European Association for Astronomy Education

Source: ESO Science Release eso1123

Rho Ophiuchi star formation region.
Image credits: ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

Molecules of hydrogen peroxide have been found for the first time in interstellar space. The discovery gives clues about the chemical link between two molecules critical for life: water and oxygen. On Earth, hydrogen peroxide plays a key role in the chemistry of water and ozone in our planet’s atmosphere, and is familiar for its use as a disinfectant or to bleach hair blonde. Now it has been detected in space by astronomers using the ESO-operated APEX telescope in Chile. (read more)

Credit: NASA

Sunrise shadows on the moon's Tycho crater seen by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

On June 10, 2011, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter angled its orbit 65° to the west, allowing the spacecraft's cameras to capture a dramatic sunrise view of the Moon's Tycho crater.

The pitch-black patches loom behind the Tycho crater's central peak complex, which is about 15 km wide from southeast to northwest.

A very popular target with amateur astronomers, Tycho is located at 43.37°S, 348.68°E, and is about 82 km in diameter. The summit of the central peak is 2 km above the crater floor. The distance from Tycho's floor to its rim is about 4.7 km.

The photo was taken on June 10 by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in orbit around the moon.

Source: Space Daily

By tracking atmospheric features on Neptune, a UA planetary scientist has accurately determined the planet's rotation, a feat that had not been previously achieved for any of the gas planetsin our solar system except Jupiter.

A day on Neptune lasts precisely 15 hours, 57 minutes and 59 seconds, according to the first accurate measurement of its rotational period made by University of Arizona planetary scientist Erich Karkoschka. (read more)

Source: ESA

106 CCDs make up Gaia’s focal plane.
Image credits: Astrium

The largest digital camera ever built for a space mission has been painstakingly mosaicked together from 106 separate electronic detectors. The resulting “billion-pixel array” will serve as the super-sensitive ‘eye’ of ESA’s Galaxy-mapping Gaia mission. (read more)