Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 46 i All About Space

Solar storms stripped early Mars of ‘habitable environment’ The Red Planet’s upper atmosphere is being stripped by the Sun, which has played a key role in the planet’s ecological history Mars has long been an arid planet, known for its rocky landscape and cold environment, but it wasn’t always that way. In the distant past, our Martian neighbour was warm and wet and may well have supported life at one point in its existence. But a new study by NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission reveals the planet is slowly being robbed of its nutrient-rich exosphere. Data gathered by the MAVEN mission has shown this degradation continues at a gradual pace in normal conditions, but increases substantially when the planet is battered by solar storms. These winds cause…

WHY WE LIVE IN A MULTIVERSE Could our entire universe be just one small part of many? The evidence is mounting up… Written by Giles Sparrow Have you ever wondered how different your life would be if you had made different decisions to the ones that you had? If you had turned right instead of left? You may never know what may have been, but incredibly, all those ‘what if’ scenarios may have played out somewhere. That’s because over the past few years support for the idea that we live in a ‘multiverse’, in which our universe is just one tiny bubble among countless others, has been gaining strength. How would a multiverse arise – and just how similar, or different, would the many universes within it be? For a…

Life in the multiverse @ Tobias Roetsch; NASA; WMAP Science Team; ESA; SPL Confirmation of a multiverse could raise some intriguing questions about the origins of life and our own place in the cosmos. According to our current understanding, the physical laws of our universe are suspiciously fine-tuned for life to arise – a tiny difference in any one of several physical constants might make liquid water much rarer, render complex organic chemistry unworkable, or leave matter itself unable to hold together. The usual scientific solution to this problem, called the ‘weak anthropic principle’, simply states that if the laws of the universe did not have the particular behaviours we observe, then we would not be around to see them – so we shouldn’t be so surprised. Various ‘strong anthropic…

The world’s BIGGEST ROCKET A marvel of modern space engineering, the Space Launch System is set to take humanity further into space than ever before Written by Dominic Reseigh-Lincoln Ever since the launch of the Juno I - the rocket which sent the United States' first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit in 1958 - American astronomers, engineers and astronauts have been looking far beyond our atmosphere and further than our own lone lunar satellite – the eyes of the space engineering industry have been firmly set not just on our Moon, but toward Mars and distant asteroids. However, in order to travel those incredible distances, you need an equally incredible feat of engineering to take you there – a launch vehicle with the thrust and capacity to take humanity distances…

Developing the Space Launch System SLS Block 1 November 2018 The SLS is designed to make passes around the Moon and return to Earth. It will utilise solid rocket boosters, an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (all it needs to make this relatively short test flight) and the Orion spacecraft. SLS Block 1B Crew 2021-2023 If the SLS Block 1 tests with an unmanned crew are successful, the Block 1B model will then be launched. It will conduct exactly the same mission as the Block 1 rocket but this time with a crew of four astronauts. SLS Block 1B Cargo 2030 The next stage of the Space Launch System’s evolution is using the Block 1B to carry heavier payloads to low-Earth orbits and beyond, such as the components for the proposed…

The lost world How would the fifth planet measure up to the other ice giants? The fifth ice giant Mass: Around 1.024 x 1026 kg Radius: Roughly 25,000km (15,534mi) Temperature: -183°C (-297°F) Composition: Mostly rock and ice, with ten per cent atmosphere Characteristics: Moons would have been removed during the ejection process Colour: Similar to Neptune Uranus Mass: 8.68 x 1025 kg Radius: 25,362km (15,759mi) Temperature: -215°C (-355°F) Composition: Hydrogen, helium, methane, water and ammonia ices with a rocky core Characteristics: Planetary rings and 27 moons Colour: Blue-green due to atmosphere Neptune Mass: 1.024 x 1026 kg Radius: 24,622km (15,299mi) Temperature: -226.55°C (-375.8°F) Composition: Hydrogen, helium, water and methane, with a core of iron, nickel and silicates Characteristics: Planetary rings and 14 moons Colour: Blue tint due to cloud cover…

