Awesome Astronomy

The Discussion: Exam season is well underway for Jeni, Paul & Ralph ran the AstroCamp dark sky star party in Wales and the jet stream causes frustration for sky watchers in the UK. But the big event last month was the transit of the planet Mercury with a full day of observing this phenomenon for many parts of the world. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: A possible new particle that threatens the foundation of physics discovered at CERN Is the life-hunting Exomars 2 ever going to get off the ground? 1,284 exoplanets discovered: 550 are rocky, 100 are earth sized, with 9 in their habitable zones The May 2016 transit of Mercury and witnessing the black drop effect DIY carbon nanotubes among 56 patents released by NASA and space elevators SpaceX make Paul look silly (again) Woobusters: Continuing our quest to debunk the myths and conspiracy theories that persist in every dark corner of the news and the internet. This month’s topic, picked at random from Paul’s Big