#127 - January 2023

The Discussion: A refreshed format coming to Awesome Astronomy in 2023 A look back at the festive season     The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have: Something in the solar system is producing light that’s not unaccounted for A leak on the International Space Station’s lifeboat NASA’s Mars lander comes to an end A new way to look for aliens   The big news story: As the UK gets ready to launch space vehicles for the first time, we take a look at the long history of UK space activity and the concept of launching to space from aircraft.   The Sky Guide: As many people will have got new observing equipment this Christmas,  we’re taking a look at the beginner-friendly constellation of Taurus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in January.   Q&A: The brightest GRB ever recorded occurred on 9th October 2022. Its effects on the Earth’s ionosphere was strong enough to be observed by amateur radio astronomers. How did dust form the expanding halo observed around the GRB source? From our good friend Andrew Thomas.