Astronaut Timothy Peake Due to launch to the International Space Station this month, the British astronaut tells All About Space about his exciting six-month mission Interviewed by Gemma Lavender INTERVIEWBIO Major Tim Peake Tim Peake is the first British citizen to be selected as an astronaut by the European Space Agency. He began his intensive astronaut training course in September 2009 before graduating in November 2010. A former British Army Air Corps officer, Peake holds a degree in flight dynamics and evaluation. He is scheduled to launch for the International Space Station for six months this December for Expeditions 46 and 47, flying under the mission name of Principia. You’re the first Briton to be selected by the European Space Agency, what does that mean to you? I’m really delighted.…

Journey to an Asteroid +10 other upcoming space missions All About Space presents some of the most exciting launches and missions scheduled for the New Year Written by Laura Mears This year has been prolific for space exploration. The Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 25th birthday, the International Space Station commemorated 15 years in orbit, NASA’s New Horizons captured breathtaking images of Pluto, and scientists published evidence that liquid water flows on Mars. But the best is yet to come. Next year, we will see space exploration entering an exciting new phase, and several missions will seek to answer questions about the origins of Earth and the universe - Juno will arrive at Jupiter to find out how the planet formed, InSight will set off to examine the internal structure…

DEEP SPACE What is heat death? James Adams Heat death, which is also known as the ‘Big Freeze’ or ‘Big Chill’, has been suggested as one of the ways in which the cosmos could come to an end. The idea of heat death originates from the second law of thermodynamics – that is the idea that entropy increases in an isolated system, such as the universe. Entropy, which is the number of ways in which a system can be arranged, should never decrease, evolving to a sate of maximum disorder. When this occurs, all energy will be evenly distributed throughout the cosmos, leaving no room for any reusable energy or heat to burst into existence. Processes that consume energy, which includes our very living on Earth, would cease. It’s easy…

JUNE 3 June 2016 Saturn at opposition Constellation: Ophiuchus Magnitude: +0.0 Optical aid: Naked eye / binoculars / telescope Having become an increasingly familiar sight in the early morning skies throughout the first half of 2016, Saturn will finally come to opposition in southwestern Ophiuchus, where it will be 19 degrees above the southern horizon at midnight. Directly opposite the Sun and at its closest to Earth, the planet will shine at magnitude +0.0. The scene will be further enhanced by the presence of brilliant Mars (magnitude -2.0) just 15 degrees west of Saturn. A medium telescopic magnification will reveal that Saturn’s magnificent ring system is wide open, and several of the planet’s brighter moons will be on show, including the brightest, Titan (magnitude +8.5), which can easily be found…

SEPTEMBER 3 September 2016 Neptune at opposition Constellation: Aquarius Right ascension: 22hr 48min 48sec Declination: -8 deg 29min 52sec Magnitude: +7.8 Optical aid: Binoculars / telescope Neptune will finally reach opposition on 3 September, where it will be directly opposite the Sun and near its closest position to Earth this apparition. Shining at magnitude +7.8, the distant giant planet will be located just one degree southwest of Lambda Aquarii (magnitude +3.7), and will be fairly easily seen through binoculars and within the field of view of a wide-angle eyepiece on a rich-field telescope. Even viewed at high power on a telescope, the apparent 2.4 arcsecond diameter of Neptune will appear as a little bluish dot. 15 September 2016 Neptune occultation Neptune occultation Time/best visible: 8.02pm and 8.50pm (BST) On the…

DECEMBER 6 December 2016 Occultation of Neptune Constellation: Aquarius Magnitude: +7.9 Optical aid: Binoculars / telescope On the late evening of 6 December, the planet Neptune will be hidden by the dark western limb of the waxing crescent Moon (6.9 days old) at around 10.38pm. At this time, the Moon will be around five degrees above the southwestern horizon, so this will present quite a challenge for keen observers. Unfortunately, Neptune’s later emergence from the bright lunar limb will not be visible in UK skies because the Moon will have set long beforehand. 11 December 2016 Mercury at greatest eastern elongation Magnitude: -0.4 Optical aid: Binoculars / telescope Mercury will reach its greatest eastern elongation from the Sun at 20.8 degrees. An evening object, the innermost planet will be just…

