron UpClose G2 10x50 is worth considering, Poor objective lens caps binocular has a SkyMaster 25x100 binocular, which needs to be
but don’t expect the ultimate in build quality, Minimal eye relief water-resistant mounted on a tripod but will give you exceptional
comfort and convenience. Narrow eye cups rubber coating close ups of deep-sky objects.

94
 Book of the
(12th Edition) Space Race
Space has fascinated humans from the earliest Get ready to explore the wonders of our Emerging from the chaos of the Cold War was
days of civilisation, and as we keep scratching incredible universe. The Space.com Collection another fight between the superpowers: the
the surface of the vast universe in which we is packed with amazing astronomy, incredible battle to dominate the stars. The Soviet Union
live, our sense of awe and wonder continues discoveries and the latest missions from space surprised the world by sending Sputnik, the
to grow unabated. Now, with the technological agencies around the world. From distant first satellite, into space in 1957, and it was now
advancements being made by the world’s space galaxies to the planets, moons and asteroids of up to the US to respond. The next decade saw
agencies, we understand more than ever about our own Solar System, you’ll discover a wealth the two go head to head, the world cheering as
the things happening beyond our planet. This of facts about the cosmos and learn about the their rockets headed beyond Earth. When the
new edition of the Book of Space has been new technologies, telescopes and rockets in US landed on the Moon, it seemed like the Space
updated with more of the latest astronomical development that will reveal even more of Race was over, but the Cold War certainly wasn’t,
advancements, stunning space photography its secrets. Space.com launched 20 years ago and there was still so much more to achieve.
from the most advanced telescopes on the and fast became the premier source of space Learn how the Space Race paved the way for
planet and glimpses at what the future of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, some of the greatest scientific milestones of our
exploration holds, taking you from the heart of chronicling and celebrating humanity’s ongoing age, get to know the people behind the missions
our Solar System and out into deep space. expansion across the final frontier. and discover who the real winners were.

95
STARGAZER
In the shops
The latest books, apps, software,
tech and accessories for space and
astronomy fans alike

1 2

For fun For cooking For timekeeping

Apollo: A Game Inspired by Science Museum Karlsson Moon
NASA Moon Missions Planet Map Apron Wall Clock
Cost: £29.99 / $33.95 Cost: £15.95 (approx. $21.65) Cost: £94.95 (approx. $129.10)
From: diceanddecks.com From: shop.sciencemuseum.org.uk From: aspenofhereford.com

1 Do you think you have what it takes to complete

a successful trip to the Moon? Apollo invites
groups of two to five players to pretend they are
2 Get ready to embark on a new cooking mission
– and look the part while you do – with this fun
Solar System map apron from the Science Museum.
3 Time to add a bit of lunar flare to your home?
This exquisite Moon wall clock will do just that.
With markers detailing 3, 6, 9 and 12, the minimalist
working on a Gemini or Apollo mission to space. Though the apron won’t stop you feeling lost in design highlights the intricate detail of the lunar
The objective is to collectively complete the trip. the kitchen, it may help you contemplate your surface. If you normally find yourself ticked off by
You can either play as Mission Control or as an place in the universe. Featuring all eight primary the noise of clocks, the silent movement of the hour,
astronaut, tackling issues as they arise in this dice planets, and even demoted Pluto, as well as the minute and second hands will be music to your
and card game. The manufacturer, Buffalo Games, iconic Voyager spacecraft, the apron highlights just ears. The glass mirror clock is 60 centimetres (23.6
says the average playtime is 30 to 60 minutes. The a handful of the universe’s wonders. The apron is inches) in diameter; if you are enamoured with this
game contains 200 cards with over 400 questions, made in the UK from 100 per cent premium cotton statement timepiece, you’ll be pleased to know it’s
a timer to regulate turns and game instructions. and features a fabric neck and waist tie. also available in a Mars and Earth design.

96
 In the shops

For observers
Planet Artglass Celestron NexYZ DX 2022 Guide to
Table Lamp Smartphone Adaptor Kit The Night Sky
Cost: £115 (approx. $156.30) With Bluetooth Remote Cost: £6.99 / $14.95
From: museumselection.co.uk From: rmg.co.uk / barnesandnoble.com
Cost: £69 (approx. $93.80)

4 This stunning table lamp is guaranteed to

make a statement. The two hand-blown glass
From: rothervalleyoptics.co.uk
6 Want to keep up to date with all the stargazing
events of 2022? This practical guidebook, written
orbs echo Venus’ swirling shades of orange and
grey. It seems only fitting that the brightest planet
5 This smartphone adapter kit from Celestron is
the ideal accessory for those wanting to take
their first steps into the world of astroimaging or
and illustrated by astronomical experts Storm
Dunlop and Wil Tirion, has got you covered. The
in the night sky is the inspiration behind this book is primarily designed for Britain and Ireland
digiscoping. The adapter fits any eyepiece ranging
beautiful lamp with a polished chrome-coloured but is applicable anywhere in the world between
from 35mm to 60mm in diameter. The convenient
base. The lamp stands 49 centimetres (19.3 40 and 60 degrees north, covering most of Europe,
design means the phone platform is fully adjustable
inches) tall and 27 centimetres (10.6 inches) wide. southern Canada and the northern US. The handy
to fit any device. The adapter can be used with
It requires two G9 LED clip-in bulbs, which are guide has been approved by the astronomers of
telescopes, spotting scopes, binoculars, monoculars
not included. The retailer recommends wiping it the Royal Observatory Greenwich and contains a
and microscopes.
clean with a clean dry cloth. wealth of information on observing targets.

