Astronomical Society of Victoria

04/10/2026

Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend and are ready for a great week ahead.

02/10/2026

𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭 '𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝' 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬!.
Parents know the joy of the first ultrasound scan of their babies. Astronomers have now achieved the planetary equivalent, imaging a pair of twin planets as they form in the womb of gas and dust around their parent star.

The imaging of these forming exoplanets (or extrasolar planets, worlds outside of our solar system), comes courtesy of the 66 radio antennas that comprise the Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA). It brings astronomers closer than ever before to understanding the processes behind planet formation.

"We clearly see both planets shaping their environment. Now there is an image of them!"

02/10/2026

𝐀 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐭 𝐈𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐎𝐰𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐤𝐞.
If anything is forever in this Universe, it's black holes – or so their physics suggests.

These ultra-dense objects are possessed of inexorable gravitational fields. Matter goes in. Very little ever comes out. They punctuate the cosmos like full stops, steadily growing ever bigger, with next to nothing that can undermine their inevitability.

But that doesn't mean black holes are inviolable. And theoretical physicists have just found a method of black hole decay that's even wackier than the objects themselves.

It's possible, according to José Ferreira, Carlos Herdeiro, Eugen Radu, and Miguel Zilhão of the University of Aveiro in Portugal, that a black hole can sq**rt itself out of its own hair – leaving a fully functional boson star in its wake.

"Perhaps the most remarkable result is that we found a new way in which a hairy black hole can decay," the researchers told ScienceAlert.

If anything is forever in this Universe, it's black holes – or so their physics suggests.

02/10/2026

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐬! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 S𝐮𝐧.
Those of us still humming on back-to-school energy can add some Red Planet flavour: We just marked the beginning of a new year on Mars.

The Martian new year officially clicked over today (Sept. 30) at 4:16 a.m. EDT (0816 GMT), when the Red Planet once again began its nearly 687-Earth-day journey around the Sun.

We had to wait 22 months for this milestone.

01/10/2026

𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐙𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐘𝐞𝐭.
Detecting planets outside of our Solar System mostly relies on measuring minute changes in the light of distant stars.

If this were akin to finding a needle in a haystack, astronomers would delight. But it's more like distinguishing the glow of a firefly flitting in front of the nuclear brilliance of a hydrogen bomb.

Impressively, astronomers have found more than 6,300 exoplanets so far using various methods.

They are a diverse menagerie of mouthwatering worlds, including one that seems to be emitting a weirdly tantalizing signal, as well as Earth-like analogs bathed in the crimson light of dim, blood-hued red dwarfs.

Astronomers may have just made another milestone discovery in the search for intrinsically intriguing worlds: the hottest star to potentially host a habitable-zone planet, a giant world named HD 156295 b.

If confirmed, this would be the first known exoplanet in the habitable zone of a massive, A-type star, named HD 156295.

Detecting planets outside of our Solar System mostly relies on measuring minute changes in the light of distant stars.  If this were akin to finding a needle in a haystack, astronomers would delight.

30/09/2026

ASV Geelong Show Raffle

ASV Geelong is giving you the chance to win some incredible prizes at this year’s Geelong Show!

1st Prize – Seestar S30 Smartscope (Valued at approx. $599)
2nd Prize – Saxon 10 x 50 Binoculars (Valued at approx. $80)

This raffle is your opportunity to kickstart your stargazing journey with quality gear.

Tickets are just $5 each, and funds raised will support the ongoing activities of the ASV Geelong Section.

Raffle open to Australian residents only.

Winners will be notified by email.

https://the2026asvgeelongshowraffle.floktu.com/

23/09/2026

𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭.
Astronomers have confirmed a world that’s less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from NASA-funded archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in its natal disk of dust and gas.

“Our planet-formation models already struggled to explain the previous record holders for the youngest known planet — a four-way tie between two planets orbiting the star PDS 70 and two planets orbiting the star WISPIT 2 — which are all more than 5 million years old,” said Lucas Cieza, a professor at the Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos in Chile and co-author of a paper detailing the results. “Elias 2-24 b shows us that even our best planet-formation models are still missing some important processes.”

Astronomers have confirmed a world that’s less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from NASA-funded archives. Called Elias 2-24

23/09/2026

𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞.
There's no proof of other life beyond Earth yet, but scientists are constantly looking out and listening for signs that we're not actually alone in the Universe.

Now, a team from the Centre for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and the University of Oregon has announced an important first: A radio signal coming directly from an exoplanet (a planet outside the Solar System).

Previously, radio detections in planet-hosting systems couldn't be unambiguously localised to the planets rather than the stars they're circling.

However, this isn't aliens trying to get in touch.

It's the signal coming from the exoplanet's auroras, created by charged particles interacting with atmospheric and magnetic field conditions to release energy. Earth has auroras too, which show up as the northern and southern lights.

There's no proof of other life beyond Earth yet, but scientists are constantly looking out and listening for signs that we're not actually alone in the Universe.

22/09/2026

𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐀 𝐏𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝟓 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞.
In space exploration, efficiency is key. And NASA has become so efficient that even its discarded hardware is performing valuable science.

As the NASA Mars 2020 mission delivered the Perseverance rover to our planetary next-door neighbour, it also punched a number of holes into its dusty red skin.

When Percy's spacecraft was projected to be around 1,300 kilometres (nearly 800 miles) above Mars, smashing at a planet-relative velocity of 4.7 kilometres per second, the entry vehicle jettisoned two tungsten, 77-kilogram (170-pound) cruise ballast mass devices (CBMDs), which it carried to stabilise itself and our precious Percy.

These CBMDs, along with fragments from a cruise stage weighing nearly 540 kilograms, smacked into the Martian surface, as falling things are wont to do, creating five craters.

In space exploration, efficiency is key.

22/09/2026

The 2026 astronomical Spring Equinox occurs in Australia on Wednesday, 23 September at 10:07 am AEST, marking the beginning of astronomical spring in the Southern Hemisphere. At this moment, the Sun crosses the celestial equator, moving northward, bringing nearly equal lengths of day and night around the world. As Earth continues its journey around the Sun, daylight will gradually increase and nights will become shorter, heralding warmer evenings and a changing night sky for southern stargazers to explore.