Observer’s guide to Mercury Some seasoned astronomers have never seen this small planet. Here’s how you can... @ Celestron; ESO; B. Tafreshi; NASA In Greek mythology, Mercury was the messenger of the gods and was quick and elusive. This is probably where the nearest planet to the Sun got its name, orbiting the Sun in just 88 days. Because of this, it is never very far from the Sun in our skies and regularly shifts its location from either the east side or the west side of the Sun. The furthest point east or west, known as an elongation, is therefore the best time to try to see the planet. To further complicate matters, the altitude above the horizon, above which Mercury can be seen, can also change, and so…

Me & My Telescope Send your astronomy photos and pictures of you with your telescope to photos@spaceanswers.com and we’ll showcase them every issue Warren Keller West Virginia, USA Telescope: 16” RCOS Ritchey-Chrétien (University of North Carolina owned) “A child of the 1960s, Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, I boldly went with my heroes ‘where no man [has] gone before’, and I never really touched-down again. I began exploring the night sky at 15 years old with an 8-inch Newtonian and I knew from the moment I received Fred Hoyle’s book entitled Astronomy, that I would someday photograph the wonders of the skies above. “I started out using film in 1998 and then I switched to a charged-coupled device (CCD) in 2003. I am artistic by nature, so for me…

Venus-like planet hailed as ‘most important’ discovery Found orbiting a red dwarf star less than a quarter of the diameter of our Sun, GJ1132b is just a stone’s throw away NASA’s search for alien worlds has reached a new milestone with the discovery of GJ1132b – a planet that not only shares a variety of Earth-like and Venus-like characteristics but is also located less than 40 light years away from Earth. This makes it the closest planet of its kind in proximity to our home planet. Detected using the MEarth-South array, a group of eight 40-centimetre (15.7-inch) robotic telescopes at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, GJ1132b is one of the most intriguing discoveries in recent years and could even help astronomers identify other worlds with the potential to support…

Rocket of the future From its three planned missions to some of the biggest of its proposed journeys, these are the voyages of the SLS Exploration Mission-1 Set to launch in November 2018, the first mission will take an unmanned Orion capsule around the Moon and back to test the in-space capabilities of the SLS. Exploration Mission-2 The second mission, EM-2, is planned to launch sometime between 2021 and 2023, carrying a crew of four people on a retrograde lunar orbit. Exploration Mission-3 EM-3, the third and final mission on the officially planned list, will launch in 2026, sending another four-man crew to a robotically-captured asteroid. Uranus orbiter and probe Airplane multinational Boeing has proposed that the SLS be used as a launch vehicle for a probe bound for Uranus.…

Gemini Observatory’s Exoplanet Hunter It’s the world’s freshest eye on the sky and it’s making great strides in the hunt for alien worlds © Gemini Observatory; AURA Built on top of the 8.1-metre (26.6-foot) Gemini South Telescope in Chile, the Gemini Planet Imager GPI) was built to detect and uncover Jupiter-like exoplanets and it certainly hasn’t disappointed in its first full year of operation. Within just a few months, the Gemini Planet Imager had discovered a young planetary system with a bright ring of dust around a nearby star and, a short while later, it spotted a low-mass exoplanet named 51 Eridani b, located 100 light years away. Remarkably, 51 Eridani b is twice the mass of Jupiter but is also the smallest exoplanet ever to be directly seen by…

TRACING SOHO’S JOURNEY @ ESA; NASA; Adrian Mann 1 A smooth launch After spending over 12 years in the development stage, the SOHO observatory hitches a ride out of the Earth’s atmosphere on top of an Atlas II-AS rocket. 2 On a solar road From December 1995 to February 1996, the SOHO makes its journey from the Earth towards a specific point in between our planet and the Sun. 3 The sweet spot In order for the SOHO observatory to operate correctly, it needed to find the L1 point – a gravitationally balanced portion of space that allows it to keep in step with the Earth’s orbit. 4 In orbit The SOHO observatory now begins its orbital path around the L1 point – the gravitational forces between the Sun and…

DEEP SPACE Will all of the stars in the universe die out? Red dwarf It's estimated that these small stars can exist for around 10 trillion years Red giant After Sun-like stars run out of hydrogen, they expand to huge red giants for up to 1 billion years, before collapsing into a tiny white dwarf Sun-like stars Stars similar in size and mass to our own last for around 10 billion years Blue-white supergiant These massive stars have relatively short lifespans, existing for just a few million years Yes, but not for around 100 trillion years or so when there’s not enough material to form new stars. At this time, stars will stop being born and the universe will eventually go dark. Not all of the stars in the universe…

