nasa/esa – welcome to somewhereville (.com)

Above: The constellation Orion in all of its nebulous glory. Orange Betelgeuse is to be found in the lower-left. Imaging by Scott Rosen, astronomersdoitinthedark.com

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (September-October 2020) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure at www.astropublishing.com.

September-October 2020 includes a selected survey of astronomical content of local and cosmological interest from NASA/ESA, ESO, ALMA, as well as two feature articles from our fearless leader/editor Michele Ferrara. The feature articles in this issue discuss:

“Betelgeuse – 100 years of uncertainties” – this article was 100 years in the making, but found itself updated with as-of-August scientific reporting in the final 100 hours before going to print (well, 150). The previous (pre-August) analyses were believed to be an adequate explanation, then the new reports indicate that that previous explanation did not, by itself, explain everything observed by us all since late last year.
“In the mind of ET” – Continuing a multi-issue exobiology thread, this next article is a very interest perspective on the state of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (and not just SETI), based on the recent NASA award of Adam Frank (and collaborators) at the University of Rochester.

The browser-readable version: www.astropublishing.com/5FAM2020/

Jump right to the PDF download (15 MB): September-October 2020

For those wanting a quick look at what the issue has to offer, the Table of Contents is reproduced below.

Above: This visible light wide-field view shows the rich star clouds in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) in the direction of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The entire image is filled with vast numbers of stars — but far more remain hidden behind clouds of dust and are only revealed in infrared images. This view was created from photographs in red and blue light and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field of view is approximately 3.5 degrees x 3.6 degrees. ESO and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin and S. Guisard

The most recent issue of Free Astronomy Magazine (May-June 2020) is available for your reading and downloading pleasure at www.astropublishing.com (click the link to go directly to the issue).

It is my hope that you had opportunity to read the perspectives from several amateur astronomers (myself included) and their organizations in the March-April issue (site announcement). May-June returns to the selected survey of astronomical content of local and cosmological interest from NASA/ESA, ESO, ALMA, as well as our fearless leader/editor Michele Ferrara. His isolation in Italy and my isolation in New York have provided us with a most unexpected exchange of updates during this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It is fortunate for us both that our shared avocations of writing and astronomy are as compatible with social distancing as they are. For myself, I've been fortunate that we've also had some excellent clear (albeit cold) nighttime skies recently.

For those wanting a quick look at what the issue has to offer, the Table of Contents is reproduced below.

The web browser-readable version: www.astropublishing.com/3FAM2020/

Jump right to the PDF download (18 MB): May-June 2020