* Astronomy

SpaceX to fly two tourists around Moon in 2018 US private rocket company SpaceX has announced that two private citizens have paid to be sent around the Moon. The mission is planned for late 2018, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, adding that the tourists "have already paid a significant deposit". Read more

An Annular solar eclipse will occur on February 26, 2017 Start of Annular Solar Eclipse is at 12:10:49 UT. Start of Umbra eclipse is at 13:15:20 UT. Start of central eclipse is at 13:16:06 UT. The entire umbra cone is on Earth's surface at 13:16:53 UT. The Annular solar eclipse maximum is at 14:53:24 U...

First evidence of rocky planet formation in Tatooine system Evidence of planetary debris surrounding a double sun, 'Tatooine-like' system has been found for the first time by a UCL-led team of researchers. Published today in Nature Astronomy and funded by the Science and Technology Facilities C...

'Oldest' Iron Age gold work in Britain found in Staffordshire Two friends have unearthed jewellery which could be the oldest Iron Age gold discovered in Britain. Mark Hambleton, who went back to metal detecting after advice from his late father, made the find with Joe Kania on Staffordshire Moorla...

China plans to launch the first weather satellite of the Fengyun-4 (FY-4) series, the country's second-generation geostationary meteorological satellites, around 2013. Read more

PICO dark matter detector more sensitive than expected Although invisible to our telescopes, dark matter is known by its gravitational effects throughout the universe. The nature of dark matter is unknown, but the consensus of the astrophysics and particle physics communities is that the dark m...

ATel 10124: SALT spectroscopic classification of SN 2017azk (= PS17bii) as a type-Ia supernova near maximum light

ATel 10125: ASASSN-17cz: Discovery of A Probable Supernova in 2MASX J17503055-0148023

ATel 10122: ASASSN-17cr: Discovery of A Probable Supernova in SDSS J162349.91+150448.3

The Parnallee (LL3.6) meteorite fell in Tamil Nadu, India, on the 28th February, 1857. A total mass of 77.6 kg was recovered. 9° 14'N, 78° 21'E

Highlights Objects of the Heart for Valentine's Day. On February 14, many areas of the world will celebrate love with Valentine's Day. For those of you lucky enough to have a loved one of your own (or not), consider the following objects provided in the Heavens: The first and most obvious is the plane...

NGC 2301 (also Cr 119, Mel 54 and OCL 540) is a magnitude +6.0 open cluster located 2800 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros. The cluster was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel using a 47.5 cm (18.7 inch) f/13 speculum reflector at Windsor Road, Slough, on the 27...

Giant penguins roamed what is now Peru more than 40 million years ago, much earlier than scientists thought the flightless birds had spread to warmer climes. Best known for their formal attire and presence in Antarctica, penguins today live in many islands in the Southern Hemisphere, some even nea...

What is the 'hairy blob' or globster found on the Philippines shore? A six-metre-long "hairy" sea creature has washed up on the shore of Dinagat Island in the Philippines and people have been questioning what it is. An unidentified creature like this is often known as a "globster" and they've been wa...

Losar is the Tibetan and Nepalese New Year festival (Lo, 'year', Sar, 'new').