SOLAR SYSTEM Why did the Chelyabinsk meteor make a shock wave? Sherwin Atkins The Chelyabinsk meteor, which made its way through the Earth’s atmosphere in February 2013, had gas trapped inside of it, which caused it to make an airburst rather than hit our planet’s surface as a whole piece. An airburst occurs when a gas-laden piece of rock is heated up on entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. This causes the meteor to expand. If there is enough gas inside of the rock, it can expand so much that the rock explodes, which creates a shock wave. The Chelyabinsk meteor explosion released approximately 30-times more energy than that released in the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima in August 1945 – but, luckily for us, it exploded in the air, meaning…

SOLAR SYSTEM What does the Sun look like in different wavelengths? @ NASA; Alamy; Alex Alishevskikh 1600Å Upper photosphere/ transition region 335Å Active regions 304Å Transition region/ chromosphere 211Å Active regions 193Å Corona/flare plasma 171Å Upper transition region/quiet corona 131Å Flaring regions 94Å Flaring regions Visible light Photosphere 1700Å Photosphere In wavelengths that are invisible to the naked eye, we can see a lot of the activity that occurs on the surface of our Sun. For example, a wavelength of 4,500 angstroms reveals the Sun’s face, known as the photosphere, and its sunspots with ease, while a wavelength of 94 angstroms will reveal flaring regions. These wavelengths also allow us to delve deeper into the Sun’s many layers. Space telescopes, such as NASA’s Sun-staring Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is able…

JANUARY 1-2 January 2016 Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) passes Arcturus Constellation: Boötes Magnitude: +4.9 Optical aid: Naked eye / binoculars / telescope Comet C/2013 US10 is predicted to be at its brightest around this date and will be within range of the unaided eye under good conditions from a dark site, and an easy object to view through binoculars. During the first morning of 2016 you will be able to find the comet within just one degree south of the bright star Arcturus (magnitude -0.1), and by the morning of 2 January it will have moved just one degree north of Arcturus. By the end of the astronomical night at 6am, the comet will be a good 55 degrees above the southeastern horizon. The comet will continue to move northward…

APRIL 6 April 2016 Lunar occultation of Venus (daytime) Constellation: Pisces Magnitude: -3.9 Optical aid: Binoculars / telescope Being able to locate Venus in full daylight may seem like a daunting task, but the planet will present as a fairly bright target through an optical aid in the daylight, providing you know precisely when and where to look. The fact that Venus will lie very close to the bright edge of the waning crescent Moon (28.2 days) on the morning of 6 April will make the lunar occultation observable through both binoculars and telescopes. Venus will be hidden behind the Moon at around 8.30am (BST); however less than half an hour later Venus will emerge from the dark lunar limb, when the Moon will be more than 20 degrees above…

JULY 8 July 2016 Capricornid meteors at maximum Radiant: Capricornus Meteors per hour: Up to five This annual meteor shower will be active in July and August, and although it will by no means be a prolific shower, it could produce the occasional bright yellow and bright blue meteor. The radiant will be low above the southeastern horizon at midnight, so it is worth keeping an eye out in the early hours as the radiant climbs. The Moon will be well out of the way this year, so the shower is expected to have a favourable viewing. 28-29 July 2016 Delta Aquarid meteors at maximum Radiant: Aquarius Meteors per hour: Up to 20 The Delta Aquarid shower is active between 15 July to 20 August. The shower has two radiants…

Stargazing stories Tell us the story of how you got started in astronomy by emailing us at photos@spaceanswers.com for a chance to feature in All About Space Ronald Zincone Location: Richmond, Rhode Island Twitter: @ronaldzincone Info: Astronomer for over 40 years Current rig Telescope: Meade 16-inch LightBridge Dobsonian Mount: Alt-azimuth Other: Canon EOS 60Da, ZWO ASI120MC CMOS camera “Growing up, my real passion was photography with an interest in astronomy. One Christmas morning I received a Tasco 50X (variable power) #4VTE telescope. My Tasco took me on a never-ending cosmic journey. I have many fond memories of my older brother, Ray, and I observing the Moon and planets from our light-polluted neighbourhood. This sparked my passion for astronomy and my love for the Solar System grew. “Fast forward to 1999…