97
 Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA

Editorial
Content Director Gemma Lavender
[email protected]
Art Editor Jonathan Wells
Staff Writer Daisy Dobrijevic
Production Editor Nikole Robinson
Senior Art Editor Duncan Crook

Charles Duke
Photography Olly Curtis
Contributors
Stuart Atkinson, Meghan Bartels, Jamie Carter, Tim Childers,
Charles Q. Choi, David Crookes, Timothy Davis, Caroline
Foster, Jon Gordon, Elizabeth Howell, Robert Lea, Samantha
Mathewson, Andrew May, Aidan McGivern, Stephen
From CAPCOM to moonwalker, Molyneux, Robert Z. Pearlman, Tereza Pultarova, Jillian M.
Scudder, Rebecca Sohn, Paul Sutter, Ashley P. Taylor, Ben

Duke was a pivotal figure in the

Turner, Dimitri Veras, Mike Wall, Mindy Weisberger
Cover images
Tobias Roetsch ; Getty
Apollo program Photography
Alamy; ESA; ESO; NASA; Science Photo Library; Shutterstock;
Charles M. Duke Jr is a former NASA astronaut SpaceX; University of Arizona; Wikipedia Commons;
All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected
who explored the Moon during Apollo 16, but Advertising
he is also known for his crucial role as CAPCOM Media packs are available on request
UK Commercial Director Clare Dove
– the spacecraft communicator – during the hair- [email protected]
Advertising Manager Matthew Johnson
raising landing of Apollo 11. [email protected]
07974 408 083
Duke entered the Air Force in 1957 after Account Manager Garry Brookes
[email protected]
completing his training at the Naval Academy. 0330 390 6637

His first assignment after advanced training was International Licensing and Syndication

three years as a fighter-interceptor pilot with a Duke was the All About Space is available for licensing and
syndication. To find our more contact us at
tenth person [email protected] or view our available
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he was selected as an astronaut in 1966, Duke the Moon
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Group Marketing Director, Magazines & Memberships Sharon
Working at NASA, he was a member of the that the Command Module’s propulsion system Todd
astronaut support crew for the Apollo 10 flight, engine would vibrate unusually when he used Circulation
Head of Newstrade Ben Oakden
and was then assigned as CAPCOM for Apollo  11, backup system controls. Mission Control took
Production
the first landing on the Moon. According to hours to make a decision, but came back saying Head of Production Mark Constance
Production Project Manager Clare Scott
Duke, it was Neil Armstrong himself – the first the data showed it was safe to make a landing. Senior Advertising Production Manager Jo Crosby
Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson
man on the Moon – who requested Duke’s Young and Duke gleefully touched down on the Production Manager Nick Williams

presence on the radio. Apollo 11 had a dramatic surface to begin exploration. At the age of 36, Management
Chief Growth Officer Claire MacLellan
landing. The crew was several miles off course, Duke was the youngest person to set foot on the Managing Director Sarah Rafati Howard
Content Director Gemma Lavender
battling computer overload alarms and also lunar surface. Duke and Young spent more than Head of Art & Design Greg Whitaker

running low on fuel. The Lunar Module touched 20 hours in the Descartes Highlands, spread out Printed by William Gibbons & Sons Limited, 26 Planetary
Road, Willenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV13 3XB
down on the surface with less than 30 seconds over three moonwalks. The crew’s primary goal Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf,
London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 0203 787 9060
of fuel remaining in the tanks. was to seek out volcanic rocks, and they had
ISSN 2050-0548
“Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle received countless hours of geology training to All contents © 2022 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All
rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or
has landed,” Armstrong radioed on 20 July assist them in that objective. They only found reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in
1969. In Duke’s excitement, he fumbled the sedimentary rocks, however. England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1
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communications back. “I was so excited, I The mission went smoothly, with a few is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot
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couldn’t get out Tranquillity Base. It came out small snags: one astronaut broke a cover on the are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard
to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and
sort of like ‘Twangquillity’, you know,” Duke said lunar rover’s wheel, which meant every drive websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are
not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them.
in an interview with NASA in 1999. covered the astronauts with lunar regolith. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the
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Duke was subsequently a backup member of Young also accidentally pulled a vital cable from If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/
or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and
the Apollo 13 crew, where he is most famous for a science experiment because it was hard for you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish
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accidentally exposing prime crew member Ken the astronauts to see their feet as they walked publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites,
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Mattingly to German measles. Duke had been around. On his last day on the Moon, Duke is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future
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exposed by his three-year-old son. Duke, who placed a picture of his family on the surface. The loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless
otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.
had never had the condition before and became photo includes Duke, his wife Dorothy and their We are committed to only using magazine paper which is

ill himself, went to the NASA flight surgeon. sons Charles and Thomas. derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and
chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was

The doctor began testing all the astronauts, Duke, Young and Mattingly splashed down
sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests,
conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic
standards. The manufacturing paper mill and paper hold
discovering that Mattingly had no immunity safely on 27 April 1972. Duke remained with the full FSC and PEFC certification and accreditation.

either. Mattingly was pulled from the Apollo 13 program for three more years before retiring and
flight just days before launch. undertaking several private initiatives. His work
The two men were selected as prime crew after NASA has spanned the fields of investment,
members for Apollo 16, along with John Young real estate and even beverage distribution. He is
as commander. They lifted off on 16 April 1972, a popular motivational speaker and is currently
Future PLC is a public Chief Executive Zillah Byng-Thorne
reaching lunar orbit on 19 April. Shortly after on the board of directors for the Astronaut company quoted on the Non-executive Chairman Richard Huntingford
London Stock Exchange Chief Financial Officer Penny Ladkin-Brand
the Lunar Module Orion separated from the Scholarship Foundation. (symbol: FUTR)
www.futureplc.com Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

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