Sir Patrick Moore The stargazing television presenter with an idiosyncratic style, whose fascination with space was infectious As the presenter of the BBC’s The Sky At Night programme, Sir Patrick Moore was the voice and face of space in the UK for 55 years, an impressive feat which not only earned him a spot in the Guinness World Records, but the admiration of some of the world’s best known astronomers. He began his on-air duties on 24 April 1957, quickly gaining an eccentric reputation, not least in part for his trademark monocle, boundless energy, great humour and unique machine-gun way of imparting his knowledge. His strength was an amazing ability to effortlessly explain complex subjects to audiences: one of his best moments being the comparison of the Milky Way to…

New dwarf planet discovered at Solar System’s edge The edges of the solar neighbourhood could stretch even further thanks to the discovery of a new celestial body beyond Pluto A brand new alien world less than half the size of Pluto has been found, setting a new record for the most distant dwarf planet in the Solar System. This discovery also hints that similar worlds could exist within the confines of the solar neighbourhood. The trans-Neptunian object, designated V774104, is located around 15.4 billion kilometres (9.6 billion miles) from the Sun, around 2.6-times farther than Pluto. Lead scientist Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie Institute for Technology, and Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, made the discovery using observations made by Japan’s Subaru telescope. However, since it is so…

Oldest stars detected were created 300 million years after Big Bang The oldest stars, dating from before the Milky Way formed, have been found in our galaxy © NASA;ESO; Dana Berry; Skyworks Digital; CfA A group of astronomers based in Australia has discovered the oldest known stars in the universe close to the centre of the Milky Way, at about 34,000 light years away from Earth. The ancient celestial group was picked up by the Australian National University’s SkyMapper telescope and provides astronomers with a startling insight into the blueprints of our galaxy’s birth. The stars formed in the universe’s infancy are normally metal-poor – if a star lacks heavy metals it was likely formed right after the universe was born, before stars began producing iron. One of the ancient…

The different types of multiverse From unseen regions of spacetime to complex structures, there are four distinct levels Level 1 Where an identical Earth exists The simplest multiverse is one that most certainly exists – the Big Bang model of cosmic origins predicts that every point in the universe has a ‘Hubble volume’ around it, limited by the expansion of the universe and the distance light has been able to travel in the 13.8 billion years since the infant universe became transparent. In practice, this means our Hubble volume is a sphere 93 billion light years across, but there are many more Hubble volumes extending far beyond what we can see. If the universe has a closed geometry, the number is limited as space curves back around on itself, but…

Venusian plane An American aerospace giant aims to send an inflatable flying wing to Earth's evil twin Aerodynamic shape VAMP is a flying wing, which means that the entire aircraft is part of the wing - this will allow it to “take off” from 51km (31.6mi) where it floats as a balloon, and then fly up to 68km (42mi) as an aeroplane. © Adrian Mann Solar panels The aircraft will be equipped with solar panels to provide up to 8kW of power, while surplus energy will be stored in lithium-ion batteries. Propulsion system The VAMP has two propellers with a diameter of 2.4m (8ft). They are driven by electric motors, producing 45kgf (100lbf) of thrust, letting the VAMP achieve speeds of up to 30m/s (98ft/s). Tough skin The main skin…

Mission to Mars Perhaps the most ambitious of the proposed space missions, the SLS plans to carry a crew of four-to-six astronauts to a habitat on the Red Planet 1 Launching into the unknown Between 2033 and 2045, a Block 2 variation Space Launch System will take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 2 Habitat in transit Before the crew can arrive, the components for the Mars-based habitat need to be constructed. Roughly seven trips will be required to build it in full. 3 Autonomous construction Rather than being constructed on the surface of the planet, one plan aims to build the components of a Martian habitat in low-Earth orbit with a series of robotic arms onboard the Orion spacecraft. 4 Resource management An In-Situ Resource Utilization component (which…

THE LOST ICE GIANT Imagine being frozen out of a tight knit family – if the Solar System ever had a fifth giant planet, this was its likely fate Written by David Crookes Somewhere, out there, deep in interstellar space, in the darkness far away from our Sun, is a lonely planet believed to be wandering the galaxy. Rich in icy matter, roughly the same mass as Neptune and with an atmosphere to match, it is a free-floating world untethered to any star, set adrift in a perpetual night. But it has never been seen and no astronomer is able to pinpoint its precise whereabouts in the abyss of space. It may be big but it remains one of the universe’s most mysterious bodies. Or at least that is what…

Jumping Jupiters How a giant leap could have had an effect on the fifth planet Jupiter, unlike all other planets, migrated inward and not outward when interacting with the scattered objects from the outer cometary disc. Since it is also massive enough to be capable of ejecting bodies from the Solar System (again unlike other planets) it is said to have caused the bodies it encountered to be ejected outward. The Jumping Jupiter theory says Uranus and Neptune caused the gas giant to jump and allowed it to assume its current orbit. The problem is, under simulation, either Uranus or Neptune end up being ejected. With a fifth planet introduced, this does not happen. According to Dr David Nesvorny, the Jumping Jupiter theory is therefore a natural consequence of the…

SOHO AT WORK Measuring the corona Built by scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer measures the extended corona. Capturing sunspots The Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) was developed in France and Finland and exists to capture sunspots on the Sun’s surface. Solar operation These two solar panels, which reach 9.5m (31ft) when fully extended, provide SOHO with all the energy it needs to operate. Eye in the sky The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) enables the SOHO observatory to scan and study the Sun’s lower corona in incredible detail. Detecting radiation The Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer has been designed to detect solar extreme ultraviolet radiation in and around the Sun. Gravity variations The Variability of Solar Irradiance and Gravity Oscillations (VIRGO) was created and co-designed between ESA…

AUGUST 2 August 2016 Alpha Capricornid meteors at maximum Radiant: Capricornus Meteors per hour: Up to five Not to be confused with the Capricornids of July, the Alpha Capricornids will be active between 15 July and 20 August. This will be another low-rate shower at maximum, producing just a handful of meteors; however, slow, long-duration fireballs can sometimes be produced by this shower, so it’s worth watching after midnight, particularly as the Moon will be well out of the way. 16 August 2016 Mercury at greatest eastern elongation Magnitude: +0.3 Optical aid: Binoculars Mercury will reach its furthest distance east of the Sun at an angle of 27 degrees, and will be visible in the evening skies, low above the western horizon after sunset. This will not be a favourable…

How to be prepared for the next ISS pass Preparation is key for enjoyable observations of the International Space Station 1 Check the timings Refer to a suitable website or app for the specific time that the ISS will pass over your region. The sky will need to be dark for you to be able to see it, so check the times of twilight if you need to as well. 2 Check the weather The weather and cloud cover will be critical in determining whether you get a good observation of the ISS. A little cloud is okay but, of course, clear skies are much better! 3 Plan and prepare You’ll find that observing the ISS is much more relaxed if you are well prepared. Dress appropriately and wrap up…

Celestron Ambassador 80AZ Ideal for observing the lunar surface and bright night-sky targets, this stunning brass refractor is sure to impress casual astronomers Telescope advice Cost: £975 / $1471 From: David Hinds Ltd Type: Reflector Aperture: 3.15” Focal length: 31” Best for... Intermediate High budget Planetary viewing Lunar viewing Bright deep-sky objects Without a doubt, the Celestron Ambassador 80AZ is one of the most beautifully crafted telescopes we have had the chance to review in All About Space – almost entirely made of brass, polished to a high finish and affixed to a mahogany tripod. Due to the stunning appearance of the telescope, which also features a brass star diagonal eyepiece barrel, as well as brass-finished lens caps, it seems a shame to pack it away after use – if…

Astronomy kit reviews Stargazing gear, accessories and books for astronomers and space fans alike Book Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year: Collection 4 Cost: £25 (approx $38) From: Harper Collins You don’t need to have any technical appreciation of photography or astronomy to be blown away by the night-sky images printed in this book, which are the result of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year – the biggest international competition of its kind – and in association with Royal Observatory Greenwich. Featuring a foreword from comedian, impersonator and amateur astronomer Jon Culshaw, we’re taken on a tour of a variety of night-sky views – from the spectacular Milky Way to the breath-taking aurorae and this year’s total solar eclipse – from different locations all over the world. Given the vibrancy…